Kashmir families live in fear as loved
Kashmir Updates -The Guardian - 16 OCTOBER , 2019
The last time he saw her, Mehraj-ud-din Wani assured his wife that he would soon be a free man.
Wani was speaking to his wife, Gulshan, from behind bars in Srinagar jail in Kashmir. “He was certain that he would be released,” she said. “He said that he will be home in a matter of days.”
But that didn’t happen. The 29-year-old fruit seller is still detained and has been sent to a prison hundreds of kilometres away.
Wani is one of thousands of people reportedly detained in mass arrests in the disputed Himalayan region, which has faced a security crackdown since India’s prime minister, Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi, revoked the Muslim majority state’s semi-autonomous status in August.
Wani’s parents traveled around 1,000km (620 miles) by bus to visit him in Agra central jail last week. “You have no idea how I arranged the money for the travel,” his father, Ghulam Nabi Wani, said. “He has changed so much physically, he has become weak and he shivers while talking.”
Wani was arrested on 9 August, during protests in Srinagar against the Indian government.
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