Situation simmering in J&K which can have dangerous consequences: Hurriyat chief Mirwaiz Umer Farooq

The APHC chief informed that thousands of people including political leaders and activists continue to languish in jails for years and the situation in J&K is simmering. “People, especially the youth, feel suffocated, which can have serious consequences,” said Mirwaiz.

Mirwaiz, who has been under house arrest since August 5, 2019, said that the long standing non-resolution of the political and humanitarian issue of J&K is only creating more complications in the region.

“Situation in J&K is getting more and more repressive with each passing day. Day in and day out extreme laws are introduced to further curb people’s freedom and intimidate them into silence through fear of retribution. Sudden dismissals of government employees without any investigation…is part of this policy,” said Mirwaiz in a statement issued here. Even while applying for a passport, J&K government employees have to get vigilance clearance, which Mirwaiz said is not the case elsewhere.

“A large segment of the J & K population is working in the government sector, these laws are meant to silence them into submission, crush their freedom of expression and quell any kind of dissent. Hurriyat strongly denounces this dictatorial approach to deal with people’s aspirations, as it only creates more dissent and anger,” said Mirwaiz.

The Hurriyat chief also referred to recent crackdown on journalists in Kashmir saying that local media persons and media houses were continuously targeted and harassed through raids on their homes and offices and confiscation of their equipment and even arrests in some cases.

“Continued raids by government agencies on organisations and homes of people and slapping of PSA and other harsh laws on them, picking up of youth, arbitrary arrests, constant surveillance of people continues unabated across J&K as a state policy, and the number of kashmiris in jails and detention centre’s further swells,” said Mirwaiz.