Geelani met detenues, alleged 1500 in different in and outside J

Srinagar, Jul 30 (UNI) Alleging that 1500 persons are languishing in different jails in and outside Jammu and Kashmir without commiting any crime, chairman of the breakaway Hurriyat Conference (HC) Syed Ali Shah Geelani met hundreds of detenues in central jail here today.

Expressing his concern over the lack of basic facilities in jails and detention centres available to detenues, Mr Geelani said it was the biggest Human Rights violation.

He said there are 375 detenues in Srinagar central jail followed by 325 in Kotbalwal, 260 in Delhi's Tihar jail, 90 in Kathua, 74 Udhampur, 30 Baramulla, 12 in Sangroor, 12 Varanasi, nine Agra, 12 Naini, UP, 4 Meerut, three Jaipure, 14 Jodhpur, five each in Mumbai and Lucknow.

They are serving the sentence without any fault, he alleged.

Mr Geelani in a statement after his visit to Central jail here said majority of the detenues are languishing in jails without any trail. Some of them were released by the court but are still in jails, he alleged and demanded their immediate release.

The HC Chairman said Kashmir is a political issue and those who have been arrested qualify as political prisoners. They need to be treated as political prisoners, he demanded.

He appealed to world bodies to intervene and pressurise Indian authorities to release the detenues.

UNI BAS RJ ND1650