Chairman Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Muhammad Yasin Malik was released from police custody on Tuesday, a party spokesperson said.In a statement issued to GNS, a JKLF spokesperson said for the last three years, Malik has been in and out of jails.He said Malik was arrested on the first day of Ramazan and forced to spend first six days of the holy month in police custody.“During last Ramazan too, he had to spend almost full month in jail which is highly regrettable. It has become a preferred pastime of the so-called rulers and their police authorities to arrest and incarcerated JKLF chairman,” he said adding that as soon as anything happens anywhere, he is the first one to be put behind bars which actually shows the anti-democratic attitude of the rulers and their authorities.”“This state of affairs is a mockery of democracy and freedom of speech,” the spokesperson said adding that frequent arrests have put Malik’s health in jeopardy which is fast deteriorating.“The so-called rulers and their authorities should at least have some respect for the holy month of Ramazan and should refrain from imposing harm to human beings,” he said.Meanwhile, the spokesperson said that a delegation of the kith and kin of many Kashmiri inmates languishing in different jails today visited JKLF office and met with party chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik.
The delegation informed Malik about the ill-treatment meted out to Kashmiri prisoners in various jails of Jammu Kashmir and outside especially in the jails of Jammu region, he said adding that Kashmiri inmates have been put in dark cells under shabby conditions.“Besides mental torture, they (inmates) are being subjected to physical abuse too. During the holy month of Ramazan, even Sehri and Iftari has become a tedious affair for these inmates who are facing worst kind of apathy at the hands of jail authorities,” the spokesperson said.The delegation said that authorities at the jails of Udhampur, Kathua, Imphala and Hiranagar have beaten all previous records of “tyranny and oppression”.“These jails have been turned into Abu Ghareeb where even human dignity and religious freedom is on the stake,” he said.JKLF chairman on the occasion expressed solidarity with these victims and said that the “so-called” rulers are disregarding their own Supreme Court by shifting inmates to jails which are hundreds of kilometres away from their homes.“These inmates at least needed to be kept near their home so that their kith and kin were able to meet them, but to inflict more harm to them and their families; they have been sent to far off jails,” Malik said.
Stressing upon the need to take note of these “gross human rights violations” and the plight of Kashmiri prisoners, JKLF chairman appealed ICRC and other international human rights organizations to “save the lives of these inmates from the wrath of India”.Meanwhile, condemning the firing by army on unarmed men and women at Iftar time at Shopian, Malik said, “The occupational army and forces whose hands are painted with the blood of our loved ones want Kashmiris to join their forced Iftari operation and when people at Shopian last evening refused to do so, they were showered with bullets and pellets injuring many of them including some women.”“This firing on unarmed civilians shows the real face of Indian occupation which neither has any respect for religious sentiments of the people nor does care for the lives of human beings,” Malik said. “Instead of these Sadbhwana Iftari programs, Indian army should hold some programs for their soldiers where the importance of human dignity and life is taught to them.” (GNS)