Sit-in highlights plight of prisoners

Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik Saturday said the plight of Kashmiri political detainees lodged in different jails in and outside the Valley was getting worse by the day.

Addressing a protest demonstration organized by the Joint Resistance leadership (JRL) at Press Enclave here today to highlight the plight of pro-resistance Kashmiri detainees Yasin Malik said that Jammu Kashmir had been turned into a police state where every voice of dissent is crushed by the military and police might. 

   

The protesters, comprising leaders and activists of Hurriyat Conference (G), Hurriyat Conference (M) and JKLF had earlier gathered at JKLF office Abi-Guzar. They marched to Press Enclave to hold a  sit-in there. Later on Yasin Malik also joined the sit-in and addressed the protesters. 

“Thousands of Kashmiris are languishing in Indian jails like Tihar and jails of Jammu and Kashmir like Amphala Jammu, Udhampor, Hiranagar, Khatua and Kotbalwal. For the last 14 years young and old men and women and even children are facing Indian wrath in jails and on a daily basis many more are being arrested and put in jails,” Malik said. “India uses its forces and agencies like NIA and Enforcement Directorate to halt Kashmiri march to freedom but these oppressive measures have failed.”

He said even senior leaders like Shabir Ahmad Shah, Altaf Ahmad Shah, Shahid-ul-Islam, Ayaz Akbar, Peer Saif-u-ullah, Raja Meraj-u-Din Kalwal, Nayeem Ahmed Khan, Farooq Ahmed Dar, Zahoor Ahmad Watali, and ShahidYousufShah  had been imprisoned. 

“They have been actually abducted by NIA and ED and shifted to Tihar Jail under frivolous and concocted charges,” Malik said. “Every evil tactic is being employed by India to prolong their incarceration and miseries.” 

He said scores of detainees including DrQasimFaktoo, DrShafiShariati, GhulamQadir Butt, Nazir Ahmad Sheikh, Showkat Ahmad Khan, Abdul GaniGoni, Lateef Ahmad Waja, Javed Ahmad Khan, MehmoodTopiWala, IftikharMirza, Feroz Ahmad, Parvaiz Ahmad and many more are in jails serving life terms. 

“Many of these lifers have been shifted to hundreds of kilometers away from their home in Jammu and Indian jails to add up to their hardships. There are many including MasratAalam Butt, Sirajud din Mir, Abdul Rashid Magloo, Mir Hafizullah, Muhammad YousufFalahi, Ameer Hamza, Muhammad Yousuf Mir, Tariq Ahmad Dar, MoulanaSarjanBarkati, AssadullahParray, Showkat Hakim and others who are in jail under black law PSA or any other charges,” Malik said. “There are many more who are arrested on concocted charges like 18 innocent boys from Shahar-I-Khaas who have been arrested in DSP murder case and many who are facing wrath of police in various police stations. Not only this, ailing lady SyedaAsiyaAndrabi along with FahmeedaSofi and NaheedNasreen are being penalized by the police since many days.”  

JKLF chairman said that India being a signatory to the Geneva Convention on political prisoners has an obligation to respect the rights of prisoners but as with other human rights, India has ‘trampled’ this right too and is ‘crushing these detainees with impunity’.

“The ongoing holy month of Ramzan has also not brought any respite to these Kashmiri prisoners but instead their miseries have been piled up. Kashmiris want these innocent political victims to be released from jails soon so that they are also able to celebrate Eid with their families,” Malik said.

GhulamNabiZaki from Hurriyat (M) and Molvi Bashir Ahmad Irfani from Hurriyat (G) also addressed the protesters.  

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