Srinagar, Aug 28 (Inditop.com) There are 108 foreign militants – 97 Pakistanis, nine Afghans and one each from Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh – lodged in various Indian jails after their arrest in Jammu and Kashmir on terrorism related charges, according to the state’s home department.
Contradictory to separatist leaders’ claims that 6,200 people arrested on militancy related charges are in prisons within and outside Jammu and Kashmir, the government says that a total of 2,384 people are imprisoned in the state for terror charges while 65 are jailed outside the state for similar reasons.
“At present 2,449 persons (arrested in Jammu and Kashmir) are lodged in different jails within as well as outside the state,” according to an official document of the home department.
The prisoners facing trial in cases in Jammu and Kashmir are normally lodged in state prisons but some foreign nationals detained under the Public Safety Act (PSA) are in jails outside the state. Cases of the foreign suspected militants jailed outside have been transferred to courts outside the state “for speedy trial”, according to an official of the home department.
The official said that there are 15 local prisoners in Jammu and Kashmir whose detention orders have been quashed but they have not been released because they are “subsequently facing trials in (other) substantive cases”.
However, the official figures don’t include separatist politicians, many of who are also detained under the PSA, which entails two-year detention without any prosecution.
Refuting the government figures, a Hurriyat Conference spokesman said the total number of “illegally detained Kashmiris is over 6,200”.
The spokesman said the “inaccuracy of the authorities’ statement is evident by the fact that the list of prisoners did not include the names of Syed Ali Gilani and Shabir Shah” – the two separatist leaders jailed for instigating agitational politics and provoking people to pelt stones at public properties.
