Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front Sunday accused the PDP-BJP government of playing with the life of its incarcerated chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik by prolonging his arrest through judicial remands.
According to a statement issued here, JKLF’s zonal president Noor Muhammad Kalwal said that from last many years especially from last one year, arresting Malik and putting him in jail has been a common exercise of rulers. “Of the last 360 days, Malik has been kept in jail or police custody for more than 200 days and he was arrested more than 25 times during this short period,” Kalwal said. “Even during the days he was not in jail or police custody, he remained under strict police scrutiny and many a times had to go underground to participate in peaceful political programs.”
He said repeated arrests and prolonged incarceration has inflicted serious health problems to Malik and recent health checkups have confirmed that he has serious problems. “His artificial heart valve and kidneys are not functioning properly,” Kalwal said. “During recent medical examination by senior heart surgeon Dr Anil Bhan and senior cardiologist Dr Khurshid Iqbal it was observed that his artificial heart valve is not functioning properly and has developed some serious issues.”
Kalwal said doctors have advised Malik to go for further examinations to ascertain and diagnose the exact position of the heart valve but despite all these difficulties rulers and their police chose to keep him in jail.
Kalwal cautioned the government that if any harm is done to Malik or any other leader or activist “the entire responsibility of the repercussions will lie on the rulers.”
He said on one hand rulers are talking of high morals and democracy and on the other hand behaving like worst dictators by putting young and old behind bars, confining ailing octogenarian leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani to his residence for years and even banning press conference of Mirwaiz Muhammad Umer Farooq and stopping him from leading prayers at Jamia Masjid Srinagar.