Friday, February 12, 2010

ENGLISH NEWS

'Kashmiris prisoners suffering in Tihar'

Srinagar, Feb 13: The High Court Bar Association today released a report about the condition of Kashmiri detainees lodged in Tihar Jail and accused the government of keeping the detainees in inhumane conditions. The Bar said the detainees lodged in Tihar Jail were facing severe problems. Bar said they were facing acute shortage of money, adding the detainees were spending their own money. The Bar said there were 58 Kashmiri detainees lodged in Tihar and it asked people from all walks of life to provide them some monetary assistance. The Bar report has given detailed account of the detainees lodged in the jail. Bar said that a detainee Shabir Ahmad Lone was picked up on December 24, 2006, from Gool Market Mandi, Himachal Pradesh. The detainee was dealing in Kashmir shawls. He alleged that the Delhi Police special cell personnel arrested him and took him to Lodhi Colony New Delhi. The Bar said Shabir was ruthlessly interrogated in the cell. Bar said on July 27, 2007 he was taken to some place in Azadpur and then a drama of arrest was shown. The Bar said, “The doctors in the jail tell them they are involved in blasts. In the jail criminals attack them with blades.” The Bar has also reported about the arrest Ali Muhammad Sheikh and Samiullah Sheikh. The Bar said they were arrested on November 27, 2006, from Nizamudin Railway Station and later on January 1, 2007 taken to Tihar Jail. The Bar said the jail authorities denied them permission to meet Afzal Guru. The jail authorities said that to meet Guru one needs permission from the Home Ministry. Mirza Nisar, a detainee, who has spent some 16 years in the jail informed the Bar team that he hoped the sacrifices given by Kashmiris would not go in waste. Some detainees including Muhammad Afzal Kumar, an engineer, are being forced to work as carpenter in the court. Muhammad Topiwalla of Mamar Kangan is in the jail for past 15 years. He told the Bar team that his family was going through worst crises.

Salahuddin rejects amnesty

Islamabad, Feb 12: Chairman of the United Jihad Council, Syed Salahuddin, on Friday rejected India’s offer to grant amnesty to Kashmiri militants, who want to return from Pakistan administered Kashmir (PaK) and join the mainstream. He demanded that India should apologize for the “offences” it had committed against the people of Jammu and Kashmir rather than talking about amnesty. “Indian leaders must be mindful of the fact that Kashmiris are neither out-laws nor have they committed any crime. They are fighting for their just and legitimate right that has been guaranteed to them by the world community and the leadership of India and Pakistan,” Salahuddin told Greater Kashmir. “Kashmiris were forced to abandon their homes by Indian troops. There is no question of amnesty or general pardon. History stands testimony to the fact that Indian forces have committed rights violations; put to death thousands of innocent civilians and destroyed properties worth crores in past 20-years,” said, Salahuddin, who is also the supreme commander of Hizbul-Mujahideen. The Convener of APHC-M Pak chapter, Mehmood Ahmed Saghar said, “First of all we are not Indian nationals, we are Kashmiris and the people of Jammu and Kashmir have never accepted India’s dominance”. “We have waged a struggle that will continue at all levels unless the ultimate goal is attained”, Saghar said. “It is not the matter of seeking or granting pardon at all, Kashmir is a globally recognized political issue. It cannot be settled just by resorting to senseless offerings or undertakings. India should accept the ground reality and resolve this dispute amicably according to the wishes and aspirations of Kashmiris.”
Troops torture man with brother in PaK
Bandipora, Feb 12: At a time when the Centre has given green signal for the return of Kashmir youth from Pak administered Kashmir, troops tortured a man having his brother now settled across the line of control. Nazir Ahmed Chopan of Balhama Arin Bandipora, whose brother Muhammad Yosuf left for PaK 18 years ago, was tortured by troopers on Friday asking him to provide whereabouts of his brother. Nazir told Greater Kashmir that yesterday evening troopers of Khurryapora camp seized his identity card and asked him to come to their camp this morning. “As I entered the camp today, troopers started kicking and beating me and asked me to show my brothers’ whereabouts. They tortured me for more than an hour. I told them that my brother has not returned, but they did not listen and continuously thrashed me,” he said with tears in his eyes. Nazir said that his brother Yosuf, like thousands of other youths left to join the armed struggle and went across LoC for arms training 18 years back, but he later settled in PaK. “He married their and has one child,” he adds. But back home it has been a miserable life for the family all these years. According to Nazir, due to continuous raids in past two decades by troopers searching for his militant brother, they fled their home to escape from their wrath. “My two brothers have died and I am bringing up five orphaned children of my brothers along with my three children. Our lives have been ruined by troopers. We spent maximum time in forests due to fear of troopers. What is my sin if my brother is in PaK, even my old parents were not spared,” he said. Commanding Officer 14 Rashtriya Rifles said that he would help Nazir in getting back his I-card. “We have no deployment there. The SHO also informed me about it. I would look into the matter,” he said. SP Bandipora, Shiekh Junaid Mehmood, told GK that he had no information about the incident. “The complainant should approach me,” he said.

No comments:

Post a Comment