Srinagar: Hurriyat Conference (M) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Friday said hundreds of political prisoners including youth and resistance leaders are languishing in various prisons since past many years and months and all basic principles of humanity and democracy are being ignored to prolong their “illegal” detention on one pretext or the other.
Addressing Friday gathering at the historic Jamia Masjid here, Mirwaiz, according to a statement issued to GNS, said that detainees are supposed to be lodged closer to their homes as per the Supreme Court of India’s directions, but with Kashmiris, a “deliberate policy of punishment” is being implemented by authorities as they have been shifted from Kashmir prisons and lodged in various jails outside JK in soaring temperatures in Rajasthan, Kotbalwal, Jammu, Kathua, Haryana, and Tihar, where scores of prisoners have fallen ill and are not being provided with proper medical aid.
Mirwaiz said that senior leader and JKLF chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik, who has not been keeping well since long, has of late, developed multiple ailments in prison, while as other political prisoners that include Shabir Shah, Advocate Shahidul Islam, Masrat Alam Bhat, Dr Ghulam Muhammad Bhat, Altaf Ahmed Shah, Ayaz Akbar, Peer Saifullah, Raja Mehrajudin Kalwal, Syeda Asiya Andrabi, Fehmeeda Sofi, Nahida Nasreen,Nayeem Ahmed Khan, Farooq Ahmed Dar, Zahoor Ahmed Watali, Syed Shahid Yousuf, Syed Shakeel Ahmed, Dr Muhammad Qasim Faktoo, Dr Muhammad Shafi Shariyati, Muhammad Yousuf Falahi, Abdul Ahad Para, Abdul Gani Bhat, Dr Hameed Fayaz, Sheikh Muhammad Ramzan, Mushtaq Ahmed Veeri, Abdullah Nasir, Ghulam Qadir Bhat, Nazir Ahmed Sheikh, Muhammad Ayoub Dar, Tariq Ahmed, Muzaffar Ahmed Dar, Muhammad Hussain, Peer Muhammad Ashraf, Mushtaq Ahmed Hurrah, Yasin Ahmed Harra, Sameeullah, Asadullah Parray, Hakeem Showkat, Mehrajudin Nanda, Basharat Bazaz, Tariq Ahmed Pandit, Muhammd Hussain, Hilal Ahmed Beig, Noor Muhammad Kalwal, Bashir Ahmed Bhat, Advocate Zahid Ali, Ishtiyaq Ahmed Wani, Dr Muhammad Saleem, Moulana Sarjan Barkati, Abdul Hai, Asif Sultan, and Abdul Rashid Shigan are suffering from one ailment or the other due to their prolonged confinement.
Mirwaiz appealed to human rights organizations especially International Red Cross Committee and other rights groups that include Amnesty International, Asia Watch, to visit the jails and to take stock of the plight of Kashmiri prisoners who are in a sad state of affairs inside their jail cells.
Many of the Kashmiri prisoners have been booked under PSA and whenever their PSA is quashed by the respective courts, within no time they were booked under another PSAs only to prolong their detention period, he said and demanded unconditional release of these prisoners and hundreds of youth who he said are being punished for their political affiliation.
Mirwaiz said that Kashmir issue is a reality and is lingering since 1947 and will continue to remain an issue until it is resolved politically involving all the parties.
Meanwhile, Mirwaiz expressed his profound grief over the tragic accident at Peer Ki Gali on Mughal Road in which a school bus turned turtle and fell into a deep gorge resulting in death of over a dozen school children who were on a picnic.
Mirwaiz attributed the frequent road accidents to the dilapidated roads and the failure of authorities in timely repairing the crucial road links across Kashmir which he said are now becoming the death traps for common masses. He also urged people to follow safety measures while driving.
Mirwaiz prayed for the highest standards in Jannah for all the deceased school children and expressed solidarity with the bereaved families.