SRINAGAR (Kashmir English): The All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has demanded immediate release of thousands of Kashmiri political prisoners, including Hurriyat leaders, activists and youth, held in jails across India and Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
According to Kashmir Media Service, APHC spokesman Advocate Abdul Rashid Minhas in a statement issued in Srinagar said top Hurriyat leaders in detention include APHC Chairman Masarrat Aalam Butt, Shabbir Ahmad Shah, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Aasiya Andrabi, Nayeem Ahmad Khan, among others.
He said that these individuals have been detained for their peaceful struggle for the right to self-determination.
Inhuman conditions for Kashmiri prisoners
He expressed deep concern over the inhuman conditions in which these prisoners are kept, highlighting their confinement in overcrowded, unhygienic, and unsafe jails, with many facing deteriorating health.
The APHC termed these detentions illegal, describing them as part of a political vendetta by the BJP-led Indian government, which, it said, is using draconian laws like the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Public Safety Act (PSA) to silence peaceful dissent in IIOJK.
The statement said that the continued detention violates international laws, including the Geneva Convention.
The spokesperson appealed to the United Nations (UN), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Amnesty International, and other human rights organizations to intervene and pressure India for the immediate and unconditional release of these prisoners
The APHC also condemned the suicide attack on Imambargah in Islamabad, calling it a blatant and barbaric assalut on humanity, adding that proxies of Indian agencies were behind such terror acts in Pakistan.
Minhas expressed solidarity with victims’ families and prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured.
