Lifer to 2 Kashmiris Draws Flak

SRINAGAR: Various political parties have expressed, dissatisfaction, pain and dismay on the development in Kolkata where a Sessions Court sentenced two youth from Srinagar, Sheikh Imran and Sheikh Farhat to life in prison.
Political vendetta: Mirwaiz : Hurriyat Conference (M) has termed the mysterious murders of Kashmiris and awarding life sentences to innocent Kashmiri youth in India as a continuation of the policy of political vendetta.
Rubbishing the claims of Mumbai police regarding the mysterious death of Nawab Bazaar youth, Parvaiz Ahmad Teli, Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said this statement was an effort to hide the actual reality from people and make things look fuzzy.
He said such statements pertaining to the mysterious murders in India have been issued earlier as well to hide the reality and shield the accused who have committed brutal acts.
Mirwaiz visited the house of Paravez and expressed solidarity and sympathy with the bereaved family members.
He said Kashmiris are being victimized in Kashmir and outside for pursuing the freedom struggle.
Afterwards, Mirwaiz led a procession to Karfali Mohalla where he met the parent of 17 year old Sheikh Imran who was sentenced to life imprisonment by Kolkata court for being an innocent Kashmiri.
Expressing solidarity with the family members, he said that amalgam would continue to resist such life sentences against Kashmiris. He said that conglomerate would provide legal aid to Sheikh Imran and would also raise the issue with the International human rights organizations. (KNS)

Kashmiris Persecuted Legally, Politically: Sajad Lone
While the anguish felt by ever Kashmiri is obvious and palpable, the pain inflicted on the families of these young men who have already spent 10 long years in prison without being sentenced cannot be imagined, said Sajad Lone chairman of a faction of Peoples Conference.
Sajad said that because of such precise attitude towards Kashmiris, there is a well-founded perception in Kashmir that Kashmiris have become legal and canon fodder and that the only sin that Kashmiris need to commit to languish in jails is to be Kashmiris. It seems like Kashmiris are being progressively seen as opportunities to demonstrate the politically saleable aspects of ruthlessness and iron-handedness at the national center-stage.
Stating that the most tragic reality is that successive governments in J&K have allowed the unabated persecution of Kashmiris, Sajad Lone said that PDP rather than taking out protest demonstrations should introspect and answer how it extended legal help and sought justice from the West Bengal government for these two youth when they were in power. NC is sticking true to its role of culling and oppressing Kashmiris, a trait that has been the hallmark of NCs politics since so many decades.
Sajad Lone said that, rather than grabbing such tragic instances as political opportunities, Kashmiri leaders should treat these issues on a moral, humanitarian, non-political basis and ensure that injustice is not meted out to Kashmiris. There are a lot of under-trial Kashmiris languishing in jails without proper legal-aid and representation. It is the duty of Kashmiri leaders, regardless of their political intentions or affiliations, to ensure that these Kashmiri youth are legally well represented and are safeguarded from a growing blood-thirst to persecute them. Unfortunately however our successive government as well as the political parties in the State have been more interested in extracting political nectar out of these cases.
Sajad Lone added that this attitude of persecution was contrary to the pre-requisites of reconciliation and would have far-reaching consequences in Kashmir, further alienating and isolating a common Kashmiri, filling him with a fear of harassment and discrimination. There is an omnipresent fear and sense of hounding in Kashmir and such unfortunate cases will further propagate this fear.
Sajad Lone said that there have been proven instances when young Kashmiris were made to languish in jails for ten or more years, only eventually to be exonerated of all charges. There is a growing mistrust amongst Kashmiris about the institutions of the Indian State and democracy that are seen to have different yardsticks for Kashmiris and different yardsticks for people from the rest of the country. This mistrust will dig deeper into the mindsets and psyche of Kashmiris if such persecution is allowed to continue and the State Government as well as the opposition party should exhibit seriousness and humanitarian instincts in ensuring that this trend is nipped at the earliest.

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