ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Wednesday expressed deep grief over the demise of senior All Parties Hurriyat Conference leader Ashraf Sehrai in Indian police custody.
Foreign Office Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri in a statement said the senior Kashmiri leader was apprehended last year on trumped-up charges under the draconian Public Safety Act in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
Ashraf Sehrai remained incarcerated in Indian jail under squalid conditions despite the serious deterioration of his health and the prevailing COVID-19 crisis, the spokesperson said.
He said, “As the COVID-19 situation in India deteriorates, we also remain deeply concerned over the health and safety of the incarcerated Kashmiri leaders as well as other innocent Kashmiris, languishing in jails at undisclosed locations.”
“Most of these jails are overcrowded and do not have any provision for precautions against the COVID-19,” the spokesman regretted.
India’s blatant attempts to portray the legitimate Kashmiri struggle as “terrorism,” and to prosecute its leaders through concocted cases is a clear violation of the UN Charter, UN Security Council and UN General Assembly resolutions, and international human rights and humanitarian law, it added.
The Foreign Office said reportedly, some of the Kashmiri leaders in Indian jails have already contracted Coronavirus. The statement said unfortunately, they are not even provided any medical treatment. Given the worst pandemic situation in India, the Indian Government must immediately release the incarcerated Kashmiri leadership and all innocent Kashmiris.
The incarcerated Kashmiri leaders include Aasiya Andrabi, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Shabir Ahmed Shah, Advocate Shahid-ul-Islam, Altaf Ahmed Shah, Nayeem Ahmed Khan, Ayaz Akbar, Peer Saifullah, Raja Merajuddin Kalwal, Syed Shahid Yousuf, Shakeel Ahmed, Farooq Ahmed Dar, Fehmeeda Sofi, Nahida Nasreen, Zahoor Ahmed and others.
The Foreign Office said many others are under house arrest including Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.
He called upon the United Nations and International Committee of the Red Cross to urge India to drop all fabricated charges against political leaders of IIOJK and provide them complete legal protections, including the right to a free and fair trial.
It added that Pakistan, on its part, will continue to support the Kashmiri people in their rightful struggle against Indian oppression till the realization of their inalienable right to self-determination as enshrined in the UN Security Council Resolutions.
Senior Kashmiri leader Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai died on Wednesday while in police custody. He was 78. As per details, Sehrai, who challenged India’s rule over occupied Kashmir for decades, was admitted to a government hospital with multiple ailments on Tuesday from a jail in the southern Jammu region, his family said.
Mujahid Sehrai, Sehrai’s son said his father was denied proper medical care while in jail. He said he spoke to his father 10 days ago and he complained of ill health.
His son said, “He told us several times in the last few months during his two phone calls a week to home that he was not getting proper medical treatment. We moved a court on April 16 with a petition seeking proper medical assistance for him but the court was yet to review it,” he added.
Sehrai was arrested last July under the Public Safety Act, which allows authorities in occupied Kashmir to imprison anyone for up to two years without trial.
