Kashmiri body urges UN to pressure India to end JKLF chief Yasin Malik’s incarceration
WASHINGTON, Jul 29 (APP):The World Kashmir Awareness Forum (WKAF), a Washington-based advocacy group, has appealed to the United Nations to persuade India to end the “solitary confinement, inhumane and cruel treatment, including physical and psychological torture” of prominent Kashmiri leader Muhammad Yasin Malik.
The appeal, addressed to UN Secretary- General Antonio Guterres and the world body’s High Commissioner of Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, was issued following reports about hospitalization of Malik, who is also the chairman of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front.
“The news of Yasin Malik’s admission to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital has set alarm bells ringing among millions of his followers in Jammu and Kashmir and around the world,” the forum said.
Malik has been incarcerated in the Tihar jail number 7 in solitary confinement serving life sentence on trumped up charges without a fair trial and proper legal representation, it was pointed out.
The Kashmiri leader has been defiant throughout his kangaroo court trial and decide to go on a hunger strike four days ago despite his chronic ill health and physical and psychological torture inflicted by the authorities in the jail, the forum said.
His frail condition from decades of turmoil, torture and poor healthcare has taken a huge toll on Malik’s health.
Kashmiris around the world fear that Indian authorities plan to get rid of of all political and human rights activists and leaders resisting illegal Indian occupation, the forum said, adding, “They have a proven track record of causing death of Kashmiri leaders by any means, including life in prison just as is being contemplated in the case of Muhammad Yasin Malik.”
APP/ift
