As Kash­mir shuts down to­day at the call of Syed Ali Shah Gee­lani of the Joint Re­sis­tance Lead­er­ship to protest the de­te­ri­o­rat­ing health of JKLF leader Yasin Ma­lik, his Pak­istan-based wife Mushal Hus­sein Mul­lick seeks in­ter­na­tional and Pak­istani in­ter­ven­tion, while In­di­a’s Na­tional In­ves­tiga­tive Agency shows no signs of re­lent­ing and for­mer chief min­is­ter Mehbooba Mufti ap­peals for his im­me­di­ate re­lease.

Jammu and Kash­mir Lib­er­a­tion Front leader Yasin Ma­lik is bat­tling in­dif­fer­ence by the NIA and Ti­har prison au­thor­i­ties, af­ter his health de­te­ri­o­rated fol­low­ing sus­tained in­ter­ro­ga­tion by the Na­tional In­ves­tiga­tive Agency even when he was on hunger strike and his health was not good. Af­ter his de­ten­tion fol­low­ing the re­cent ban im­posed on JKLF, Yasin Ma­lik was sur­rep­ti­tiously whisked away to Delhi with­out in­for­ma­tion to his fam­ily and lawyers. Till last re­ports, even his fam­ily is not be­ing al­lowed to meet him and they get briefs about his health only from his lawyer.

Yasin Ma­lik re­lin­quished vi­o­lence long back and now seeks self-de­ter­mi­na­tion for the peo­ple of Kash­mir through peace­ful and de­mo­c­ra­tic means. From among the many pro-free­dom Kash­mir groups, he up­holds the the­ory that it is the peo­ple of Kash­mir who will de­ter­mine their own des­tiny and nei­ther In­dia nor Pak­istan have any role to play in this de­ci­sion-mak­ing.

“If In­dia can take the case of Kul­bushan Jad­hav to the In­ter­na­tional Court of Jus­tice, surely Yasin Ma­lik’s case too is a fit one to be taken up by the Pak­istan gov­ern­ment to the in­ter­na­tional body.”

Mushal Hus­sein Mul­lick, wife of Yasin Ma­lik

With tears in her eyes, his wife Mushal Mul­lick, while ad­dress­ing a press meet in La­hore yes­ter­day said, “If con­victed In­dian spy Kul­bushan Jad­hav can be al­lowed a fam­ily meet­ing by the Pak­istan gov­ern­ment, why should In­dia not al­low me and my daugh­ter to meet Yasin Ma­lik.” She sought im­me­di­ate in­ter­ven­tion of West­ern gov­ern­ments and the United Na­tions.  Ap­peal­ing to the Im­ran Khan gov­ern­ment, she asked, “If In­dia can take the case of Kul­bushan Jad­hav to the In­ter­na­tional Court of Jus­tice, surely Yasin Ma­lik’s case too is a fit one to be taken up by the Pak­istan gov­ern­ment to the in­ter­na­tional body.”

“The life of ail­ing Yasin Ma­lik who is ad­mit­ted at RML Hos­pi­tal Delhi is in dan­ger and rulers and their agen­cies are busy in play­ing with his life cal­lously,” said the Joint Re­sis­tance Lead­er­ship.

As Kash­mir goes to the polls in the third phase of gen­eral elec­tions, in a sharp re­ac­tion, Peo­ples De­mo­c­ra­tic Party leader Mehbooba Mufti, while speak­ing to the me­dia has said, “While BJP’s Pragya Thakur can be re­leased from prison to con­test elec­tions, what is stop­ping In­dian au­thor­i­ties from re­leas­ing Yasin Ma­lik on health and hu­man­i­tar­ian grounds?” She threat­ened that should any­thing hap­pen to Yasin, it will have dis­as­trous con­se­quences and In­dia will be fully re­spon­si­ble.

