Srinagar: Hurriyat Conference (M) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq Friday said that 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 said that detainees are supposed to be lodged closer to their homes as per the supreme court of India directions, but with Kashmiris a deliberate policy of punishment is being implemented by the authorities as they have been shifted from Kashmir prisons and lodged in various Indian Jails 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.
As per a statement issued to KNO, Mirwaiz said that senior leader and the chairman JKLF Muhammad Yasin Malik, who has not been keeping well since long, has of late, developed multiple ailments in prison, while as other political prisoners are suffering from one ailment or the other due to their prolonged confinement.
Hurriyat (M) Chairman 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.
He said that many of the Kashmiri prisoners who 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.
Mirwaiz demanded the unconditional release of these prisoners and hundreds of youth who are being punished for their political to push the leadership and people into submission.
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 the death of over a dozen school children who were on a picnic.
Mirwaiz attributed the frequent road accident to the dilapidated roads and the failure of the authorities in timely repairing the crucial road links across Kashmir which 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 Janah for all the deceased school children and expressed solidarity with the bereaved families.(KNO)