Crackdown on HCBA intensifies: Another lawyer arrested in Srinagar
Srinagar: In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the authorities have arrested another senior lawyer, Mohammad Ashraf Butt, who served as the general secretary of the High Court Bar Association (HCBA).
According to Kashmir Media Service, Mohammad Ashraf Butt was arrested by police during a raid at his residence in Srinagar late on Wednesday night. He has been booked under the draconian Public Safety Act (PSA) and shifted to Kathua jail in Jammu region.
This arrest marks the fourth HCBA lawyer detained within 23 days. Previously, senior lawyer and former HCBA chief Mian Abdul Qayoom, acting Bar chairman Nazir Ahmad Ronga, and Mian Qayoom’s nephew, advocate Mian Muzaffar, were also arrested and transferred to jails in Jammu. Ronga and Muzaffar have been charged under the PSA, while Mian Qayoom was detained under a dubious case. These arrests followed the HCBA’s announcement of internal elections to elect a new body.
For the past five years, the New Delhi-installed administration in IIOJK has prohibited the HCBA from holding internal elections and has refused to recognize the association due to its advocacy for a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute. To undermine the 3,000-member HCBA, the occupation authorities have established a parallel lawyers’ body, the Kashmir Advocates’ Association (KAA). The Modi-installed regime in IIOJK has granted recognition to the KAA through its compliant judiciary, aiming to diminish the HCBA’s influence and silence its voice.
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