Daily Times

Pakistan is deeply concerned over the continued incarceration and deteriorating health conditions of Kashmiri leaders, a statement issued by the Foreign Office said on Monday.

“Founding leader of Kashmiri organization Dukhtaran-i-Millat and the ‘Iron Lady of Kashmir’ Asiya Andrabi, leader and founder of Jammu & Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party Shabbir Ahmed Shah and prominent leaders such as Yasin Malik, Masarat Alam Bhat and Ashraf Sehraie are languishing under squalid conditions in the midst of Covid-19 pandemic in infamous Tihar and other jails,” the statement read. “Many other senior Kashmiri leaders including Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq remain under house arrest,” it added.

The Foreign Office said these Kashmiri leaders have been illegally arrested over malicious, false and fabricated charges by the Indian government through invoking draconian laws promulgated in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJK). “Imprisonment and torturing of Kashmiri leaders on the basis of their political ideology and struggle against illegal Indian occupation is a true reflection of the extremist mindset of the RSS-BJP regime which has no respect for the human rights of the Kashmiri people,” it said. “Pakistan calls upon the international community, particularly the United Nations, ICRC and human rights and humanitarian organizations, to take notice of the Indian government’s inhuman treatment of the Kashmiri leaders and raise its voice for their immediate release from illegal Indian detention,” it added.