HCBA terms Masarrat’s re-arrest ruthless, HR violation
ISLAMABAD, (MILLAT ONLINE):High Court Bar Association (HCBA), in Indian occupied Kashmir, has condemned the re-arrest of senior APHC leader, Masarrat Aalam Butt soon after he was released from Kote Bhalwal Jail in Jammu.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the Bar Association in a statement issued in Srinagar said, “It is condemnable the re-arrest of Masarrat Aalam Butt after his 35th order of detention was quashed, recently, by the High Court, which had directed that he be released forthwith.” The Bar termed the move as ruthless, barbaric and a glaring and perpetual violation of his human rights. It pleaded the High Court to take suo-motto notice of the matter, in pursuance of the judgment of the Indian Supreme Court that asks for treating the prisoners not as objects but as human beings.
The Statement said, “Bar Association feels that it is not for the first time that after quashing of his order of detention that Masarrat Aalam Butt has been re-arrested inside the jail and lodged at some unknown place, but in the past also, he has been re-arrested and detained in the same manner, many a times and has been hounded by the police and other agencies in an illegal and unlawful manner.”
After keeping him in different police/interrogation centres, the Bar said, “He has been booked again and again under PSA to make his release impossible, which evidently is contrary to UN Charter, Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international covenants and agreements, which guarantee the protection of life and liberty of human beings all over the world.”
The method and manner in which, Masarat Aalam Butt and other detenues including Aasiya Andrabi, Fehmeeda Sofi, Ghulam Mohammad Khan Sopori, Sheikh Mohammad Yousuf and Haji Rustum Butt and others have been treated by Indian authorities and agencies, it goes without saying that “J&K is a police State and no police or jail official is bothered to follow the rule of law or honor the orders of the court.”