Srinagar:It was Mantasha Farooq’s 9th birthday without her father in Srinagar, in Indian occupied Kashmir . Mantasha was 3 year old when her father was detained. Today she turns 12. Her father, Farooq Ahmed Dar the central leader of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, has been imprisoned in Tihar jail for nine years. Farooq Ahmed spent 27 years in custody. I wonder what are the feelings and emotions of Mantasha and her mother, the mother daughter Duo live alone since 24th July, 2017 . Farooq has been imprisoned for the demanding freedom of his homeland Kashmir. It is pertinent to mention here that Supreme Court of India in its order dated 24th July,2017 , 28th October, 2017 & 22nd November, 2022 whereby it dismissed the curative petition filed by the group Roots in Kashmir. Also, his health was not good for many years and he could not get medical treatment in prison. Mantasha’s mother, Assabah Khan Yusufzai, a highly educated Human Rights and Peace Activist, was an Assistant Commissioner Development ( ACD ) in the department of Rural Development in Jammu & Kashmir Government and was dismissed from her position without holding any enquiry though in her service her Annual Performance Reports were outstanding. Farooq Ahmed Dar was not allowed to attend funeral of his brother Parvez Ahmed Dar who was gunned down by Indian agencies in 1998 while going to office at the shrine of Khankah e Moula Srinagar. He was not militant. He was a civilian. He was again denied funeral of his mother on 11th December, 2018. He was denied funeral of his father in March 2019
Only those who have faced difficulties can understand how to interact with them. The United Nations Human Rights Council and international human rights organizations need to act on these issues.
