Shabir and Ayoub cast vote in DDC polls before leaving for Delhi, say village elders, demand immediate release of all three arrested youth, urge LG Sinha, DGP to intervene
SRINAGAR: Amid rain and chill, three Budgam families Friday staged a protest here in Srinagar seeking release of their loved ones who were recently arrested by Special Cell of Delhi Police for their alleged militant links.
Five men, three from Kashmir and two from Punjab were arrested by the Special Cell of Delhi Police from Shakarpur area of Delhi. Delhi Police said these arrests were made after a gunfight in the area.
The family members of the arrested men emerged in Press Enclave Srinagar alleging that Delhi Police like in past have enacted a drama and implicated their loved ones in a fabricated case.
Three Kashmiri men who were arrested by police hail from Central Kashmir’s Budgam district. They are Reyaz Ahmed Rather and Shabir Ahmed Gojri, both residents of Nasrullah Pora and Muhammad Ayoub Pathan of Gondhipora village.
The family members mostly women told reporters that these men are innocent and have nothing to do with militancy. “It is a white lie on part of Delhi police that these men have links with militant outfits. Back in Kashmir, all these men have clean police record and never they have been detained in past,” they said.
“Is it a crime to visit Delhi for any work? My father runs a band saw and has nothing to do with militancy. He was in Delhi to purchase some material,” son of one of the arrested man Muhammad Ayoub Pathan told news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) at press colony, Srinagar. Pathan is the father of three daughters and two sons.
Shaista- wife of Shabir Ahmed Gojri said that her husband visits the shrine of Ajmeer Sharif every year and this time another youth from the same village Reyaz Ahmed accompanied him. “My husband had to pay obeisance at Ajmeer Sharif while Reyaz being a Welding expert had to get some stuff from Delhi,” she said.
Talking to KNO, Ghulam Muhammad Palla said that national news channels blew the arrest of three Kashmiri youth out of proportion to raise their TRPs.
“But the fact is that Shabir and Ayoub cast their vote in DDC polls before leaving for Delhi. Perhaps, they were arrested for showing faith in ballot,” Palla said, and demanded an impartial probe into the arrest of Kashmiri trio.
The family members of all these men while seeking the intervention of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and Director General of Police Dilbagh Singh appealed Delhi Police to release them.