UN chief urged to intervene for release of Kashmiri detainees

Islamabad: President of the Institute of Peace and Development (INSPAD), a leading organization active for human rights, religious harmony and world peace, Dr. Muhammad Tahir Tabassum has urged Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations and Ambassador Dr. Jassim Muhammad Al-Mutehry, UN high commissioner for human rights to take the issue of unjustified imprisonment of political leadership in occupied Jammu and Kashmir in fictitious cases with Indian government.

According to Kashmir Media Service, Dr. Muhammad Tahir Tabassum in a letter addressed to UN chief and Ambassador Jassim also drew their attention to the lack of medical facilities in jails. He asked them to use their clout for unconditional release of the detainees.

After the abrogation of Article 370, the Indian government has imprisoned the entire leadership of Kashmir in various jails across India in extremely unfavorable conditions, making it almost impossible for their families to access legal aid, the letter said.

“The extreme right-wing government of Narendra Modi has strangled the judiciary and according to the report of US President Donald Trump, minorities, especially the Muslim community, have been targeted,” Dr Tabassum wrote. The clearest examples of this, he added, are the oppressive laws.

Kashmiri leaders like Masarrat Aalam Bhat, Yasin Malik, Shabbir Ahmed Shah, Farooq Ahmed Dar, Aasiya Andrabi and many other prominent leaders are imprisoned in Delhi’s Tihar Jail and have no access to medical facilities.

This issue, he said, requires urgent sympathetic measures from the United Nations and the Human Rights Council and the international community.