Political prisoners from Valley at Covid risk, says Mirwaiz

SRINAGAR: The Hurriyat Conference led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Monday expressed concern over the well-being of Kashmiri political detainees in jails across the country amid the second Covid-19 wave.

The separatist conglomerate, in a statement, said prisoners’ families had alleged lack of basic amenities within jails, which had led to serious health problems among prisoners.

The statement, which quoted the family of Shahid-ul-Islam, who is currently lodged in Tihar jail, said he was very ill and exhibiting all symptoms of Covid, including high fever. “But the authorities are neither getting him tested nor taking him to the hospital,” it said.

The Hurriyat said it was extremely worrisome that political prisoners are being treated like this. “Silence of one and all, including human rights organisations, on this issue has led the authorities to show this indifference and inhumanity towards prisoners,” the separatist conglomerate said.

“Such is the apathy that Mohd Ayaz Akbar who is in Tihar jail, was not released on parole despite appeals to see his wife suffering from cancer for the past three years till she breathed her last recently,” it said.

The Hurriyat said the separatist leaders lodged in Tihar jail, Kot Bhalwal jail, Jodhpur jail, Agra jail, Amphala jail, Haryana jail, and other prisons across India were facing grave risk to their lives. They appealed to human rights organisations and civil society members to begin to focus upon the plight of these prisoners and ensure their release before it is too late.

They also expressed resentment over the ‘continued arbitrary house detention’ of its chairperson Mirwaiz Umar Farooq even in the holy month of Ramadan.