The Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) comprising Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik has termed the custodial death of a 66-year-old Ghulam Hassan Malik alias Noor Khan, a resident of Peelipora, Uri in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district as “a biggest human tragedy”.“Malik was languishing in Kot Bhalwal, Jail Jammu and died recently due to serious complications for the want of proper medical treatment,” JRL said in a statement issued to GNS.“The death of (Ghulam Hassan) Malik during imprisonment has proved the apprehensions of resistance leadership right that Kashmiri prisoners were ill-treated in jails and not even provided with the basic medical aid which poses a great threat to lives,” the leadership said.Paying rich tributes to the courage and patience shown by Malik during incarceration, the JRL said, “The Kashmiri nation will always remember the contributions made by Malik towards the freedom movement throughout his life.”
The leadership said that “like Malik, dozens of Kashmiri prisoners are being denied the basic medical health facilities as guaranteed by the jail manuals which put their life at a great risk”.“The relatives of most of the Kashmiri resistance leaders who met them in Tihar narrated a painful tale that includes non-availability of medicines and things required by a person on a daily basis,” the leaders said.Geelani, Mirwaiz and Malik appealed the heads of all rights forums across the globe including the Amnesty International, Asia Watch, and CRC to conduct a thorough visit of various Indian and other jails of Jammu and Kashmir and take the notice of the “ill-treatment” meted out to the prisoners. The leadership strongly condemned and expressed their resentment over the manhandling of dozens of villagers and vandalising the property worth lakhs in Mochuwara village of south Kashmir’s Shopian district during the nocturnal raid terming it as “ultimate highhandedness and highly undemocratic act that deserves all forms of condemnations”. (GNS)