AsiaNet-Pakistan Premier Editorial Content and Press Release Distribution Service
New Delhi, May 25, 2018 (PPI-OT): The Kashmiri detainees arrested by India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) and lodged in Delhi’s notorious Tihar Jail have written a letter to the Director General of Prisons New Delhi to lodge them together in a single cell or at least separate them from other prisoners who are in jail in criminal cases.
There are at least two dozen Kashmiris imprisoned in Tihar Jail, most of them arrested by the NIA and some booked by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under false cases registered against them. These detainees are currently lodged in various High Risk and General Wards of the jail.
The letter by the Kashmiri detainees, also sent to a Delhi court, says, “Because we have been detained on political reasons, therefore we should be lodged separately from other inmates with varying behaviour and different cultural backgrounds (from us).”
The letter has been signed among others by Hurriyat leaders Shabbir Ahmed Shah and Altaf Ahmed Shah. “That by keeping the aforementioned (Kashmiri) inmates along with all kinds of other inmates especially from various cultural backgrounds, personal behaviours, we are feeling suffocated and very uneasy,” the letter reads.
The Kashmiri prisoners have asserted that they are peace-loving and abide by the rules of the jail. The letter mentions that the imprisoned Kashmiris are between 40 years and 60 years of age and most of them are suffering from various ailments including diabetes, spinal issues and hypertension.
It states that the Kashmiri inmates of Tihar Jail are different from other inmates by the virtue of culture and personal orientation, and that many of them have been engaged in academic and educational activities while also holding a record of good conduct.
Last year, in a series of raids, the NIA and ED had arrested several Kashmiris including resistance leaders Shabbir Ahmed Shah, Altaf Ahmed Shah, Nayeem Ahmed Khan, Raja Merajuddin Kalwal, Farooq Ahmed Dar, Ayaz Muhammad Akbar and Shahid-ul-Islam as well as businessman, Zahoor Watali.
For more information, contact:
Kashmir Media Service
Phone: +92-51-4435548, +92-51-4435549
Fax: +92-51-4861736
Email: info@kmsnews.org
Website: www.kmsnews.org