KL Report
SRINAGAR
Terming the slapping of PSA on Shakeel Ahmad Yatoo Tehreek-e-Hurriyat district president Shopian and Zubair Ahmad Turray of Shopian as “oath taking gift” of the new government to the Kashmiris, Hurriyat Conference (G) chairman Syed Ali Geelani Saturday condemned it in strong words.
In an emailed statement he said, “The Amnesty International and other human rights organizations have although termed PSA a ‘lawless law’ but it is still endlessly used in Jammu & Kashmir and in the name of preventive detention, the common people of this state are detained for years together and no one cares about this lawlessness.”
“The PSA is a symbol of cruelty, autocracy and it was initiated in the state in 1978. According to this law a person can be detained without proving guilty of any crime and this detention is non-bailable in any court of law. At the time of inception of this law, Shaikh Abdullah termed it as anti-forest smugglers act but later it was illegally used against the political leaders of the state and the Islamic and pro-freedom people became main target of this law,” he claimed.
“Shaikh Abdullah himself used this black law for silencing his political opponents and then his successor Farooq Abdullah also used this lawless law for suppressing the genuine and just voice of the Kashmiri nation,” Geelani alleged.
The Hurriyat (G) chairman said that the regimes of Mufti Sayed, Omer Abdullah and Ghulam Nabi Azad also continued to imprison hundreds of people under this cruel act and despite the severe criticism of this law from the human rights organizations its application was not stopped.
Only from 2010 hundreds of people have been detained under this law and majority of them were college and school goings. “Slapping of PSA over the pro-freedom leaders Shakeel Ahmad Yatoo and Zubair Ahmad Turray a day before the oath taking ceremony of the Mufti Sayeed are indications of the fact that this black law will continue to hurt the Kashmiri nation in future and there will be no change in the lawlessness of the state,” he said.
“Whosoever is appointed as the chief minister of the state, he is just a show boy and the state is actually ruled by the home ministry of India with the help of police and army. Nothing happens here without their consent and no one dares to speak against this system,” Geealni claimed.
“A fresh crackdown has been launched against our forum/organization and during the last 10 days dozens of our activists including district president Kulgam Mohammad Shaban Dar and Showkat Ahmad have been detained in different police stations. To justify their arrests, many false and fabricated cases have been registered against them and they have been accused with such charges which are far away from the reality,” he added.
While demanding unconditional release of all the political prisoners, the Hurriyat (G) chairman said that the Kashmir dispute can’t be resolved through the bloodshed and arrests. “It is a political as well as human issue and its solution is possible only through political means. To start a meaningful political process it is compulsory to provide a political space to the pro-freedom people and unannounced restrictions should be lifted from their political activities,” Geealni added.
