KL Report
SRINAGAR
The two brothers of North Kashmir’s Palhallan area of Pattan town who were implicated by Special cell of Delhi Police (SCDP) in a false case in 2006 are back to home after spending more than 8 precious years of their lives in different jails of India for none of their fault.
“I was a class 12th student then studying at Jamiat-Ul-Fallah at Azamgarh. Delhi police spoiled my career and made my life miserable,” Samiullah told CNS soon after his release from the prison.
Ali Muhammad Shiekh and his younger brother Samiullah residents of Tantray Mohalla Palhallan were arrested from Delhi in 2007 while they were on their way to Gujarat. Every winter Ali would go to Gujarat for work. That year his younger brother, Samiullah, who had recently appeared in 12th boards, accompanied him. “We were arrested from the railway station soon after we disembarked from the train; Delhi police special cell later showed it in the media that they recovered one kg RDX from us,” says Samiullah who was handed over by Pattan police to family on Monday night after serving 8 years of imprisonment.
Special Cell of Delhi Police (SCDP) arrested us in November 2006. “For two months the information about us was kept a secret just because those ‘corrupt police officials’ in a bid to get rewards and awards gave an impression to media on the eve of New Year that we had arrived in Capital to trigger blasts. We were shocked when police framed us as hard core terrorists,” Ali said adding that SCDP is known for framing Kashmiri people as hardcore terrorists.
He said they in infamous Lodhi Garden police station of Special Cell became a hell for them as they were subject to physical and mental torture there.
His brother Sami added that the recent revelations made by NIA abut Liyaqat Shah’s case makes it clear how SCDP for sake of promotion label innocent Kashmiris as militants and mislead the people of whole country.
“Without listening to our story, the court sentenced us to ten year imprisonment. However, after an appeal, the Delhi High Court reduced the sentence by two years. Last year we were brought to Jammu jail from Tihar and on the directions of court we were both released this year,” Ali said.
“Eight precious years of our lives were devastated. The time is gone. We can’t turn the clock back. We can never lead a normal life now. We are finished,” they said.
Death has been following Sheikh Family like a shadow. It is a household name in the locality for their sufferings. Sheikh’s father Ghulam Mohi-Ud-Din, a Jama’at-e-Islami sympathizer, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in 1997. Army in an encounter killed his brother, who was a top Hizbul Mujahideen militant, in 1992.
In 2008, during the Amarnath land row, Sheikh’s brother, Mohammad Ashraf died in a road accident when he was on way to Srinagar to attend the Eidgah ‘chalo’ march called by pro-freedom groups. Two years later on July 31, 2010, Sheikh’s 12-year-old nephew Adil Ramzan was shot dead by CRPF men while undergoing treatment at the sub-district hospital, Pattan, hours after being hit by a bullet during a pro-freedom demonstration.
“I couldn’t sleep for several nights in the jail when I heard Adil was martyred. I had fed him in my lap. I can’t believe he is no more,” he added.
The Shiekh family, however, is jubilant to see their main two members back in home after 8 years of sufferings. “My eyes can’t believe both my sons are in front of me in my own house,” their mother Ayesha Banoo said.
