Pakistan urges UN chief to ask India to free Kashmiri political prisoners in wake of Sehrai's death.

Voicing "deep concern" over the recent demise of senior Kashmiri leader Ashraf Sehrai in Indian custody, Pakistan has called on United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to ask India to release all Kashmiri political prisoners languishing in crowded jails where their health is also threatened by the deadly second wave of coronavirus sweeping the country.

"As the COVID-19 situation in India worsens, we remain deeply concerned over the health and safety of thousands of other incarcerated Kashmiri leaders as well as innocent Kashmiris, languishing in different jails at undisclosed locations," Ambassador Munir Akram said in a letter to the UN chief, released on Friday.

Sehrai, 78, chairman of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, who vigorously championed Kashmiri people's right of self-determination, passed away on Wednesday in a Jammu prison where he was denied proper medical facilities.

"His arrest (under Public Safety Act) was the worst manifestation of Indian state oppression," the Pakistani envoy said, adding that he remained incarcerated under poor conditions and the prevailing COVID-19 crisis, ultimately leading to his death.

"While the Government of India has made perfunctory announcements about the release of several detainees as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, most Kashmiri political prisoners remain incarcerated in different jails," Ambassador Akram said, noting that a committee formed by the Indian government, which was mandated to decongest jails in the wake of Covid-19, had stated that it will not release those booked under the Public Safety Act, or militancy-related convicts, on any parole.

This, he said, had provided an excuse for continued incarceration of leading Kashmiri political leaders including: Aasiya Andrabi, Muhammad Yasin...