DFP expresses concern over Kashmiri detainees’ plight in jails
Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) has expressed serious concern over the plight of Kashmiri detainees languishing in different jails of India and the occupied territory.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the DFP spokesman advocate Arshad Iqbal in a statement issued in Srinagar said hundreds of Kashmiri prisoners, lodged in prisons in India and the occupied territory have been suffering terribly due to highly unfavorable weather conditions and lack of basic amenities, including access to clean and drinkable water, hygienic food and medicines.
“Many of them have developed acute ailments due to limited access to food, sunlight and medical care”, Iqbal said adding that it was quite unfortunate that the Kashmiri detainees had been barred from their weekly phone calls with family members.
The new restrictions imposed on the Kashmiri prisoners, he said, have further exacerbated depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress among prisoners living thousands of kilometers away from their families.
“Weekly phone calls with family used to be the only way for Kashmiri prisoners to stay in touch with loved ones who are unable to travel long distances”, Iqbal said.
Urging international human rights organizations to take effective notice of the plight of the Kashmiri political prisoners, the DFP spokesman said that keeping Kashmiri prisoners in far off jails and leaving them to rot in highly humid temperature was a flagrant violation of the prisoners’ rights.
Voicing his party’s serious concern over the continued and illegal detention of the party chairman Shabbir Ahmed Shah and other Hurriyat leaders, he said the world community must play its due role to help secure early release of the Kashmiri prisoners who have been languishing in different jails for the past several years.
