Mirwaiz Umar Farooq expresses concern over arrest of people in decades-old cases

Srinagar: Senior religious and separatist leader, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, on Friday, expressed concern over the arrest of people in decades-old cases.

Mirwaiz, while speaking at the Friday congregation at the Jama Masjid in Srinagar, said that there is deep concern among people over the developments taking place in which individuals are being arrested in connection with decades-old cases.

“This has created a lot of anxiety and uncertainty, especially among those persons and their families who have long since disengaged from past paths,” he added.

Mirwaiz alleged that already thousands of Kashmiri prisoners are languishing in jails inside and outside Jammu and Kashmir, “some for decades, causing immense suffering to their families, arresting more and more people only adds to the woes and pain of Kashmiris,” he said.

He added that serious humanitarian and legal concerns have arisen from the continued detention of Kashmiris in prisons outside the Union Territory.

He said that such practices often result in delays in trial proceedings and severely limit family access, running contrary to basic principles of humane treatment and natural justice.

Urging the Union Territory government to intervene, Mirwaiz called for a review of the handling of such old cases and appealed for the transfer of detainees back to Jammu and Kashmir to ensure a fairer, faster, and more compassionate process of justice.

He also appealed to them to intervene and stop the continuing process of arrests and detention of individuals who have moved on and are not associated with any form of violence since decades.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq is also the Chairman of his group of All Parties Hurriyat Conference.

After the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, both groups, the separatist conglomerate led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and the late Syed Ali Shah Geelani have become defunct.

Most constituents of the two separatist conglomerates have announced dissociation with the separatist political platforms.

The All Parties Hurriyat Conference was formed to give a political platform to the armed secessionist campaign.

IANS