“While BJP’s Pragya Thakur can be re­leased from prison to con­test elec­tions, what is stop­ping In­dian au­thor­i­ties from re­leas­ing Yasin Ma­lik on health and hu­man­i­tar­ian grounds?”

Mehbooba Mufti, for­mer Chief Min­is­ter, Jammu and Kash­mir

A few days ago, as soon as the news of Yas­in’s health con­di­tion was pub­licly known, in a swift move, the NIA an­nounced that ‘their in­ves­ti­ga­tion is over.’ He was sent from po­lice cus­tody to ju­di­cial cus­tody.

Hur­riyat (M) chair­per­son Mir­waiz Umar Fa­rooq has ex­pressed deep con­cern over his health and has also sought his im­me­di­ate re­lease. He said, “He is a peo­ple’s leader. His safety and well-be­ing is the re­spon­si­bil­ity of the state which has de­tained him un­der the Pub­lic Safety Act.”

 Read Also Kash­mir leader Yasin Ma­lik Walked the Peace Talk, but did any­one lis­ten?

The vi­o­lent in­ci­dent at Pul­wama prompted In­dian au­thor­i­ties into many knee-jerk re­ac­tions and state­ments. Apart from ‘teach­ing a les­son to Pak­istan’, po­lice and in­ves­tiga­tive agen­cies went into a tizzy in Kash­mir. Many or­gan­i­sa­tions were pro­scribed and the NIA re­opened decades-old in­ves­ti­ga­tion into cases launched against pro-free­dom Kash­mir lead­ers. The JKLF was banned and its leader Yasin Ma­lik was im­pris­oned and fresh in­ves­ti­ga­tion launched against him.

“It baf­fles me a lot that west­ern pow­ers which gen­er­ally in­ter­act reg­u­larly with Yasin Ma­lik have showed no pub­lic con­cern in the pre­sent case. I hope that they will soon ex­ert diplo­matic pres­sure on In­dia.”

Kan­warpal Singh, spokesper­son, Dal Khalsa

Among the few Sikhs who keep a tab on the de­vel­op­ments in Kash­mir is Dal Khalsa spokesper­son Kan­warpal Singh, who reg­u­larly co­or­di­nates with the Hur­riyat Con­fer­ence on hu­man­i­tar­ian and po­lit­i­cal is­sues re­lat­ing to the Kash­mir. Speak­ing to World Sikh News, Kan­war Pal Singh said, “I ex­press full sol­i­dar­ity with Yasin and see his de­ten­tion as Naren­dra Mod­i’s gov­ern­men­t’s sin­is­ter at­tempt to break his re­solve to con­tinue the fight for Kash­mir’s Azadi. He must be re­leased un­con­di­tion­ally.”

“It baf­fles me a lot that west­ern pow­ers which gen­er­ally in­ter­act reg­u­larly with Yasin Ma­lik have showed no pub­lic con­cern in the pre­sent case. I hope that they will soon ex­ert diplo­matic pres­sure on In­dia,” added Kan­warpal Singh.

A co­or­di­na­tion com­mit­tee is in place among Sikh and Kash­mir pro-free­dom po­lit­i­cal groups since its for­ma­tion in 2008. This au­thor, along with Sikh po­lit­i­cal lead­ers and hu­man rights ac­tivists, un­der the lead­er­ship of Jus­tice Ajit Singh Bains, had an in­ter­ac­tion with Yasin Ma­lik in New Delhi in April 2008, and can say with with­out hes­i­ta­tion that Yasin is clear about his mis­sion as well as his de­ter­mi­na­tion to work for a peace­ful so­lu­tion for the as­pi­ra­tions of the peo­ple of Kash­mir.

The trial of Mir­waiz Umar Fa­rooq, son of Hur­riyat leader Syed Ali Shah Gee­lani un­der dra­con­ian laws and hold­ing elec­tions in Kash­mir de­spite min­i­mal par­tic­i­pa­tion of the Kash­miri peo­ple shows a pre-med­i­tated de­sign to over­awe pro-free­dom lead­ers.

