Javed Iqbal
The series of torture or illegal executions of Kashmiri libertarian leaders or activists is nothing new. Of course, the freedom movement is not complete without the hardships and sacrifices of imprisonment. Every movement has to face ups and downs because the freedom movement is the name of continuous struggle. During this time, it is certain to fight against the oppressive force. The same is true of the freedom movement of Jammu and Kashmir and its leaders and workers.
There are serious threats to the life of the country. The international community does not know why the atrocities on the Kashmiri people and leaders of India are not visible. From martyred Maqbool Butt to Afzal Gaur and after the martyrdoms of thousands of Kashmiris, now the Indian government has targeted Yasin Malik, the well-known freedom fighter leader and the founder of the Kashmir Azadi Movement. An appeal has been filed in the Dehli High Court to convert the life sentence into a death sentence. It should be noted that last year a court in New Delhi sentenced Yasin Malik to life imprisonment in a false case. He was arrested in March 2019 and his organization, “The Liberal Front,” was declared invalid, and he is currently imprisoned in Tihar Jail, New Dehli.
Thus, Kashmiris have been facing the difficulties of imprisonment since the beginning of their movement for freedom, but after August 5, 2019, Modi’s atrocities have intensified. Jails in Kashmir are overcrowded, but a large number of Hurriyat activists are being held outside the state in India’s notorious jails. Most of the prisoners are living in prison without trial under the black laws, according to a report, more than three thousand freedom leaders and activists are currently imprisoned in the jails of occupied Jammu and Kashmir and India. At present, leaders who spoke about the freedom of Kashmir are in an Indian prison, including Musrat Alam Butt, Shabbir Ahmad Shah, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Naeem Ahmad Khan, Asiya Andrabi, Ayaz Muhammad Akbar, Shahidul Islam, Mirajuddin Kalwal, Pir Saifullah, Farooq Ahmad Dar. , Fahmida Sufi, Naheeda Nasreen, Khurram Parvez, Mushtaq ul Islam, Sharif Sartaj, Muhammad Hayat Butt, Abdul Samad Ghanqali, Maulana Abdul Majeed Dar, Maulana Mushtaq Veri, Abdul Rashid Dawoodi, Maulana Abdul Wahid Kishtwari, Engineer Abdul Rashid, Zahoor Ahmad Dotali, Ahsan and others are included. Dozens of leaders, including Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, are under house arrest. These are just a few names that have come to the fore.As the Hurriyat leadership of Occupied Jammu and Kashmir has been in prison for a long time and 30-year-old cases are being opened against them or baseless allegations like terror financing and money laundering are being made. It happens that the policy of the present government of India is that Kashmiri Hurriyat leaders could not be released from jails and they would be kept in jails and disposed of. Regrettably, despite the continuous concerns expressed by the families of these jailed leaders regarding their health, no one, including India and human rights organizations, is paying attention.
Earlier, the Indian government executed several Kashmiri leaders judicially and extrajudicially, including the executions of Maqbool Butt on February 11, 1984, and Afzal Guru on February 9, 2013. Similarly, Mirwaiz Maulvi Muhammad Farooq was shot dead by unknown gunmen at his residence in Srinagar on May 21, 1990. Twelve years later, on May 21, 2002, Khawaja Abdul Ghani Lone was shot dead when he was attending a gathering at the Martyr’s Shrine in Srinagar. On August 11, 2008, Sheikh Abdul Aziz was martyred by Indian forces while he was leading a procession from Srinagar to the Line of Control against the economic blockade of the Kashmir Valley while returning after his speech.
In May 2021, Ashraf Sehrai, the leader of the Kashmir Liberation Movement, was martyred at the age of 77 while incarcerated in Udhampur Jail. In May 2020, his son Junaid Sahrai was martyred in the journey of freedom. Altaf Ahmad Shah died in the infamous Tihar Jail. He was incarcerated since 2017. Altaf Ahmad Shah was diagnosed with cancer while in prison, yet the Indian government did not release him. There are thousands of such cases in which Kashmiri leaders were detained. They were killed and shot as terrorists. The Modi government has used various tactics to break and buy the Hurriyat leadership of Occupied Kashmir, but it did not work, so now the Hurriyat leadership is being gradually removed from the scene so that Modi’s nefarious ambitions regarding occupied Kashmir would be fulfilled.
The reaction expected from the Hurriyat leadership did not come, issuing a press release on their part is not enough, the Hurriyat leaders have to come out in the practical field and give a strong action plan. Similarly, those leaders of nationalists and liberation fronts spread all over the world, who raise a storm in East and West over load shedding in Azad Kashmir, launch a whole campaign against Pakistan. Isn’t it their responsibility that today if the death penalty is being given to Yasin Malik, then they should raise their voice against India and organize a big protest in the international world to expose the ugly face of India and Modi? Yasin Malik and other Hurriyat leaders are making these sacrifices for Kashmir and the Kashmiri nation, they have burnt their boats for freedom, they have fulfilled their duty and set their destination, that is why last year when Yasin Malik was being charged, he addressed the judge and said,” If asking for freedom is a crime, so I am ready to accept that crime and its consequences,”
On one occasion, when Ashraf Sehrai was brought before the judge of the advisory council from the jail, the judge said, “What do you have to say in your cleanup? ,” Sahrai said to the judge that the decision was written on the table in front of you, how clear will it be with my clean statement? So you should read this.
