While strongly condemning the arrest of a civilian Latif Ahmad Bhat of Sopore and vandalizing and looting of precious articles from the residence of a pro-freedom youth Waseem Ahmad Bhat by the army, Hurriyat (G) chairman Syed Ali Geelani demanded release of all the political prisoners including Masarat Alam Bhat, Shakeel Ahmad Yatoo, Mir Hafizullah, Abdullah Nasir, Zubair Ahmad Turray, Fayaz Ahmad Lone and life term serving Dr. Mohammad Qasim, Gh. Qadir Bhat, Dr. Mohammad Shafi Sharity, Mohammad Amin Dar, Mohammad Ishaq Pall, Mohammad Sayed Bhat, Muzaffar Ahmad Wani and Farouz Ahmad before the Eid.In a statement to KNS, Geelani said like other election promises, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has backed out from his claim regarding the release of the prisoners. The Hurriyat (G) chairman added that the army has once again started harassing the common people on the sa,e pattern as was done 1990s.“An Ikhwani informer namely Jaleel is working with Indian Army in the Tarzoo Sopore Camp and with the help of army, he has made the lives of the people living in that area a hell,” he said in the statement.
The statement added that a civilian Lateef Ahmad Bhat of Tarzoo Sopore was arrested by the army on the direction of the informer and later subjected to worst kind of custodial torture. “The army raided the house of another youth of Tarzoo Waseem Ahmad Bhat and went berserk there and vandalized his entire house and looted precious items there,” the statement added.Geelani demanded the release of all the political prisoners before the Eid and said that every country has a tradition of releasing the prisoners on the Eid eve but this process has been closed in the Jammu & Kashmir. Geelani also demanded the shifting of all the Kashmiri Tihar Jail detainees including Dr. Ghulam Mohammad Bhat, Tariq Ahmad Dar, Mohammad Rafiq Shah, Javaid Fazali and Muzaffar Ahmad and said that majority of them have been framed in false and baseless charges and although the judiciary is also not impartial here so their imprisonment is prolonging there. Hurriyat (G) appealed the Amnesty International and other human rights organization to take serious notice of the conditions of the Kashmiri detainees and use their influence for their release. (KNS)