Hurriyat Chairman Urges J-K Govt To Halt Arrests In Decades-Old Cases

Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Friday voiced concern over the arrest of individuals in decades-old cases and urged the Jammu and Kashmir government to step in. Addressing the Friday congregation at Jamia Masjid, the Mirwaiz, who also serves as Kashmir’s chief cleric, said there is a "deep concern" among people about individuals being arrested in relation to incidents from many years ago.

He noted that this situation has created anxiety and uncertainty, "especially among those persons and their families who have disengaged from past paths for long."

The leader pointed out that "already thousands of Kashmiri prisoners are languishing" in jails within and outside Jammu and Kashmir, "some for decades, causing immense suffering to their families", and that more arrests "only adds to the woes and pain of Kashmiris."

He added that the "continued detention" of Kashmiris in prisons outside the Union Territory often leads to "delays" in trials and "severely limits" family access, which he said runs "contrary to the basic principles of humane treatment and natural justice."

The Mirwaiz urged the elected government to review the handling of such long-pending cases and called for detainees to be shifted back to Jammu and Kashmir "to ensure a fairer, faster, and more compassionate process of justice."

He further appealed to the government to halt "the continuing process of arrests and detention of individuals who have moved on and are not associated with any form of violence in decades."