Srinagar: Following the call given by Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL), the activists and leaders of JRL on Thursday staged a protest march and sit-in outside historic Jamia Masjid Srinagar in which many resistance leaders and activists participated.

The protest called by JRL including of Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik was led by JKLF chairman.

Notably, Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq addressed the gathering over phone.

The protestors were carrying placards displaying slogans like ‘stop shifting Kashmiri prisoners to outside prisons, revoke AFSPA, stop harassment of youth’ etc.

In their address, the leaders Geelani, Mirwaiz and Malik said, the repressive measures taken by the government against people and the resistance leaders is ‘a sheer political vendetta’, even as the ruling dispensation throws away the directions and orders of its own courts, out of the window, showing disrespect to courts, which is an irony.

The leaders termed the shifting of prisoners from Central Jail Srinagar including Dr Qasim Faktoo, Shafi Shearati, Ghulam Qadir Bhat, Feroz Ahmed, Pervez Ahmed and dozens of other prisoners to outside prisoners stating that the move is not only against basic principles of humanity but also in open violation of Supreme Court directions.

They expressed serious concern over the condition of Kashmiri resistance leaders arrested by NIA and ED and lodged in notorious Tihar Jail. New Delhi that include Shabir Ahmad Shah, Altaf Ahmed Fantosh,Advocate Shahidul Islam,  Ayaz Akbar, Peer Saifullah, Mehrajudin Kalwal, Farooq Ahmed Dar, Nayeeem Khan, and businessman Zahoor Watali and many others.

The trio said majority of these prisoners are already suffering from multiple ailments and the situation has worsened in complete denial of basic medical facilities to them, adding more to their woes.

The pro-freedom leaders said that what is more disturbing is the fact that these prisoners are being lodged along with the hardcore criminals which has posed a great threat to their safety.

JRL leaders said that today’s protest is to highlight the plight of Kashmiri prisoners lodged in Jammu prisons and Tihar Jail as all of them have been framed in frivolous cases and are subjected to worst form of harassment at the hands of jail authorities.

They said that today’s protest is a message to all Kashmiri prisoners that entire nation stands with them and they deserve all applauds for their courage.

JRL leaders said that the charges levelled against the Kashmiri prisoners have been booked under the charges of being part of Kashmir’s pro-freedom struggle, which is political in nature and nothing else has been proved against them.

They said that it is proven that these prisoners have been kept in prison under a well-planned conspiracy. “Instead of looking at Kashmir through its historic perspective, the material available on the social networking sites has been made part of evidence against the Kashmiri resistance leaders and they have been booked under the charges of being anti-national,” they said.

The leaders said that the charge sheet has a mention of 300 witnesses which is ‘an ample signal’ that NIA wants to prolong the detention of these leaders.

The leaders said that before arresting these leaders, Indian electronic and print media ran a hate campaign for three months to do ultimate character assassination of these leaders to pave way for the arrest.

The leaders said that in Kashmir, New Delhi with the active support of ruling regime, is using many ways which are not only inhuman but also dictatorial, to suppress the ongoing movement. They said the height of stubbornness on part of New Delhi is that it pays no heed to the letters sent to it by various international forums with regard to resolving Kashmir issue peacefully.

The leadership urged the International organizations including Amnesty International, Aisa Watch, OIC to play their role in ensuring shifting back of all the Kashmiri prisoners back without further delay. They appealed United Nations Human Rights Council, the session of which is going on in Geneva to raise the voice against the plight of Kashmiri prisoners and play their part.

The leaders urged the resistance leaders and Hurriyat representatives in Geneva to impress upon the UNHRC to take serious attention towards the ill-plight of Kashmiri prisoners.

The leadership said that they will stay united and work hard till the ongoing movement is taken to its logical conclusion.

The leaders paid tributes to Nayeem Ahmed Bhat who was killed in police firing in Azad Kashmir  during a protest march and demanded that the incident should be probed through a judicial inquiry  and those involved be brought to book.

Meanwhile, on the occasion, relatives of Kashmiri persons,  and many resistance leaders including Ghulam Nabi Zaki, Mushtaq Ahmed Sofi, Noor Muhamamd Kalwal, Sheikh Abdur Rashid, Rameez Raja, Umar Adil Dar, Advocate Sheikh yasir Dalal, Khawja Firdous Ahmed Wani, Syed Muhammad Shafi, Muhammad Shafi Lone, Mushtaq Ajmal, Zahoor Ahmed Bhat, Professor Javaid, Bashir Kashmiri, Muhammad Yasin Bhat, Ashraf Bin Salaam, Farooq Ahmed Saudagar,  Muhammad  Yosuuf Bhat, Mustafa Sultan and traders of Shahr-e-Khass were also present on the occasion.

Guest