ISLAMABAD - The Chairman of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Syed Ali Gilani, has expressed serious concern over the ill-treatment meted out to the Kashmiri political prisoners especially those lodged in Tihar Jail of New Delhi. According to Kashmir Media Service (KMS) , Syed Ali Gilani in a statement issued in Srinagar urged the South Asian chief of International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the world bodies of human rights to use their good offices to end the long and continued illegal detention of these political detainees. Despite being political prisoners they are kept in a very humiliating condition, he deplored. Referring to the recent report from Tihar jail, he said from the last week of December 2018 all the Kashmiri and other prisoners were shifted to jail No 8/9 and kept in a two-storey building of ward No 12, which is devoid of any ventilation or sunlight, making the poor inmates to shiver in this chilling cold of winter.
He said the prisoners repeatedly requested the jail authorities to allow them to move out in the lawn in front of the bark, but instead of allowing them to do so, they imposed more restrictions on them. The APHC Chairman said that the authorities intended to bring in more convicts, which would make the Kashmiri prisoners’ life more miserable. He said list of relatives to meet the detainees is also curtailed, which deprives them of meeting their relatives. The food and drinking water supplied is also unhygienic and below standard, by which many prisoners are suffering from various health issues and sick prisoners are left to battle for their life as no proper medical care is provided to them, he lamented. Meanwhile, Indian police and troops used brute force on protesters in Pulwama district, injuring several of them. The police and troops used brute force and fired teargas shells on peaceful demonstrators in Hal and Tral bus stand areas of the district. Several people sustained injuries during the brutal actions of the forces’ personnel.