The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) Member of the Parliament from Srinagar Central Kashmir constituency Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi has promised to raise the issue of Kashmiri prisoners in the parliament.
Addressing a meeting of NC functionaries in Pulwama, Mehdi requested party leaders to provide a list of individuals imprisoned outside the valley, vowing to fight for their release.
"I will raise the issue of prisoners both inside and outside Parliament," he said. Mehdi defeated PDP's Waheed Ur Rehman Para by a margin of about 1.88 lakh votes in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.
As per media organisation FairPlanet, a document issued on 31 August 2023 by Kashmir's Home Department says 1,122 PSA detainees were sent to jails outside Jammu and Kashmir since 2018. Among them, 44 were transferred in 2018, 295 in 2019, 146 in 2021, 585 in 2022 and 52 in 2023.
The trend of transferring PSA detainees to jails outside Jammu and Kashmir began after then-governor NN Vohra in July 2018 removed a safeguard that barred the authorities from shifting natives detained under the law to jails outside the erstwhile State, which was demoted to a Union Territory in 2019.
Mehdi said he will spare no effort to raise their issue at every forum, with every ministry and at every gathering. Expressing gratitude to the party functionaries for his victory, Mehdi said it is now his responsibility to take the voice of the people to Parliament. "A big thank you to the people of Srinagar, Pulwama, Ganderbal, Shopian, and Budgam for this mandate and faith in me. I am humbled and I am aware of the responsibility that this mandate brings with it.”
"From here on, it is my responsibility to take your voice to Parliament. Rest assured, I will represent your sentiments and struggle for the return of our dignity and rights with complete sincerity," he said.
