The Hurriyat Conference (G) chairman Syed Ali Geelani on Monday expressed serious concern over “deteriorating” health condition of Kashmiri detainees in New Delhi’s Tihar jail and demanded immediate shifting all Kashmiri prisoners, lodged in various jails outside the state, to Kashmir.
In a statement, Geelani said that Shabir Ahmad Shah, Altaf Ahmad Shah, DrGhulam Muhammad Bhat, Peer Saifullah, Ayaz Akbar, Meraj-u-Din Kalwal, Shahid-ul-Islam, Farooq Ahmad Dar @ Bita Karate, Nayeem Ahmad Khan, Kamran Yousuf, Shahid Yusuf, Zahoor Ahmad Watali, are “facing ill-treatment in Tihar jail, and in absence of proper medical care, their health condition is worsening with every passing day.”
He cautioned that if anything untoward happens to them, the “local rulers” and New Delhi “shall have to face the consequences.”
Expressing deep concern over “falling health” of DrGhulam Muhammad Bhat, Geelani said that he is languishing in jail for the past eight years and suffering from multiple ailments.
“Despite his deteriorating health, no proper treatment is provided to him and his eyesight is badly affected in absence of specific treatment,” he said.
Geelani said that it is highly condemnable that (these) prisoners lodged in Tihar jail have not committed any offence and are political prisoners “suffering because of political vendetta.”
Geelani also condemned the continued detention of resistance leaders including MasaratAlamBhat, Muhammad Qasim, Muhammad ShafiShariati, Ghulam Muhammad Khan (Sopori), Ameer Hamza Shah, Mir Hafizullah, Muhammad Yusuf Falahi, Abdul GaniBhat, Muhammad Yusuf Lone, SarjanBarkati and several others.
“They were arrested in fake and fabricated charges and their detention is being prolonged on one pretext or the other and PSA is slapped on them one after the other,” he said.
Geelani said that most people, particularly youth, arrested following July 8, 2016 uprising in Kashmir have been “tortured” in various police stations, lodged in different jails and their detention is being prolonged “on one or the other pretext.”
Commenting on “inhuman” treatment meted out to Kashmiri prisoners, Geelani appealed to the Amnesty International, Asia Watch and other international organisations for human rights to take cognisance of the plight of these detainees and use influence for their release.