Srinagar: Calling for intervention of international community to end “uncertainty and repression” in Kashmir, senior Hurriyat Conference (M) leader Bilal Ghani Lone on Friday demanded immediate release of the conglomerate’s chairman and other prisoners detained since August 5, last year.
In a statement issued to the media, the Hurriyat executive member expressed grief over the loss of lives of young boys in encounters and border skirmishes between the two nuclear countries. Lone, the statement said made fervent appeal to all rights bodies in India and the international community to prevail and resolve the Kashmir issue and put an end to “uncertainty and repression”.
Lashing out at the government over the continued detention of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Lone said that the Hurriyat Chairman has been arbitrarily and causally placed under house arrest for the past 10 months with police vehicles deployed outside his house to curtail his movement.
“Mirwaiz has for the past two decades been repeatedly put under arbitrary house arrest by authorities but this time for the longest period. Authorities should revoke his arbitrary house arrest immediately and set the Mirwaiz free. His civil rights and liberties should be restored,” Lone said.
He also sought release of thousands prisoners, including political leaders languishing in various jails in J&K and outside since last three decades
“By putting Hurriyat leadership and activists in jails for their ideology and political beliefs is inhuman, as freedom of dissent and difference of opinion is a fundamental human right,” the senior Hurriyat leader said.
Lone also criticised the new media policy announced by the authorities to restrict press freedom in the name of so called “fake news and misinformation” and demanded its rollback. He appealed international human rights and media organisations to take note of this ‘draconian censorship law’ and raise their voice against it.
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