Chairman Hurriyat Conference (M) Mirwaiz Umar Farooq Saturday launched ‘free Kashmiri prisoners’ campaign on social media to garner international support for the inmates who have completed more than two-decades in various jails in and outside the State.
“The leadership has started a free Kashmiri prisoners’ initiative to bring the focus on their prolonged and arbitrary detention and highlight their plight in various prisons across India, today on January 26 as India celebrates its R-Day,” Mirwaiz told Greater Kashmir.
He said that these prisoners that include leadership, activists and youth are being “victimized for their political aspirations as they seek implementation of UN resolutions.”
“These inmates have been held illegally under various black laws to break their determination and to victimize their innocence,” said Mirwaiz, who is part of Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL).
He said that Dr Ashiq Hussain Fakhtoo will complete 26 years in jail next month, while Abdul Gani Goni of Bhadarwah, who was part of a Tableegh meeting in Gujarat state of India, has been continuously detained for the last 24 years.
“Another Kashmiri, Javed Khan was only 22 years old when he was detained and tortured. He has spent 23 years of his life in prison,” Mirwaiz said.
He said that the Hurriyat Conference (M) has also decided to organise “Prisoners of Conscience Day”, where the families of the prisoners will be invited.
“The day is aimed at renewing support of solidarity for the inmates and to strengthen the legal support for them,” he said.
Elaborating, he said Mirwaiz said that “a nation that prides itself on being a representative democracy chosen by the free will of its people, a republic, was executing tyranny and suppression to forcibly exert its will over the people of Kashmir.”
On Friday, addressing a Friday gathering at the historic Jamia Masjid, Mirwaiz had said that 38 prisoners from Kashmir languishing in various jails in and outside the Valley had completed 25, 22, 20 and 15 years in prison respectively for no crime other than their “political belief.”