The Joint Resistance Leadership comprising Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yaseen Malik Friday expressed serious concern over the “pathetic condition of Kashmiri prisoners lodged in jails within and outside Jammu and Kashmir, especially in New Delhi’s Tihar jail”.
In a statement, the JRL said “despite being political prisoners, they are denied every right guaranteed in the national or international jail manuals”.
“The revengeful attitude of the rulers in Delhi has crossed every limit of heartlessness and insensitivity. The government is willfully prolonging their stay in jails,” the statement read.
The leaders said that “slow and humiliating process has ruined lives of so many young innocents and those who were arrested on fictitious cases are yet to be provided with the documentary evidence of their alleged crimes”.
“The Sangh Parivaar is only prolonging their custody and Shabir Ahmad Shah, Peer Saifullah, Altaf Ahmad Shah, Ayaz Akbar, Raja Meraj-ud-Din Kalwal, Nayeem Ahmad Khan, Shahid-ul-Islam, Farooq Ahmad Dar, Shahid Yousuf, Syed Shakeel Ahmad, Zahoor Ahmad Watali, Asiya Andrabi, Fahmeeda Sofi, Naheeda Nasreen and others continue to bear the brunt of this victimisation for more than a year now,” the statement read.
Referring to the alleged inhuman treatment meted out to the incarcerated resistance leaders and activists, the JRL said “it is unfortunate that the ruling class treats our resistance leaders like professional criminals in their so-called jails which have been turned into worst centres of interrogation”.
The JRL hailed the “uncompromising courage and dedication and undaunted commitment of these prisoners with the resistance movement.”
These prisoners, the JRL said, include: Shabir Ahmad Shah, Dr Muhammad Qasim, Dr Shafi Sharyati, Dr Ghulam Muhammad Bhat, Masarat Aalam Bhat, Syeda Asiya Andrabi, Fehmeeda Sofi, Nahida Nasreen, Altaf Ahmad Shah, Peer Saifullah, Ayaz Akbar, Raja Mehraj-ud-din Kalwal, Shahid-ul-Islam, Nayeem Ahmad Khan, Farooq Ahmad Dar, Muhammad Aslam Wani, Shahid Yousuf, Zahoor Ahmad Watali, Muzaffar Ahmad Dar, Muhammad Shafi Shah, Mushtaq Ahmad Lone, Talib Hussain, Ahtisham, Ghulam Qadir Bhat, Muhammad Ayoub Dar, Muhammad Ayoub Mir, Maqsood Ahmad Bhat, Muhammad Yousuf Falahi, Shakeel Ahmad Yatoo, Bashir Ahmad Qureshi, Umar Aadil Dar, Abdul Gani Bhat, Nasir Ahmad Ganie, Muhammad Amin Ahanger, Nisar Ahmad Najar, Ghulam Hussain Wagay, Ghulam Muhammad Khan Sopori, Mushtaq-ul-Islam, Nazir Ahmad Mantoo, Nadeem Ahmad Dar, Lateef Ahmad Dar, Zahir Abas Lone, Lateef Ahmad Rather, Sajad Ahmad Beigh, Manzoor Ahmad Najar, Basharat Ahmad Mir, Ashiq Hussain Bhat, Riyaz Ahmad Dar, Sajad Ahmad Bhat, Mushtaq Ahmad Ganie, Showkat Ahmad Ganie, Bilal Ahmad Ganie, Riyaz Ahmad Ahanger, Muhammad Amin Bhat, Nazir Ahmad Khawaja, Shabir Ahmad Mir, Mehraj Ahmad Mir, Imtiyaz Ahmad Mir, Khursheed Ahmad Mir, Muhammad Shafi Mir, Azad Ahmad Mir, Riyaz Ahmad Behroo, Ikhlas Ahmad Sheikh, Kaleem Muhammad, Javid Ahmad Khan, Muhammad Asif Bhat, Asif Gul, Bashir Ahmad Sofi, Abdul Rehman Tantray, Muhammad Yaseen Tantray, Javid Ahmad War, Maqsood Ahmad, Muhammad Ayoub Malla, Zafar Islam, Muhammad Rajab Bhat, Mashooq Ahmad Bhat, Farooq Ahmad Najar, Parvez Ahmad Najar, Aabid Ahmad Kachroo, Showkat Mehraj, Fayaz Ahmad, Fayaz Ahmad Kumar, Fahran Lalu, Suhail Ahmad Sheikh, Waseem Mehraj, Umar Ahmad Dar, Irshad Khawaja, Tajamul-Islam, Aadil Ahmad Shah, Ashiq Hussain Ganie, Parveez Ahmad Ganie, Hilal Ahmad Ganie, Bashir Ahmad Malik. Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh, Ishfaq Ahmad Makroo, Riyaz Ahmad Malik, Aasif Nisar Malik, Aasim Yaseen Malik, Zahir Ahmad Nala, Abdul Hamid Parray, Asadullah Parray, Showkat Hakeem, Mehraj-ud-din Nanda and Abdul Ahad Mir.
The JRL appealed to the UNHRC, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Red Cross to “monitor and see the pathetic and inhuman treatment meted out to these political prisoners and pressurise India to stop this inhuman and undemocratic attitude, otherwise life of these jailed people is endangered.”