In its of­fi­cial re­ac­tion, the gov­ern­ment of Pak­istan has said, “Pak­istan strongly con­demns the con­tin­u­ing in­car­cer­a­tion of Yasin Ma­lik since Feb­ru­ary 22 on trumped up charges. We ex­pect the gov­ern­ment of In­dia to en­sure the well-be­ing of Ma­lik, in­clud­ing pro­vi­sion of ad­e­quate health care.”

The Joint Re­sis­tance Lead­er­ship state­ment is­sued in Sri­na­gar reads, “NI­A’s high­hand­ed­ness has in fact forced se­nior re­sis­tance leader Muham­mad Yasin Ma­lik to go on hunger strike and to­day his hunger strike has en­tered into 12th day.”

“Yasin Ma­lik was so badly ill-treated by the state and the Na­tional In­ves­tiga­tive Agency, he was left with no choice but to go on a hunger strike. He, like other lead­ers in Kash­mir, is a vic­tim of po­lit­i­cal vendetta.  Since his de­ten­tion, his fam­ily and even his lawyers were de­nied ac­cess to him. Even now while he is in hos­pi­tal, his lawyers are not given free ac­cess.”

Prof. SAR Gee­lani, Com­mit­tee for Re­lease of Po­lit­i­cal Pris­on­ers

It is my view that hunger strike as a de­mo­c­ra­tic tool of protest while you are in cus­tody is a bad idea, es­pe­cially when you are deal­ing with an in­sen­si­tive state, a bi­ased ju­di­ciary and a ra­bidly com­mu­nal po­lice and jail staff.  Prof. S. A. R. Gee­lani of the Com­mit­tee for the Re­lease of Pris­on­ers, while agree­ing with me on this says, “Yasin Ma­lik was so badly ill-treated by the state and the Na­tional In­ves­tiga­tive Agency, he was left with no choice but to go on a hunger strike. He, like other lead­ers in Kash­mir, is a vic­tim of po­lit­i­cal vendetta.  Since his de­ten­tion, his fam­ily and even his lawyers were de­nied ac­cess to him. Even now while he is in hos­pi­tal, his lawyers are not given free ac­cess.”

 Read Also Kash­mir leader Yasin Ma­lik Walked the Peace Talk, but did any­one lis­ten?

The New Delhi-based Ti­har jail is pretty no­to­ri­ous for its at­ti­tude to­wards pris­on­ers.  Prison au­thor­i­ties should be ac­com­mo­dat­ing, lov­ing, car­ing and coun­selling. On the con­trary, they are in­hu­mane, brute and bi­ased.  How can any­one for­get that re­cently a Mus­lim in­mate was branded with the Hindu re­li­gious sym­bol “OM” by jail au­thor­i­ties?  Re­cently, one Pak­istani pris­oner died in Jaipur prison. All around the coun­try, all pris­on­ers and es­pe­cially po­lit­i­cally pris­on­ers are de­nied ba­sic fun­da­men­tal rights and are sub­jected to grave hu­mil­i­a­tion on the ba­sis of their re­li­gion or po­lit­i­cal ori­en­ta­tion.

Sadly, all of this is lost on the peo­ple and civil so­ci­ety too, es­pe­cially in the din of the highly sur­charged elec­tion sce­nario across the coun­try. Un­ques­tion­ably, as con­sci­en­tious ac­tor-turned-can­di­date Prakash Raj, con­test­ing elec­tions from Ban­ga­lore North says, “There is a cli­mate of fear and every­one is vot­ing un­der that shadow of fear.”

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I pray for the good health and well-be­ing of the suave, gen­tle Kash­mir leader and hope that his 7-year old daugh­ter Razia Sul­tana will be al­lowed to meet him soon.

The im­ages of Yasin Ma­lik’s mother, wife and daugh­ter sob­bing in pub­lic are heart-rend­ing. I join them in ap­peal­ing to the good sense of the pow­ers that be.