In Indian Occupied Kashmir, the President of Jammu and Kashmir Ummat-e-Islami and a prominent religious scholar, Qazi Yasir was released after 14 months of illegal detention under draconian law, Public Safety Act (PSA).
According to Kashmir Media Service, Qazi Yasir who was arrested under the PSA during last year's uprising in July and was shifted to Kot Bhalwal Jail in Jammu was received amid pro-freedom slogans at his native area Islamabad.
On the occasion, Qazi Yasir while vowing to continue freedom struggle demanded release of all political prisoners and youth. "People of Kashmir have offered tremendous sacrifices for a cause and the need of the hour is to safeguard these," he said. He also expressed solidarity with all the illegally detained leaders including Shakeel Bakhshi, Mushtaq-ul-Islam, Abdul Aziz Dar and Yasin Aatai as well as the youth who have been detained for participating in peaceful anti-India protests.
Talking to media men after his release, Qazi Yasir said, "Police authorities on Friday approached me in jail and told me to sign a bond for release. However, I refused to sign the bond and police accordingly handed me over to the personnel of counter intelligence Kashmir, who handed me over to Bijbehara police station." The High Court had quashed Yasir's detention under the PSA four times but each time he was booked under fresh one. He was later shifted to Srinagar Central Jail. He was briefly allowed to participate in the funeral of his uncle last month following the court directions. On Friday, Yasir was shifted to Bijbehara Police Station from the Central Jail.