In view of the prevailing Covid-19 crises in India, and deteriorating humanitarian situation in IIOJK, Ambassador Munir Akram on behalf of the Government of Pakistan urged the Secretary General to ask the Government of India to immediately release all detentions in IIOJK under Public Safety Act; all women, elderly, pre-trial detainees and undertrials on bail (including political prisoners and those detained from the civil society); any convicted political prisoners on parole, especially ones held in jails away from IIOJK; and People illegally detained or held in police lockups, joint interrogation centers, and house arrests, says a press release received here today from New York.
In a letter to UN SG, Mr. Antonio Guterres, the permanent representative of Pakistan at the UN, Ambassador Munir Akram conveyed deep concern of the Foreign Minister of Pakistan Mr. Shah Mehmood Qureshi on the recent demise of a senior political leader and Chairman of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat Jammu and Kashmir Mr. Ashraf Sehrai in the Indian custody.
“Being a leading political figure from Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), Mr Sehrai spent his life struggling for the legitimate right of self-determination of Kashmiris and suffered persecution at the hands of Indian occupying forces. He was arrested last year on fabricated charges under the draconian Public Safety Act. He had several health problems and underwent cataract surgery a few months before his arrest.”: Ambassador Munir Akram stated in the letter to the Secretary General.
Ambassador asserted that: “His arrest was the worst manifestation of Indian state oppression. Despite repeated humanitarian calls for release, Mr. Sehrai remained incarcerated in Indian jail under poor conditions and the prevailing COVID-19 crisis, ultimately leading to his death”.
“Apart from tribulations of incarceration and other kind of abuse and torture” the letter also conveyed deep concern over the conditions of the detention facilities in IIOJK and India, calling them as often “overcrowded, in some cases dangerously so”, in unhygienic conditions and where “health services are inadequate or even non-existent. Physical distancing and self-isolation in such conditions are practically impossible”.
As the COVID-19 situation in India worsens, Ambassador Munir Akram expressed his concern further over “the health and safety of thousands of other incarcerated Kashmiri leaders as well as innocent Kashmiris, languishing in different jails at undisclosed locations”.
“While the Government of India has made perfunctory announcements about the release of several detainees as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, most Kashmiri political prisoners remain incarcerated in different jails” the letter stated.
The letter noted further for the attention of the Secretary General the decision of “a committee formed by the Indian government which was mandated to decongest jails in the wake of Covid-19” to “not release those booked under the Public Safety Act, or militancy-related convicts, on any parole”. Resultantly, providing “an excuse for continued incarceration of leading Kashmiri political leaders including: Aasiya Andrabi, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Shabir Ahmed Shah, Advocate Shahid-ul-Islam, Altaf Ahmed Shah, Nayeem Ahmed Khan, Ayaz Akbar, Peer Saifullah, Raja Merajuddin Kalwal, Syed Shahid Yousuf, Shakeel Ahmed, Farooq Ahmed Dar, Fehmeeda Sofi, Nahida Nasreen, Zahoor Ahmed and others. Some remain under house arrest including Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq”.
“By detaining people for such lengthy periods, without allowing them to effectively challenge their detention in a court of law, India is clearly in violation of its international human rights obligations, Security Council resolutions, Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law” Ambassador remarked in his letter.
Ambassador recalled that, since the outbreak of the pandemic, the Secretary General and the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Michele Bachelet have repeatedly called for a human rights-based approach to prevent COVID-19 virus from rampaging through places of detention”.
