This is the mother of 26-year-old Aqib Ahmad Malik holding a photo of him after he was arrested today in connection with a 2018 case filed under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). The UAPA is the same pretext used to haul in journalist Masrat Zahra for interrogation & intimidation. He was booked under Section 13 of the UAPA indicting ‘a person who advocates, abets, advises or incites the commission of any unlawful activity’. Since he doesn’t have a history of criminal activity, his family believes he was arrested for protesting the poor quality of food at Kashmir University (where he is a student) in 2018. It doesn’t take much more than that to be considered a political malcontent in Kashmir.
Aqib is a post-graduate student in biochemistry at Kashmir University but has been home under corona quarantine for the past three months since classes are suspended. His case highlights the precarious situation of young people in Kashmir & the direct targeting of youth by the Indian occupation.
We should demand the immediate release of Aqib Ahmad Malik & that all phony charges against him be dropped as part of demanding the immediate release of all Kashmiri political prisoners.
(Photo by Kamran Yousuf)
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