Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) leaders and activists, on the call of Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL), staged a sit-in near Budshah Chowk here today against the “pathetic plight” of Kashmiri detainees lodged in different jails in and outside the Valley.
In a statement here a JKLF spokesman said that front leaders advocate Bashir Ahmad Bhat, Showkat Bakhshi, Noor Muhammad Kalwal, Muhammad Yasin Butt, Javed Zargar, Muhammad Zaman Mir, Sheikh Abdul Rashid, Bashir Ahmad Kashmiri, Zahoor Ahmad Butt, Muhammad Sideeq Shah, Mushtaq Ahmad Khan, Ashraf Bin Salam, Ghulam Muhammad Dar, Prof Javed and others gathered near Budshah Chowk here and staged a peaceful protest against the “unrelenting oppression” on Kashmiri detainees languishing in various jails.
Holding placards in their hands and raising slogans in favor of prisoners, JKLF leaders and activists marched towards Lal Chowk and staged a peaceful sit-in near Budshah Chowk. This sit-in was addressed by vice chairman advocate Bashir Ahmad Butt and others,” he said, adding that “People from different walks of life also participated in the sit-in.”
Meanwhile, JKLF chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik strongly condemned the “ongoing suppression” on Kashmiri detainees languishing in various jails. “Kashmiris are facing worst apathy in jails like Tihar jail, Mandawali Jail Delhi and jails of Jammu Kashmir including Udhampor jail, Khutua Jail, Hiranagar Jail, Amphala Jail Jammu, Srinagar Central Jail, Mattan Jail, Baramullah Jail, Kupwara jail, Kot-Balwal Jail and other incarceration centers. New Delhi being a signatory to the Geneva Convention on prisoners, is supposed to adhere to the international law but contrary to this,” Malik said in a statement.
Malik said, “It is obligatory on the part of the international community, human rights organizations, civil societies and International Red Cross to take note of this, intervene to safeguard the rights of these prisoners of conscience and use their good offices to get them released from incarceration.”