Hurriyat (M) demands release of political prisoners

Srinagar: Mirwaiz Umar Farooq led Hurriyat Conference on Thursday reiterated its call to release all political prisoners in jails in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere in India.
Hurriyat led by Mirwaiz in a statement issued here on Thursday said that thousands of Kashmiris are languishing in jails including Hurriyat leaders and activists, young boys, journalists lawyers and traders and ordinary Kashmiris on one fictitious charge or other be it jails in J&K or outside such as Tihar, Agra, Kotbalwal, Jodhpur, Amphalla, Haryana Jails. “Neither are they being tried in courts nor any legal proceedings initiated. Their arbitrary detention is just being prolonged. Many among the prisoners are those who are being detained even after serving their sentences,” the statement reads.
Hurriyat said the mental and physical condition of many among the prisoners is a matter of concern, while the fear of contracting the COVID-19 virus in cramped up spaces of jail is a constant fear among the prisoners and their families.
“All political prisoners should be released including those under arbitrary house detentions,” Hurriyat said, appealing to human rights groups, civil society member’s legal fraternity both in India and outside to raise its voice against these targeted detentions.
Hurriyat said the atmosphere of fear intimidation unaccountability and uncertainty pervades every sphere of life in Jammu and Kashmir to silence dissent and demands. “In such a situation one has to be patient but not lose hope.”
It also said that it stands firm on its principles and rights of the people of J&K and also demanded the immediate release of its chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq who is under house arrest since August last year