MUZAFFARABAD: The All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has reiterated its demand for immediate release of all Kashmiris arrested before and after August 5 last year, when India scrapped the special status of the internationally disputed and occupied territory.

In a statement issued on Thursday and emailed to Dawn, the Srinagar-based alliance of pro-freedom organisations expressed serious concern over the condition of the detainees, including APHC leaders and activists and thousands of other Kashmiris from all walks of life, languishing in Kot Bhalwal, Ambphalla, Jodhpur, Tihar, Agra, Haryana and other jails of occupied Kashmir, particularly at a time of Covid-19 pandemic.

Terming the prisoners targets of oppression, it said that APHC chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who is also a religious leader of the disputed Himalayan region, had also been under arbitrary house arrest since August 5, 2019.

Such actions were a brazen violation of human rights of all people, particularly their right to personal liberty, guaranteed by world forums as the fundamental human right of all people across the globe, the alliance said.

It pointed out that due to the continuous detention and the worst prison conditions, physical and mental health of most of the prisoners was constantly deteriorating, which was a matter of serious concern and worry for all Kashmiris and warranted immediate attention of the international community and human rights organisations.

The alliance, however, made it clear that the policy of fear and repression could not alter the realities on the ground with regard to the peoples’ faith in their sentiments and determination to realise the same, sooner or later.

Emphasising early and peaceful settlement of the longstanding dispute, the APHC said: “The sooner it is done by directly going to the people of all regions of Jammu and Kashmir, as it existed on August 14, 1947, or through deliberations among the key stakeholders known to all, the better it will be for the people and peace of the entire region.”

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2020