ROHTAK: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has ruled out the possibility of any electoral alliance with the Haryana Vikas Party (HVP) during the next Vidhan Sabha elections in the state, saying that it cannot have truck with those justifying the imposition of emergency in the country. They also took strong exception to Bansi Lal’s statements about the next Prime Minister. The BJP would itself elect its leader after coming to power at the center, and added that Bansi Lal has no power to say anything in this regard.

Suraj  Bhan, said the party would oppose any attempt to impose emergency in the country, pointing out that a number of the BJP leaders had remained in jails and many more people were put behind bars under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA).

BATHINDA: The Kashmiri militants lodged in the Central Jail at Sangrur, in Punjab, are being victimized by the jail authorities. The Kashmiri militants are living in a miserable condition as they have allegedly been denied medical and other facilities available to other prisoners.

The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) has made these revelations in its report on the state of Kashmiri militants released to the press here last week.

Ved Parkash Gupta, general secretary of the Punjab unit of PUCL, claimed that their findings were based on the personal visits to the jail made by certain members of PUCL and the sources in the jail.

The report said that the Kashmiri militants were beaten up daily on one pretext or the other. During summers, their power and water supply was cut off and any plea for restoration of power aroused the anger of the jail authorities. Their request for provision of medicines and other basic amenities resulted in heavy beating up of these prisoners,

According to reports, 191 Kashmiri militants were brought to Sangrur jail some time back. All of them were below the age of 30. As a result of the possibility of elections in Kashmir and change in the political approach, 113 detainees were released recently and the remaining 78 Kashmiris were still in jail. The report said that some militants were being confined in solitary cells while the others were locked in barracks in groups.

A copy of the report has been sent to National Human Rights Commission, New Delhi, for appropriate action in this regard. The report is signed by Dr. Vinceta Gupta, member of the National Council of PUCL.  banned: B

Article extracted from this publication >> March 17, 1995