Srinagar: Joint Resistance Leadership on Thursday paid tributes to five militants, killed in separate encounters with government forces at Budgam and Baramulla districts even as it strongly condemned use of pellets and bullets against protesters on Thursday.
The JRL comprising Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik paid rich tributes to five armed youth killed in the separate encounters at Budgam and Sagipora Sopore.
In a joint statement issued here, they said that it’s the collective responsibility of leadership and the people of Kashmir to show steadfastness and to safeguard the mission of these “martyrs and to take it to the final realisation.”
The leaders also strongly condemned the use of force on protestors leaving eight of them injured in indiscriminate use of bullets, pellets and tear gas shelling, terming it as absolute highhandedness of forces.
Meanwhile, the statement reads that resistance leaders including Ghulam Nabi Zaki, Muhammad Rafiq Owasi, Noor Muhammad Kalwal, Muhstaq Ahmed Sofi, Muhammad Yousuf Naqash, Sheikh Abdur Rashid, Advocate Yasir Dalal, Umar Adil Dar, Muhammad Yasin Bhat, Farooq Ahmed Saudagar, Syed Imtiyaz Haidar, Muhammad Jamaal Bucho, Ghulam Muhammad Dar, and Rameez Raja staged a protest march from Jamia Masjid to Nowhatta chowk in downtown Srinagar against the manhandling and the “brutal” assault on the Kashmiri prisoners at Tihar Jail New Delhi.
The protestors demanding release and unconditional shifting of all the Kashmiri prisoners lodged in various jails which include “notorious” prison of Tihar, Kotbalwal, and Kathua, back to Kashmir.
The protestors said the recent assault on the prisoners in Tihar and the ill treatment meted out to others lodged in Kathua where prisoners are facing “inhuman treatment by jail authorities” stands an eye-opener for the champions of prisoners rights, human rights bodies and world organisations. The protestors reiterated that the resistance leaders lodged in Tihar jail including Shabir Ahmed Shah, Advocate Shahidul Islam, Altaf Fantoosh, Ayaz Akbar, Peer Saifullah, Mehrajudin Kalwal, Nayeem Ahmed Khan, Farooq Ahmed Dar ,Shahid Yousuf ,Kamran and Zahoor Watali are also facing “inhuman” behaviour at the hands of the jail authorities besides they are being deprived of all the basic facilities which includes medial aid. The protestors said that denying the basic facilities that includes proper food, clothing and medical aid to these prisoners is against the international principles of prisoners rights.
The protestors said the Kashmiri prisoners languishing in various prisoners are not criminals and haven’t committed any crime or offence other than the one which includes representing the “true aspirations of Kashmiri people and raising voice against the injustices.”
The protestors said that those claiming to be the champions of democracy are themselves throwing its basic principles to the wind as seen in the case of recent assault on the innocent prisoners at Tihar. The protestors said that plight of Kashmiri prisoners is a cause of concern and people and the leadership can’t remain silent on it
