Saghar seeks HR bodies’ role in early release of Shabir Ahmed Shah

Islamabad: Condemning in strong terms the illegal detention of party Chairman the Acting Chairman Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party has sought world human rights bodies’ role in the early release of Shabir Ahmed Shah (SAS) who has been languishing in Tihar Jail for the last three years.

Terming the illegal imprisonment of Shah as a deep rooted conspiracy to suppress voice of dissent in Kashmir Saghar in a statement issued here on Monday said that the ailing Hurriyat leader was being deliberately punished for his unprecedented and indomitable role in the Kashmiris’ ongoing freedom struggle against the Indian illegal occupation.

Despite launching a vicious smear campaign against Shabir Ahmed Khan and his associates the DFP leader said that the Indian agencies have miserably failed to produce any solid evidence against the DFP chairman and other Hurriyat leaders. The vilification campaign against Shah by Indian authorities, he said, was a deliberate attempt to denigrate and disparage his image in the public. The vicious campaign against the Kashmiri leadership he said was intentionally launched to deter the resistance leadership from voicing the sentiments of their nation.

Urging world human rights organizations to take effective notice of the fast deteriorating health condition of Shah and other Hurriyat leaders Saghar stated that Mr. Shah who has been suffering from multiple ailments was not receiving proper medical treatment in the highly congested jail, which he said has been declared as a hotbed of the novel coronavirus.

He said that Indian authorities’ intent to keep Kashmiri Hurriyat leaders behind the bars was part of India’s grand design to render the movement leaderless. Terming it as a manifestation of colonial mentality Saghar said that Indian rulers must bear in mind the fact that these inhuman, immoral and undemocratic tactics will not deter the resistance leaders like Shah from advocating their just cause. Terming SAS as the pioneer of the ongoing freedom movement Saghar said that the SAS had devoted his entire life for the cause. During his life long struggle Saghar said that SAS had spent 33 years in different Indian prisons, detention and interrogation centers.

It may be recalled here that Shabir Ahmed Shah was arrested by Indian investigation agency (NIA) on 25 July 2017 in a decade old case, which was quashed by a Indian court after the occupation authorities miserably failed to produce any evidence against him. Shah was later shifted to New Delhi and since then he has been languishing in the Tihar jail along with dozens of high profile Hurriyat leaders including, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Nayeem Ahmed Khan Ayaz Akbar, Altaf Shah, Peer Saifullah, Raja Mehrajudin, Shahidul Islam, Asiya Indrabi, Masrat Alam, J&K Bar Association president Mian Abdul Qayoom, and others.

Meanwhile, the DFP spokesman in a separate statement condemned the continued arrest spree and bloodbath of innocent civilians by Indian occupation forces in Kashmir and urged the world community to take effective cognizance of Indian brutalities in the region.