Police arrests Yasin Malik
The chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Muhammad Yasin Malik, along with zonal president Noor Muhammad Kalwal were arrested at Reban Shopian, on Sunday morning. He had gone to Reban to meet the children of incarcerated Moulana Sarjan Barkati, who is languishing in jail despite several court orders to release him.
Malik enquired about his children and expressed solidarity with them. After the meeting, when he stepped out of the house of Moulana Barkati, CRPF men along with police cordoned the whole area and laid a siege around him. He along with Noor Muhammad Kalwal was arrested and taken to Sangam police station.
Condemning the police action, Yasin Malik said that he was visiting a family whose only bread earner had been put behind bars and was not being released despite repeated court orders. “Moulana Barkati is a religious preacher, who had participated in peaceful protests against the several killings. However, the authorities consider him a big threat and despite repeated court orders to release him, he is not being released. As a result, his family is suffering. He said that the way the security personnel arrested him, it seemed they had come to apprehend an armed rebel.”
Malik expressed his disbelief on the state-of-affairs in the state that visiting a victim’s family was labelled as a crime.
He said that jails and police stations are filled with students and resistance leaders. Families of the inmates are terrorized and humiliated by police.
JKLF chairman said that on one hand meeting victim families is banned and on the other hand we are given moral lessons of peace by the same authorities.
He stressed the need of intervention by international community.
KV Correspondent
