Kashmiri Leader Released
ISLAMABAD: Senior Hurriyat leader of Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJK) and renowned cleric, Maulana Sarjan Barkati, was released, on Wednesday, from almost two months illegal detention of Indian occupational forces in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
According to Kashmir media service (KMS) Sarjan Barkati had been kept at Zainapora police station in Shopian district for the last 14 days. Sarjan Barkati has been arrested twice in the last two years.
Earlier today, news portal ‘The Kashmiriyat’ reported that Sarjan Barkati was shifted to a hospital after he fell ill at the police station, last night. His family members told The Kashmiriyat that Barkati had complained of chest pain, which the family thought was heart attack.
The Hurriyat leader, popularly known as ‘Azadi Chacha’, was taken into custody by the Indian police on 17 September 2022 when several other religious leaders from south Kashmir including the custody of Maulana Abdul Rasheed Dawoodi and Maulana Mushtaq Ahmed Veeri.
Maulana Dawoodi and Maulana Veeri were arrested under the draconian law, ‘Public Safety Act’ (PSA), and shifted to Kot Bhalwal jail in Jammu.
It is worth mentioning here that Maulana Sarjan Barkati, a resident of Reban area of Shopian, became a household name during the mass uprising triggered by the extrajudicial killing of popular youth leader, Burhan Wani, in July 2016 for his distinct style of sloganeering.
Indian Illegal Detentions
Barkati was arrested in October 2016 and subsequently booked under the PSA. A cleric and a charismatic crowd puller, Maulana Barkati was released in 2020 after being kept in illegal detention by the occupation authorities for four years.
The illegal arrest of Barkati has received huge condemnation from rights organizations, independent media organizations, Kashmiri people and other sections of society.
All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), Chairman of Democratic Political Movement, Syed Bashir Andrabi, the High Court Bar Association (HCBA) of IIOJK, All Parties Hurriyat Conference- Azad Jammu & Kashmir APHC-AJK leader, Altaf Hussain Wani, who have strongly condemned and criticized the illegal detention and arrest of Barkati and other Kashmiri leaders and Clerics which are demanding freedom from illegal Indian occupation of Jammu & Kashmir.
