Srinagar: All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) on Thursday said that its chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq completed three years of continuous house detention under which the authorities placed him on 4th of August 2019, when J&K was downgraded to Union Territory of India and its special status revoked.
As per a statement issued to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), APHC strongly condemned this arbitrary, despotic and extra judicial act of the authorities of forcibly detaining its chairman in his house, leading to gross violation of all his fundamental and basic human rights. “All channels of communication are blocked to him and all outreach to people, friends and party cadre, barred.”
“It seems our chairman is being punished for pleading the cause of resolution of the lingering Kashmir conflict through peaceful means of dialogue and deliberations, and good neighbourly relations in the subcontinent. As Hurriyat we have not only advocated this stand since our formation, but have actively supported, and proactively participated in all initiatives taken in this direction as we firmly believe in this approach and outlook.”
APHC said that jailing Kashmiri political leadership, cadres, activists journalists, youth and people from different walks of life in jails across India, and using all forms of repressive measures to quell dissent or resistance is a despotic approach to problem solving and futile in the long term, as has been observed in other conflict regions .
“We appeal to Government of India to release all Kashmiri political prisoners unconditionally including APHC chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and resume the process of conflict resolution through peaceful means, which is dialogue,” APHC said—(KNO)
