INP
SRINAGAR
In occupied Kashmir, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has said that acquittal of four Kashmiris after illegal detention of 23 years is a murder of justice.
According to Kashmir Media Service, an Indian court ordered the release of four Kashmiris, Lateef Ahmad Waza, Ali Muhammad Butt, Mirza Nisar Ahmad and Assadullah Goni, who remained unlawfully detained in New Delhi’s Tihar jail for 23 years.
An APHC spokesman in a statement issued in Srinagar said, “Courts take decades to declare a person innocent, and these poor victims have every right and reason to curse this flawed and false system of providing justice.” He deplored that when an accused happens to be a Muslim and a Kashmiri, he automatically qualifies for stern punishment for a crime he has never committed.
The spokesman said that many other Kashmiris including Muhammad Yasin Malik, Shabbir Ahmed Shah, Masarrat Aalam Butt, Aasiya Andrabi, Dr Ghulam Muhammad Butt, Altaf Ahmed Shah, Ayaz Akbar, Peer Saifullah, Raja Meraj-ud-Din Kalwal, Nayeem Ahmed Khan, Shahid-ul-Islam, Farooq Ahmed Dar, Naheeda Nasreen, Fehmeeda Sofi, Zahoor Ahmed Watali, Syed Shahid Yousuf and Syed Shakeel Ahmad are also victims of the judicial onslaught.
He said most of these illegally detained Hurriyat leaders have completed two years in New Delhi’s Tihar jail and courts are yet to prove their offence.
He said Shabbir Ahmed Shah, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Masarrat Aalam Butt, Aasiya Andrabi, Peer Saifullah, Altaf Ahmed Shah, Dr Ghulam Muhammad Butt and Zahoor Watali are in bad health and their continued confinement can further deteriorate their condition.
The spokesman said Ayaz Akbar’s wife is battling for life with the deadly disease of cancer and those parroting human values should have considered this family tragedy and released Ayaz Akbar but stone-hearted Indian rulers are only concerned about their chair.
He said that on APHC Chairman, Syed Ali Gilani’s directives, Hurriyat leader, Hakeem Abdul Rashid, visited the houses of Lateef Ahmed Waza and Mirza Nisar who were released after 23 years and lauded their courage and steadfastness.
