Geelani hails good-will gestures of Indo-Pak to release destitute prisoners

Srinagar: Hailing good-will gestures by both India and Pakistan to release the destitute prisoners from their respective jails, Hurriyat Conference (G) chairman, Syed Ali Geelani Wednesday said that mutual well wishing in the month of Holy Ramadan should be a permanent feature of the bilateral relations of both the countries.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, he expressed his high hope that as the important parties to the Kashmir dispute both countries should use this well wishing attitude, in the first instance, to release all the prisoners belonging to Jammu and Kashmir, languishing in Indian jails.
Lamenting on the plight of Kashmiri prisoners at the hands of barbaric jail authorities in and outside Jammu and Kashmir, Geelani reiterated his stand that Kashmir is a pure political and humanitarian problem which is in dire need of an early resolution for the prosperous South Asia so instantly, the mutual well wishing gesture to release all the prisoners must include those Kashmiri prisoners languishing in the state and outside in Indian jails.
Taking a dig on the reluctance of India, not to allow the International Red Cross, Amnesty International or other human rights organizations to visit these jails and observe their pathetic condition, Hurriyat leader said that the illogical denial by India speaks volumes about the plight of Kashmiri prisoners.
Citing the ‘delaying tactics’ to prolong the detention of such prisoners, by the judiciary which tantamount to ‘brazen denial of justice’, Geelani said that “those incarcerated on fabricated and flimsy grounds face the hardships of unfair-trail in the respective courts of Law. Without any hearing on the fixed dates, new dates at long intervals are fixed to add ordeal to the accused prisoners.”
There are hundreds of instances where, bail, detenue’s basic right is also denied for years together. Life imprisonment on the basis of political vendetta has become a routine matter in Jammu and Kashmir, Geelani said.
Appealing both the countries, especially India to ‘shun stubbornness’, Geelani said that “let the two nuclear neighbours of South Asia turn a new leaf in their bilateral relations to sit together alongwith the people of Kashmir and resolve of Kashmir issue peacefully in accordance with the wishes and aspirations of the people of the Jammu and Kashmir.”
Meanwhile, on the directions of Geelani, a high level delegation of Hurriyat Conference comprising Bilal Sidqui, Molvi Bashir, Gh. Mohammad Nagoo, Peer Mohammad Shafi, Mohammad Maqbool Maghami, Arhad Ahmad Bhat, Zamrooda Habib and Yasmeen Raja visited Trehgam, Sumbal and conveyed the deep sympathies for the baby victim and her parents. The delegation strongly condemned the ‘gruesome incident’, demanded fair probe and speedy trail to serve an exemplary punishment to the culprit for committing the heinous crime.