Saghar salutes Shah for scripting a new history of resistance

ISLAMABAD/SRINAGAR, July 27 (SABAH): Former Convener All Parties Hurriyat Conference and acting chairman Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) Mehmood Ahmed Saghar has saluted the party chairman Shabir Ahmed Shah on completion of 38 years of his life in prison and eight consecutive years of captivity in India’s notorious Tihar jail.

In a statement issued here today, Saghar, while highlighting the incarcerated party chairman’s indomitable role in the Kashmiris’ ongoing struggle, said, “Shah has become an icon of the ongoing movement by completing 38 years in prison from time to time and eight consecutive years of captivity in the notorious Tihar jail”.

He said that in his 68 years of his life Shah Sahib had to spend 38 years in prisons, detention and interrogation centers within and outside the Kashmir valley because of his political beliefs.

Saghar said that being a strong proponent of Kashmiris’ right to self-determination, Shah has always sought a peaceful settlement of the Kashmir dispute in line with UNSC resolutions. He said that Shah had never accepted India’s forcible control on Kashmir and he never changed that ideology.

Hailing his perseverance and steadfastness, the the DFP leader said that Shah had chosen the path of struggle as his way of living and he was steadfastly writing a new history of political resistance.

Hailing the party chairman’s commitment and life-long struggle for the Kashmiris’ just cause, Saghar said, “Despite suffering from acute ailments, Shah Sahib stands firm and undeterred on his stance while enduring an unendurable life in prison”. While terming Shah’s illegal detention as sheer vengeance, he said that Shah was being victimized for his unprecedented role in the Kashmiris’ ongoing struggle for the right to self-determination.

Indian secret agencies have been booking him under fake charges since 1968 but not a single allegation has been proved in any court of law”, Saghar said. “Eight years have passed since he (Shah) was illegally arrested by the NIA authorities from Srinagar but the notorious agency has badly failed in proving a single allegation against him so far”, the DFP leader said.

Saghar said that these mean tactics meant to linger on his detention won’t help Indians to break his political will. “We salute his patience, perseverance and determination”, he said.

He said the health condition of Shah had deteriorated in the prison during the past eight years.He lamented that the jail authorities were not providing him with the necessary medical facilities which Shah needs urgently.

Urging world human rights bodies to take effective notice of the matter, he said that human rights defenders should play their due role to ensure the safety and early release of Shah and other Kashmiri prisoners languishing in different jails.

Saghar urged the influenced world governments to use their political and diplomatic clout to help stop persecution of the Kashmir political prisoners .

Meanwhile, the DFP spokesman advocate Arshad Iqbal voiced his party’s serious concern over the plight of Kashmiri prisoners languishing in Indian jails. He said that it was quite unfortunate that the Kashmiri prisoners were kept in cramped jails notorious for the lack of hygienic facilities.

He said that the Kashmiri women prisoners lodged in highly congested prisons out side Kashmir suffer relatively more than male prisoners due to a lack of basic healthcare facilities in Indian prisons. Kashmiri prisoners in India, he said were treated with even greater hostility than other prisoners.

Referring to the plight of Kashmiri prisoners in Tihar jail, the spokesman said that inmates in the notorious jail have no access to clean drinking water, medicine and other basic necessities of life.

“Many prisoners have developed skin diseases due to the prevailing hot and humid weather in the region”, he added.