APHC expresses concern over plight of Kashmiri political prisoners
Criticizes BJP’s Hinduization policies in IIOJK
Srinagar: The All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has expressed serious concern over the continued illegal detention of Kashmiri political prisoners, including Hurriyat leadership, in jails of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir and India.
According to Kashmir Media Service, APHC spokesman Advocate Abdul Rashid Minhas in a statement issued in Srinagar said thousands of Kashmiris, including APHC chairman Masarrat Alam Butt, Shabbir Ahmed Shah, Muhamamd Yasin Malik, Asiya Andrabi, Nayeem Ahmed Khan, activists, youth, Ulema, human rights defenders and journalists, have been imprisoned for their political beliefs.
He said that the jail authorities were not only treating these detainees inhumanly but also intentionally prolonging their detention by not producing them in courts for hearings of the false cases registered against them. He called for their immediate and unconditional release, emphasizing that there is no legal or moral justification for keeping these political leaders and other Kashmiris behind bars on fabricated charges.
The APHC spokesman also criticized the BJP-led Indian government for pursuing a policy of Hinduization in IIOJK. He said the regime has recently banned over two dozen historical books authored by acclaimed Kashmiri, Indian and international scholars, writers and journalists, alongside earlier renaming of schools, roads and other important places. “These moves aim to distort history, criminalize truth, silence memory and erase Muslim culture and its imprints from occupied Kashmir”, he said, adding, “By revoking IIOJK’s special status on August 5, 2019, India sought to change its Muslim-majority status”.
Minhas reiterated that the Kashmiris are determined to protect their unique identity, culture and history at all costs, and to pursue their struggle for the right to self-determination. He said that Modi’s evil tactics will not deter them from carrying forward their just cause, which will continue until it reaches its logical conclusion.
