Senior leader of All Parties Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has expressed serious concern over the arrests of senior advocates of the High Court Bar Association of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir in the last few days.

According to a Kashmir Media Service report on Saturday, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq addressing the Friday congregation at Jamia Masjid Srinagar, lamented that there were reports in the media that more such arrests would continue in the coming days. He wondered if lawyers are put behind the bars who will fight people’s cases in courts and who will defend their judicial rights?

He said it is distressing for all the senior and reputed advocates, who are an important part of civil society, are being treated in this authoritarian manner.

‘Today it is the lawyers, tomorrow it will be other members of society which could be traders, shopkeepers or ordinary people who can be detained in this manner,’ he said, adding one fails to understand what the authorities want to achieve by such actions except to instill fear among people and alienate them further. Instead of releasing thousands of political prisoners, journalists, youth and others languishing in jails for years, more and more Kashmiris are sent to jails.