SRINAGAR In occupied Kashmir, the Hurriyat forum led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and other Hurriyat leaders have reiterated call for immediate release of all Kashmiri political prisoners and youth languishing in various jails across India and the occupied territory amid the surge in the coronavirus cases. The Hurriyat forum in a statement issued in Srinagar, today, said, this situation poses a grave threat to the lives of the Kashmiri prisoners and they must be released immediately so that their families, who are facing mental trauma, heave a sigh of relief. It urged the world rights organisations to facilitate the release of these prisoners as the humanitarian crisis unfolds. The Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Employees Movement, Muhammad Shafi Lone, and the Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Social Youth Forum, Umar Aadil Dar, in their statements strongly condemned the Modi government for not releasing the Kashmiri political detainees despite the spread of deadly coronavirus. Meanwhile, human rights lawyers,Ajaz Ahmed Bedar, Nazir Ahmed Ronga and Pervez Imroz in their interviews in Srinagar said that the Kashmiri detainees were kept in unhygienic conditions in Indian jails and they were more susceptible to contract the coronavirus pandemic. The long-running curbs on the internet prevented a handful of doctors from the occupied territory to join an online training session on managing ventilators – critical equipment for patients with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. These doctors were invited by India’s health ministry to join the training session, however, they were unable to attend because of long-running curbs on the internet that have prevented those living in occupied Kashmir from accessing information about the coronavirus. Meanwhile, the number of Covid19 positive cases in entire occupied Kashmir today rose to 68 as 6 more persons contracted the disease. All of the fresh cases are from the Kashmir Valley and include a 10-year-old boy. The Kashmir Valley has now 43 cases while Jammu has 12 and Ladakh 13. Out of the total cases, 2 have died. A 28-year-old youth, who was seriously injured after being shot at by unidentified gunmen, last week, at Turigam in Kulgam district, succumbed at Soura Institute of Medical Sciences in Srinagar, today. The APHC-AJK leaders, Syed Aijaz Rehmani and Zahid Ashraf, in their statements issued in Islamabad condemned the Indian regime over the mass arrests in occupied Kashmir on the pretext of violation of the lockdown against the spread of coronavirus.—KMS
