Srinagar
Hurriyat (g) Conference chairman, Syed Ali Geelani expressed his serious concern over the deteriorating health condition of incarcerated leader Mohammad Yasin Malik and warned if any untoward happens to him, New Delhi shall have to face the consequences. He also condemned the continued “grilling” of his elder son Dr Nayeem Geelani by NIA at New Delhi.
The spokesman said that people all over the world are fighting for their political rights but the state of Jammu & Kashmir is the only exception where the political voices are being crushed with judicial “onslaught”, registering sedition cases against them through their “biased” investigating agencies which are not spearing even family members of the resistance leaders.
Seriously concerned about the plight of prisoners in and outside jails, Geelani said that government has waged war against Kashmiries on every front. Daily killings by “operation all out” has put every conscious individual within the firing range of coercive measures.
He said that many pro-freedom people are arrested in the name of “Terror Funding”, and are languished in Tihar jail without any legal aid which includes Mohammad Yaseen Malik, Shabir Ahmad Shah, Dr. G. M. Bhat, Altaf Ahmad Shah, Ayaz Akbar, Peer Saifullah, Raja Mehraj-ud-din Kalwal, Nayeem Ahmad Khan, Farooq Ahmad Dar, Shahid-ul-Islam, Syed Shahid Yousuf, Syed Shakeel Ahmad and businessman Zahoor Ahmad Watali. Even the females Syeda Asia Indrabi, Fehmeeda Sofi and Nahida Nasreen are not spared. They too face the wrath and are lodged in far-flung jails in India particularly Tihar jail.
Hurriyat chairman said that rulers have themselves made a joke of their democracy and court decisions are influenced by the region and faith of the accused amounting to gross judicial activism, the recent example of which is the rejection of the bail granted by Delhi High Court in favour of Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Ahmad Watali, which was not only surprising but puts a big question mark on the free and fair legal system of World’s largest democracy.
The pro-freedom leader said our prisoners are making history with their courage, steadfastness, patience and commitment, particularly those facing life imprisonment like Dr Mohammad Qasim, Dr Mohammad Shafi Khan Sharyati, Gh. Qadir Bhat, Feroz Ahmad Bhat, Bilal Ahmad Kota, Bashir Ahmad Baba, Sheikh Nazir Ahmad, Mohammad Ayoub Mir, Mohammad Ayoub Dar, Ali Mohammad Bhat, Latief Ahmad Waja, Mirza Nisar, Ab. Gani Goni, Mehmood Topiwala, Javed Ahmad Khan, Parvez Ahmad Mir, Gh. Mohammad Bhat, Dr. Waseem and others.
Those facing PSA more than 35 times like Masarat Aalam Bhat and others like Mohammad Yousuf Falahi, Abdul Gani Bhat, Moulana Sarjan Barkati etc and recently Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami Dr Hameed Fayaz, Advocate Zahid Ali, Moulana Mushtaq Veeri and others.
He said that now Srinagar Central Jail also bears a look of Tihar, where relatives of detenues are kept waiting for hours together in name of questioning and frisking and then made to see their loved ones behind the two-layer iron net, which is distressing for both prisoners and the relatives particularly kids.
Hurriyat chairman appealed the international community, prisoner’s rights forums and human rights bodies, to compel authorities to, at least honour and obey their own laws and stop the revengeful attitude towards the political prisoners.
