Shifting detainees to Indian Jails amid CORONA tantamount to endanger prisoners’ lives: JKNF
Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir National Front has condemned in strong terms the shifting of Kashmiri prisoners from Jammu Kashmir to different parts of India.
In a statement issued here on Sunday the JKNF spokesman Shafiq-ur-Rehman while expressing serious concern about Kashmiri prisoners being at heightened risk of COVID-19 said that amidst fast spreading coronavirus shifting of the Kashmiri prisoners from valley to different parts of India was a criminal negligence tantamount to endangering the prisoners’ lives. He said that hundreds of Kashmiri prisoners were already languishing in Tihar, Haryana, UP, Tamil Nadu, Madya Pardesh, Karnatka jails.
Terming it as a deliberate attempt to punish Kashmiris he said that the reckless step was taken at a time when the pandemic is claiming thousands of lives daily and prisons have been declared as hotbeds for the coronavirus disease.
Expressing his concern on the declining health conditions of the hundreds of Kashmiri prisoners lodged in different jails in India the spokesman said that in view of the massive spike in COVID deaths and infections the government of India should release the Kashmiri prisoners who were at a grave danger and risk of the COVID infection.
He said that disturbing reports pouring in from the Indian jails have been a matter of grave concern as many prisoners were reported to have contracted the deadly virus during the past couple of weeks. Referring to a news report he said that most of the top-rank Hurriyat leaders lodged in notorious Tihar Jail, including Nayeem Ahmed Khan, Shabir Ahmed Shah, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Aasiya Andrabi, Massrat Alam Butt, Shahid-ul-Islam and others have been suffering from acute ailments.
“The family members of these prisoners are seriously concerned about the health and lives of their loved ones”, he said adding that it is high time that the international community must press the Indian government to release all illegally detained political prisoners to ensure their safety.
Referring to the Indian occupation authorities’ mean tactics to suppress the dissent in the region the spokesman made it clear that Indian cruel policies can’t deter Kashmiris to pursue their long cherished goal for which the Kashmiris have rendered unprecedented sacrifices.The spokesman condemned the occupation authorities for criminalising freedom of expression by terminating the employees.
