Report details horrific accounts of Kashmiri detainees languishing in IIOJK jails
Srinagar: Kashmiri political prisoners including youth and activists languishing in different jails of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir and India are facing inhumane conditions, with multiple reports of torture, abuse and religious persecution at the hands of jail authorities.
Kashmir Media Service correspondent from Srinagar reported that in Baramulla Sub-Jail, inmates are subjected to extortion and mistreatment under the Jail in-charge Barkat Dar, a resident of Doabgah Sopore. SP Barkat Dar, who has been overseeing the jail for over eight years, is abusing his position by demanding bribes from the families of detainees, particularly those of poor and freedom-loving Kashmiris.
Several families have complained that Jail officer Barkat Dar misbehaves with visitors, especially women, during jail meetings asking them to give their phone numbers. In various shocking cases, the family members of Sopore detainees were forced to sell their jewellery, and even a cow, just to arrange a meeting .
In recent months, Jail officer Barkat Dar has orchestrated the shifting of over 300 Kashmiri youth from Baramulla to distant prisons such as Kot Bhalwal, Amphala, Poonch, Rajouri, Udhampur of Jammu region and Indian jails. The transfers have added to the psychological and financial distress of the detainees’ families and turned Baramulla jail into a center of harassment and suffering.
In Poonch District Jail, Kashmiri inmates are facing religious persecution under the supervision of Jail officer DSP Khalid Amin, a resident of Poonch. According to detainees, he has ordered the forcible shaving of beards of Muslim prisoners and has imposed ban on the recitation of the Holy Qur’an within the jail premises. The police officer Khalid Amin has also been implicated in the custodial killing of Zia Mustafa, a Hurriyat activist, further highlighting the violent and discriminatory attitude of prison authorities towards Kashmiri political prisoners.
Meanwhile, Kot Bhalwal Jail in Jammu has been described by inmates as a place of slow death due to a complete lack of medical facilities. Detainees report that the prison’s medical officer, Pali Thapa, who was appointed under BJP influence, has failed to provide necessary treatment to sick inmates, particularly those held on political charges. There are reports that she uses medical neglect as a tool to pressure prisoners into giving up their political beliefs. Over the past two years, eight detainees have died in Kot Bhalwal due to lack of medical care, while several others are reported to be critically ill without access to treatment. One prisoner who was a resident of Reasi died in Kot Bhalwal jail due to lack of medicare while the another detainee Muhammad Ayoub Mir who was not given medical treatment is now struggling for life in Jammu jail .
The Kashmiri prisoners are under continuous life threat in IIOJK and Indian jails like Israeli-typed policy is adopted by the Indian BJP government and its sponsored police officers in jails.
The families of the detainees have expressed serious concern over the worsening jail conditions and the growing list of human rights violations have appealed to UNHRC and other international human rights organizations to intervene and take notice of the inhuman treatment of Kashmiri prisoners languishing in jails across India who are facing illegal detention since long times.
In New Delhi’s Tihar Jail, Kashmiri leadership and other political detainees are denied rights to medical treatment by BJP government to leave them die in prison such way. The leaders who are facing multiple ailments in the jail include Masarrat Aalam Butt, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Shabbir Ahmed Shah, Aasiya Andrabi, Naheeda Nasreen, Fehmeeda Sufi, Nayeem Ahmad Khan, Ayaz Akbar, Pir Saifullah, Merajuddin Kalwal, Shahid-ul-Islam, Farooq Ahmed Dar, Syed Shahid Yousuf Shah, Syed Shakeel Yousuf Shah, human rights defender Khurrum Parvaiz, journalist, Irfan Meraj, and several other Kashmiri men and women.
While other Hurriyat leaders including Mushtaqul Islam, Ameer Hamza, Dr Hameed Fayaz, Abdul Ahmad Parra, Noor Muhammad Fayaz, Hayat Ahmed Butt, Showket Hakeem, Zafar Akbar Butt, Dr Muhammad Qasim Fakhtoo, Dr Muhammad Shafi Shariati, Ghulam Qadir Butt, Rafiq Ahmad Ganai, Zahoor Ahmed Butt, Shakeel Ahmad Yatoo, Umar Adil Dar, Saleem Nanaji, Muhammad Yasin Butt, Fayaz Hussain Jaferi, Adil Siraj Zargar and Dawood Zargar lodged in different jails of India and IIOJK are facing serious health problems
