Tragedy that many J-K prisoners in jails without trial: PDP chief Mufti

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti has described the prolonged detention of thousands of Jammu and Kashmir residents in jails outside the UT as a "tragedy" without trial.

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said on Saturday it is a ''tragedy'' that many prisoners from Jammu and Kashmir are in jails away from their families without a trial.

Speaking to reporters, Mufti, who visited the residence of Lok Sabha MP Sheikh Abdul Rashid, alias Engineer Rashid, in north Kashmir's Kupwara to pay condolences on his father's demise, said many families like the Rashids have suffered due to the prolonged detention of their kin.

''Engineer Rashid's story is the story of most households in Jammu and Kashmir, as thousands of our people are in jails and most of whom are in jails outside the UT,'' she said.

Rashid was recently released on bail to attend the last rites of his father, who passed away at AIIMS in New Delhi.

The MP from north Kashmir's Baramulla, who defeated Omar Abdullah and Sajad Lone in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, is facing trial in the terror-funding case with allegations that he funded separatists and terror groups in Jammu and Kashmir.

He has been lodged in Delhi's Tihar Jail since 2019 after the NIA arrested him in the 2017 terror-funding case.

''Engineer Rashid is a sitting Member of Parliament. The court perhaps allowed him some relief due to pressure to see his father and attend the funeral. But many others have been jailed since 2019 whose parents passed away without seeing their sons even once,'' the PDP chief said.

She said such a situation reflects the hardships faced by families across J-K, ''as many people continue to remain behind bars without trial''.

''What can be a bigger tragedy than this?'' she said.