KL Report
SRINAGAR
While demanding unconditional release and cancellation of criminal cases of all the pro-freedom prisoners of Kashmir who are serving life term, chairman Hurriyat Conference (G) Syed Ali Geelani Thursday said, “Kashmir is an international level dispute and this region comes under the ambit of conflict zones of the world so, all the prisoners related to this issue are political prisoners and they can’t be detained for the whole life nor can they be treated as professional criminals.”
Demanding release of Dr. Mohammad Qasim, Ghulam Qadir Bhat, Dr. Mohammad Shafi Khan Shariti, Nazir Ahmad Shaikh, Mohammad Ayoub Dar, Mohammad Ayoub Mir, Fayaz Ahmad Peer, Mohammad Amin Wani, Noor Mohammad Tantray, Farooz Ahmad Bhat, Fida Ahmad, Mohammad Hussain, Ghulam Mohammad Bhat, Mohammad Ishaq Palla, Abdul Waheed Nayak, Bashir Ahmad Bhat, Mushtaq Ahmad Malla, Mohammad Maqbool, Sharif-ud-din, Gayas-ud-din, Muhmood Topiwala, Parvaiz Mir, Abdul Gani Goni and Showkat Ahmad Khan, Geelani in a statement from New Delhi said, “Political prisoners are periodically released in all the disputed regions of the world including Palestine but this process is yet to start in India and they doesn’t pay any heed to the international principles.”
“With the world community, India and Pakistan governments also accept the Kashmir as a Human issue and the right to self determination of the people of Kashmir which is present into the UN Charter is still pending. He said that the people who are being arrested in this perspective are termed as political prisoners and they can neither be treated at par with the professional criminals and nor can they be punished under the criminal laws. Although armed struggle is the part of every freedom movement of the world even then it can’t be linked with the terrorism,” he added.
The Hurriyat (G) chairman said that the people like Bhagat Singh, Sukh Dave and Raj Guru who led an armed struggle for the freedom of India, are not remembered as terrorists “but they are treated as national heroes by the India and they are supposed to be respected by the every section of the society.”
“So in this way the people who have chosen this path for getting the right to self determination of the people of Kashmir are in no way any professional criminals and nor have they anything to do with the terrorism. They are people with solid ideologies and they are well read people,” Geelani said.
“Terming the political prisoners as professional criminals and registering criminal cases and announcing punishments against them is the clear violation of the international laws and it doesn’t have any moral justification. India is claiming to be a big democratic country in the world and it is also desirous to become the permanent member of the UNO so, it is essential for him to obey all the laws and principles which have been setup for the political prisoners by the world body and which are being followed in every conflict zone of the world,” he said.
The Hurriyat (G) chairman appealed the officials of the Amnesty International and the Red Cross to use their influence for the unconditional release and cancellation of the criminal cases of all the prisoners of Kashmir.
