Srinagar
In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has expressed deep concern over the plight of illegally detained Kashmiri Hurriyat leaders and activists languishing in Agra and other Indian jails.
The APHC spokesman in a statement issued in Srinagar deplored that the Kashmiri political detainees were being subjected to the worst political vendetta for their political ideology.
Citing information provided by the families of the illegally detained Hurriyat leaders and activists, he said, the detainees have been kept in solitary confinement in very narrow and dark cells and are being denied basic amenities including medical care and hygienic food due to which they have developed various ailments.
He urged the UN Human Rights Council and other international organizations to send their teams to meet the illegally detained Hurriyat leaders including Shabbir Ahmed Shah, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai, Aasiya Andrabi, Masarrat Aalam Butt, Dr Muhammad Qasim Fakhtoo, Dr Muhammad Shafi Shariati, Ghulam Qadir Butt, Muhammad Yousuf Mir, Naheeda Nasreen, Fehmeeda Sofi, Muzaffarabad Ahmed Dar, Dr Ghulam Muhammad Butt, Bashir Ahmed, Ghazanfar Iqbal, Nazeer Pathan, Nazeer Ahmed Sheikh, Showkat Ahmed Khan, Muhammad Ayub Dar, Muhammad Yousuf Falahi, Altaf Ahmed Shah, Ayaz Muhammad Akbar, Peer Saifullah, Shahid Yousuf, Shakeel Yousuf, Zahoor Ahmed Watali, Shahid-ul-Islam, Muhammad Shafi Shah, Maqsood Ahmed Butt, Tariq Pandit, Hakeem Showkat, Farooq Ahmed Tawheedi, Mirajuddin Nanda, Dr Abdul Hameed Fayaz, Advocate Zahid Ali, Peer Muhammad Ashraf, Mumtaz Ahmed, Muhammad Iqbal and Javaid Ahmed Khan in jails to assess their plight and use influence for their immediate release.
It is to mention here that Indian authorities shifted 21 Kashmiri prisoners, lodged in various jails of Uttar Pradesh, to a high security cell away from other prisoners in Agra jail, the other day. This has been done on the orders of the Indian Home Ministry. These inmates were booked under PSA after their arrest in the wake of the revocation of special status of IIOJK in Aug, 2019. The entire cell is soundproof and under constant CCTV surveillance. The jail staff on duty at the special cell has been strictly directed not to speak to any prisoner and that only senior officials would communicate with them, if needed.—KMS
