Kashmir News Trust #KNT
[Published on 2 May 2013]
Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front Chairman, Muhammad Yaseen Malik will observe a hunger strike at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi today against the life imprisonment awarded to Kashmiri youth allegedly involved in different subversive activities. There are at least 32 Kashmiri youth including two brothers who have been languishing in different jails after they have been convicted for life by different Courts in India.
Kashmiri youth convicted for life included Sheikh Nazir Ahmad (Batamaloo) Shaukat Ahmad Khan (Nishat) Dr. Muhammad Qasim Faktu, Javed Ahmed Khan, Mohammad Ayub Dar, Mohammad Ayub Mir (Hazratbal), Ghulam Qadir Bhat (Dooru), Mohammad Shafi Khan, Raj din Khan, Shabir Ahmad Malik, Mohammad Amin Dar, Noor Mohammad Tantry, Feroz Ahmad Bhat, Parvez Ahmed Mir, Sheikh Samiullah and Ali Muhammad Sheikh (brothers), Mohammad Iqbal Jan (Bandipora), Mushtaq Ahmed Kaloo, Mohammad Amin Wani, Mahmoud Topi Walla , Javed Ahmed Wani, Shabir Ahmad Najar , Gulzar Ahmad Wani and Mohammad Ishaq Paul (Shopian).
Families of almost all convicted persons blame India especially the Delhi police for implicating their dear ones in ‘false’ cases.
Sheikh Nazir Ahmad and Showkat of Khan have been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Jammu court in connection with the murder of a BSF officer in 1990. The sister of Shiekh Nazir from Batamaloo told the news agency Kashmir News Trust that Nazir was hopeful of his release as he always used to tell us that he was forced to accept the murder during torture in custody.
The wife of another convict Showkat Ahmed Khan from Nishat said that her husband was sentenced to life imprisonment in a 22-year-old case. “I have no source of income. It was the local Mohalla Committee which financed me to fight the legal battle of my husband,” Sabina said and added that Shaheed Gunj police arrested her husband in May 2011 when he was at his automobile spare parts shop in Karan Nagar.
Another Kashmiri youth, Muhammad Ayoub Mir from Hazratbal was arrested in New Delhi in June 2002 and later sentenced to life imprisonment. Mir, a mechanic by profession, is serving imprisonment for ‘offenses’ under section 20 of the Prevention of Terrorism Act and 14 years of rigorous imprisonment for the ‘offenses’ under section 22 of the POTA. “All the sentences shall run concurrently,” a court had held in a judgment in 2004.
Ghulam Qadir Bhat, 60, hailing from South Kashmir’s Dooru area of Anantnag [Islamabad] was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Court on the charges of hatching a conspiracy to eliminate high-profile personalities. Her daughter Mubeena is fighting a lonely battle for the past nine years to get her father released from Tihar Jail.
Another Kashmiri youth, Muhammad Iqbal Jan detained at Tihar jail had written a letter to the President of India claiming that Delhi Police implicated him in a false case in 2006. “Delhi Police abducted me on November 16, 2006, but my detention was falsely shown on November 27, 2005, through an arranged drama. Later I was sent to Tihar jail where I am presently imprisoned,” he claims. Delhi Police arrested Jan on November 16, 2006, on charges of acting as a conduit for militants.
Delhi Police Special Cell arrested another Kashmir youth, Muhammad Amin Wani, on January 4, 2007, from Sheeshganj Gurudwara in the old city of Delhi on charges of waging a war against the country. Later on, he was convicted for life, and presently he is languishing in Tihar Jail.
Noor Mohammad Tantray, Parvaiz Ahmed Mir, and Feroz Ahmed Bhat were allegedly found guilty under various sections of IPC, POTA and Explosive Substances Act, and were also fined Rs 50,000 on January 4, 2011. Calling them “merchants of death and destruction”, Additional Sessions Judge R K Gauba sentenced them to life. Delhi Police arrested these three Kashmiris on August 31, 2003, from Delhi, while they were carrying a truck loaded with apples from Valley. Police claimed they were active members of the Jaish-e-Muhammed militant group.
Ishfaq Ahmed Paul from Aloora Shopian allegedly a Hizb militant was convicted and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for life under section 302 RPC. Police station Zainpora had registered a case of murder against him in 2005.
Similarly, there are other people including two brothers who have been convicted for life for their alleged involvement in anti-national activities.
