Islamabad, (Parliament Times) : While highlighting the plight of Kashmiri detainees the Kashmir Institute of International Relations has urged the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms Michelle Bachelet to impress upon Indian government release illegally detained Kashmiri leaders who have been languishing in different jails within and outside Kashmir.
In a communique addressed to the UN High Commissioner the KIIR chairman Mr. Altaf Hussain Wani while referring to Indian court order regarding framing of charges against Dukhtaran-e-Milat (DEM) chairperson Ms Aasiya Andrabi and her two associates said that Indian government was hell bent on choking every dissenting voice in Kashmir.
Pertinently, Ms Andarbi, 60, an under-trial prisoner has been languishing in New Delhi’s notorious Tihar Jail over the past two years despite suffering from multiple acute ailments. Her health in the prison had deteriorated to alarming levels after she was shifted to a penitentiary ward recently, where prisoners face a strict schedule, including forced physical labor.
“While Ms Andarbi has been left to rot in the prison without any trial, an Indian Court had formally ordered framing of charges against Aasiya Andrabi and her two associates Nahida Nasreen and Sofi Fahmeeda,for allegedly waging war against India.
Madam Commissioner”.
The communique said that the charges against the DEM chief were based on a frivolous report prepared by the Indian secret agencies with mala-fide intentions. “Implicating Ms Andarabi and her two associates in fake and fabricated cases is the worst example of political vendetta and an attempt to suppress and silence her”, Wani said.
“The KIIR remains seriously concerned over the illegal and continuous detention of Ms Andarabi and other under-trial political prisoners who are being punished for speaking truth to power and raising the voice for the voiceless in Kashmir”, he maintained.
The communique further said that the Indian judiciary has been virtually unable to provide justice to Kashmiri detainees. “There are hundreds of Kashmiris who have been searing in flames of withering injustice and discrimination. The courts and judges have been playing into the hands of the Indian government that seems hell on choking every dissenting voice in Kashmir. Hanging of Kashmir’s prominent freedom fighter Muhammad Maqbool Bhat and Muhammad Afzal Guru severe as the glaring examples of Indian judiciary’s biased approach against the Kashmiris”, the communique added.
Urging the UN Human Rights Commissioner to take cognizance of the plight of Ms Andarabi and other Kashmiri detainees the KIIR chairman appealed the madam commissioner to use her good offices to ensure safety and early release of all Kashmiri prisoners languishing in different jails within and outside Kashmir.