By: Raja Sajid Rasheed
Fascist Bhatia Janata Party(BJP) government led by “Butcher of Gujarat” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been using National Investigation Agency (NIA) as a coercive tool to suppress the voice of pro-freedom leaders of Illegally Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).Under a sinister conspiracy to punish Kashmiri pro-freedom leadership, India has planned to award life imprisonment to Hurriyat leader and founder of Dukhtaran-e-Millat Aasiya Andrabi and keep her behind the bars. Aasiya has been languishing in Tihar jail since July 2018 on the false and fabricated cases against her. Additional Session Judge Delhi-based NIA court Praveen Singh has ordered framing of charges against Andrabi, and her two associates Sofi Fahmeeda and Naheeda Nasreen. They were arrested in 2018 on false and fabricated charges of waging war against India, sedition and conspiracy to commit terror acts.The latest order by the NIA court about framing of charges against Aasiya Andrabi and her two associates under sedition is indicative of Modi-led fascist Indian government’s evil designs to punish Hurriyat leaders in fabricated cases.Aasiya Andrabi’s pro-freedom activities have always unnerved Indian authorities and they had been planning since long to silence her voice by one way or the other. Her husband Dr Muhammad Qasim Fakhtoo has been accorded imprisonment till death to break her will. But iron lady of Kashmir, Aasiya Andrabi has refused to submit to India’s machinations, and she along with her associates is braving illegal detention in New Delhi’s Tihar jail despite suffering from multiple ailments. Aasiya Andrabi, 58 is hypertensive, asthmatic, and has arthralgias. Unhygienic conditions, substandard food, and on top of all, continuous mental torture have further deteriorated her health. She was, first time, arrested in 1993 and since then faced many detentions. In July 2018, she was shifted to Tihar Jail, where two top Kashmiri leaders- Maqbool Bhat and Afzal Guru- were hanged in 1984, and 2013 respectively. The name of Aasiya Andrabi will be remembered in the annuls of history for fighting Indian occupation forces bravely.It is world known fact that India has been using its courts to punish pro-freedom Kashmiri leaders and activists who have been challenging India’s illegal occupation of their motherland. Besides Aasiya Andrabi, Indian occupation government has arrested several other prominent Kashmiri Hurriyat leaders including founder and president of the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party (JKDFP) Shabbir Ahmed Shah, President of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front Yaseen Malik, General Secretary of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference Masarrat Alam, chairman of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai by invoking draconian laws in IIOJK.Incarceration and torturing of Kashmiri leaders and activists on the basis of their political ideology reflects the imperialistic mentality and agenda of the BJP- Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh regime.The international community and world human rights organization should take cognizance of the plight of thousands of Kashmiris detained by Modi regime before and after August 5, 2019 illegal and unilateral annexation of the disputed territory .Kashmiri prisoners including Hurriyat leaders, activists and youth are facing inhuman torture in Tihar, Kot Bhalwal Jodhpur, Agra, Haryana and other jails in India. The condition of Kashmiri prisoners in Indian jails is deplorable and they did not even have access to basic human rights. They are not provided proper food and medical treatment and their families are unable to meet their loved ones. Due to continued illegal detention and worsening conditions of jails, the physical and mental health of most of the Kashmiri political prisoners is deteriorating. These repressive measures by the hard-line Indian government against the innocent Kashmiri detainees are a serious violation of Geneva Conventions on Prisoners’ Rights and humanitarian laws.By using such mean and inhuman tactics, Kashmiris’ resolve for freedom could not be suppressed by Indian rulers. Special NIA court verdict against Aasiya Andrabi will further strengthen the resolve and resistance of the people of Kashmir against illegal occupation of their motherland.International community must take cognizance of the situation and intervene to stop Indian authorities from awarding sentence to Aasiya Andrabi and other pro-freedom Kashmiri leaders under Kashmir-specific draconian laws and impress upon India to release the Kashmiri political detainees.
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