AJK Leader Demands Urgent Release Of Kashmiri Prisoners

APHC-AJK leader and the Vice President of Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party, Mehmood Ahmed Saghar, has urged India to release all Kashmiri prisoners lodged in different jails in and outside occupied Kashmir, without any further delay, in the wake of coronavirus pandemic

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Apr, 2020 ) :APHC-AJK leader and the Vice President of Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party, Mehmood Ahmed Saghar, has urged India to release all Kashmiri prisoners lodged in different jails in and outside occupied Kashmir, without any further delay, in the wake of coronavirus pandemic.

According to Kashmir Media Service, Mehmood Ahmed Saghar in a statement issued in Islamabad said, "During a pandemic, when people around the world are isolated and social distancing is considered as the only way to control the COVID-19 spread, it's high time that India should release under-trials particularly Kashmiri prisoners who have been arrested after 5th August 2019 and held in far-flung jails of India." Mehmood Saghar while referring to the pathetic condition of Kashmiri prisoners lodged in overcrowded jails within and outside the Kashmir Valley said that most of senior Hurriyat leaders including DFP President, Shabbir Ahmed Shah, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Aasiya Andrabi and Nayeem Ahmed Khan had been detained in Delhi's notorious Tihar Jail, where inmates were at high risk of being affected from coronavirus.

He said that the rapidly increasing number of COVID-19 affectees in India was a cause of serious concern for the people of occupied Kashmir as a large number of Kashmirs arrested by the Indian authorities since August 05 last year had been held in different Indian jails in miserable conditions.

The DFP leader expressed serious concern over the prevailing political and human rights situation in occupied Kashmir.

He called upon India to allow the entry of world health organizations and medical experts into occupied Kashmir to help identify and treat the coronavirus affectees besides controlling and containing the further spread of the virus in the territory.

Stressing the need for immediate restoration of full-fledged internet facility in occupied Kashmir, he said that the suspension of internet in the territory has further complicated the situation as people were unable to access websites that provide necessary information about the pandemic.

Appreciating Human Rights Watch's recent statement regarding the continued lockdown in the occupied territory, Saghar said that the world human rights organizations should come forward in a big way to put pressure on India to release the Kashmiri prisoners whose lives in jails are at risk.