Rasheed Ahmed
Brussels (Daily Parliament Times) Pakistan has urged the European Union to seek immediate release of the Kashmiri human rights activist and political leader, Ms. Asiya Andrabi, imprisoned in the notorious Tihar Jail in India.
In a letter addressed to the chairs of the political groups in the European Parliament and EU
Special Representative for Human Rights, Pakistan’s envoy to the European Union, Belgium and Luxembourg, Ambassador Zaheer A Janjua, urged the EU to play its role to stop imminent risk of conviction of Ms. Andrabi by a sham court on 18 January 2020.
Ms. Andrabi has been under illegal and inhuman captivity for more than 15 years on fabricated charges under draconian laws such as Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA) and Public Safety Act (PSA). She was first arrested in 1992, along-with her husband and six-month old son under the PSA. Between 1992 and 2016, she has been jailed multiple times by the occupation forces.
India has now placed Ms. Andrabi along with her associates Ms. Naheeda Nasreen and Ms. Fehmeeda Sofi on a sham trial under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) on trumped up charges, deliberately accelerating the trail and setting aside due judicial process, reflecting clear malicious intent and indications of looming judicial murder. UAPA has been specifically declared to be incompatible with international human rights standards by various UN Special Procedures.
Ms. Andrabi, as a defender of human rights and an ardent advocate of women empowerment, has worked tirelessly for social reforms and realization of fundamental freedoms for the people of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJK) for over four decades. She founded an organization called Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM), which is one of the biggest women rights organizations in IIOJK, working on women’s education, empowerment, well-being and protection — especially against sexual
violence and abuse at the hands of Indian occupation forces.
Ambassador Janjua underscored that Ms. Andrabi has been subjected to physical and psychological torture in jail, including solitary confinement. He said that despite her deteriorating health conditions and reported outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the jail, she is incarcerated under sub-human conditions where she awaits the imminent conviction.
The Ambassador emphasized that Pakistan, together with the United Nations, OIC, international human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, has highlighted multiple, grave and systemic human rights violations of the hapless Kashmiri people by India. He called upon the EU to raise its voice to convince India to stop illegal and sham trail, drop all fabricated cases against Ms. Andrabi, her husband and associates, paving the way for their honorable and immediate release.
