Srinagar: Hurriyat (M) Chairman Mirwaiz Molvi Umer Farooq Friday said that the information received from jails regarding the plight of detainees is deeply disturbing and a matter of serious concern for the leadership and the people of Kashmir. Addressing a Friday congregation at Jamia Masjid Srinagar Mirwaiz said that the treatment meted out to Kashmiri detainees and under trials lodged particularly in Jammu central jail Kotbalwal ,Kathua and Tihar jail right from the time they enter these jails is deliberately inhuman. He said that it is aimed not so much at physically torturing them but to break their will and determination and affect them psychologically. Mirwaiz said that these detainees are not criminals but political prisoners who are being subject to detention for their political convictions and outlook and dealing with them inhumanly is not only a violation of the Geneva conventions of the rights and dignity of prisoners but even against basic human practices and ethics.
He said that the vengeful treatment to which they are subject to during detention includes off and on solitary confinement, manhandling of leadership by dreaded criminals posing a grave threat to their lives, unavailability of medicines and medical care and substandard quality of food including only pulses provided to them. Mirwaiz said that even the visitors and relatives who come to see them in jail are also delibeately harassed and tormented by the authorities. All this is done in complete violation of the jail manual which lays emphasis on the honor and dignity of prisoners.
Mirwaiz termed the silence of international organizations towards the plight of Kashmiri prisoners as unfortunate and stated that there are dozens of prisoners who have already completed their term but continue to languish in prisons while many prisoners are under trials whose trials are repeatedly deferred. He said that even when the prisoners lodged under the notorious PSA complete their term, police and related agencies are ready with another dossier to prolong their detention mostly under fictitious charges.
Mirwaiz said repeatedly we are appealing Indian and international human rights organizations including Amnesty International, Asia watch ICRC to get a firsthand account of this pathetic situation of Kashmiri prisoners by on spot inspection of jails where Kashmiri prisoners are lodged to see for themselves what they are going through and take up the matter with the Indian Government. He said it is their moral and legal duty.
