Srinagar: Condemning in strong terms the illegal detention of Nayeem Ahmed Khan the Jammu and Kashmir National Front has sought international human rights organisations’ role in the early release of the incarcerated party chairman who has completed three-year unlawful imprisonment in Tihar jail.
Pertinently, the JKNF chairman Naeem Ahmed Khan was arrested after the notorious Indian investigation agency (NIA) raided his house in Srinagar on 25 July 2017. Khan was later shifted to New Delhi and since then he has been languishing in the jail along with dozens of high profile Hurriyat leaders including Shabir Ahmed Shah, Yasin Malik, Ayaz Akbar, Altaf Shah, Peer Saifullah, Raja Mehrajudin, Shahidul Islam, Asiya Indrabi, Fahmeeda Sofi, Nahida Nasreen, Masrat Alam, J&K Bar Association president Mian Abdul Qayoom, Ghulam Qadir Bhat, Dr Muhammad Qasim Faktoo, Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai, Dr Shafi Sharaie and others. Whereas Shahid Yousuf, Zahoor Watali and Syed Shakeel who have no affiliation whatsoever with any of the political parties of Kashmir have also been booked under PSA in the same prison on trumped up charges.
Terming the arrest of Kashmiri leaders as a deep rooted conspiracy to suppress voice of dissent in Kashmir the JKNF spokesman in a statement issued here on Thursday said that the notorious agency (NIA) was working on whims and fancies of New Delhi has been tasked to malign Kashmiri leaders in order to sow the seeds of discord among the masses in Kashmir. Despite launching a vicious smear campaign against Nayeem Ahmed Khan and his associates the spokesman said that the Indian agencies have miserably failed to produce any solid evidence against the JKNF chief and other Hurriyat leaders. This vilification campaign he said was launched with malicious intent to denigrate and discredit the resistance leadership and in turn discredit the Kashmiris ongoing freedom struggle. The spokesman said that a character assassination campaign against leadership was launched to tarnish their public image and to deter them from voicing the sentiments of their nation.
Urging world human rights organisations to take effective notice of the fast deteriorating health condition of Nayeem Ahmed Khan and other Hurriyat leaders the spokesman said that Khan who has been suffering from multiple ailments was not receiving proper medical treatment in the highly congested jail which has been declared as a hotbed of the novel coronavirus. The spokesman said that Indian authorities’ deliberate intent to keep Kashmiri Hurriyat leaders in highly congested prison amply demonstrates their intent that let the Kashmiri prisoners rot in jails. Terming it as a manifestation of colonial mentality the spokesman said that Indian rulers must bear in mind the fact that these inhuman, immoral and undemocratic tactics will not deter the Kashmiri resistance leadership from advocating their just cause. Terming Khan as a frontline resistance leader the spokesman said, “Nayeem Ahmed Khan has the honour and privilege to be the pioneer of the ongoing freedom struggle”. Referring to Khan’s commitment to the Kashmir cause, he said that the JKNF chairman has devoted his entire life for the noble cause for which Kashmiri nation has rendered unprecedented sacrifices.
