Srinagar

Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) comprising Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik on Thursday strongly condemned the “ill and inhuman treatment” meted out to the political prisoners from Kashmir lodged in Kathua jail stating that many inmates lodged there have been severely thrashed by the jail authorities which is not only unacceptable but against the basic principles of humanity.

In a statement, the spokesman said similar treatment is given to the political prisoners from Kashmir time and again who are lodged in various jails out of Jammu and Kashmir which is a serious concern and a cause of worry.

Joint Resistance Leadership comprising Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, and Mohammad Yasin Malik

In a joint statement, he said that many ploys are being employed to prolong the detention period of Kashmiri prisoners as they are not even produced before the respective courts on their fixed dates of hearing which is nothing but sheer vendetta.

The leadership said that despite clear-cut directions from the Indian supreme court that prisoners be lodged to the jails closer to their homes, dozens of Kashmiri prisoners were shifted outside the State and are lodged in various parts of India where they are facing extreme “suppression” in-terms of absence of all the basic facilities guaranteed by the jail manuals.

The Leadership said that the situation is worse in the jails that include Kathua, Udhampur, Kotbalwal, Delhi, Tihar and other prisons, where Kashmiri inmates are subjected to worst form inhuman behaviour in a brazen violation of basic human rights. The leadership urged the world bodies and international organisations fighting for the prisoner’s justice to visit the jails in Jammu and Kashmir and also various prisons in India where Kashmiri prisoners are lodged and to build pressure on New Delhi to release the inmates who have are facing no offence other than the demand for their legitimate right—the right to self-determination.

JRL strongly denounced the massive crackdown launched by the forces across south Kashmir, especially the day-long siege of more than a dozen villages in Awantipore terming it as the ultimate “repression”. They said that people of all ages were asked to stay out of their homes for hours together in the bone-chilling cold while as forces conducted door to door searches in dozens of villages and asked people to face the parade is the worst form of human rights that deserve the highest form of condemnation.

Commenting on some media reports about the existence of some Joint Resistance Centre (JRC) in the UK claimed to be the reflection of JRL in Kashmir. JRL has distanced itself from the said centre. While stating that we have neither authorized anybody to form this Centre nor do we know anything about it. JRL said that while we appreciate the role of the Kashmiri diaspora and believe Kashmiris living in any part of the world should act as ambassadors for the Kashmir cause and should  be concerned about the happenings in their homeland, but making any forum and attributing it to the leadership without any prior consent or information creates confusion and misunderstanding.

JRL said that Kashmiri diasporas are active at their respective places for a long period and we wish they all unite by their hearts and minds to put a collective fight against the violence, but it needs common and collective efforts by everybody after proper deliberations and consent by the leadership on the ground.

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