Mujtaba Banday in Muzaffarabad Lockup: Silence Over Mujtaba Banday's Arrest?
Written by: Shah Nawaz Ali Shir, Advocate, Member Joint Awami Action Committee, Nakyal Kotli
Mujtaba Banday, who belongs to Muzaffarabad and Neelum in Pakistan-administered Jammu and Kashmir, is the central president of the largest student organization in this region, Jammu Kashmir NSF, and is also a member of the core committee of the Joint Awami Action Committee.
His role is as clear as daylight. He is a symbol of resistance and struggle in Muzaffarabad and Neelum. He is young, but his impact on the politics of this region is deep and influential.
Mujtaba has an unforgettable and fundamental role in advancing the current public rights movement, student rights, and the broader national and class struggles. His sacrifices and struggle live in the hearts of the people.
Mujtaba Banday has been arrested multiple times in the public rights movement and faces dozens of cases against him. On February 18, he was arrested in Muzaffarabad for celebrating the birthday of Shaheed Maqbool Butt, for challenging the oppressors of this divided region, for raising the call for national freedom, and for confronting the imperialist occupation. The oppressive forces, with the help of the current government, administration, and police, subjected him to violence and arrested him. He was released after two days, but on the same evening, he was arrested again while being tortured in the market.
Now, he is facing severe torture, and his life is at great risk in the Muzaffarabad City Police Station.
His family is under immense pressure to coerce him into distancing himself from the ongoing national and public struggle and to remain silent on political matters. The situation his family is facing is extremely alarming, and we strongly condemn it.
However, Mujtaba refuses to accept such underhanded tactics, which is why he is not being released. Instead, he is being subjected to the worst exploitation and physical and mental torture.
Mujtaba Banday is currently imprisoned under a false and baseless terrorism and rebellion charge.
Today, his first fast (Roza) is also being spent in the harsh conditions of the lockup.
While Mujtaba Banday is imprisoned in the jails of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, on the other side, Yasin Malik is also imprisoned in Indian jails.
There have been state-wide protests for Mujtaba Banday's release organized by Jammu Kashmir NSF and Jammu Kashmir Nep, and similar protests have also taken place in Europe and Canada.
But Mujtaba Banday is also a powerful voice of the Joint Awami Action Committee, and he is an active member of its core committee. Right now, he is the only prisoner arrested in the rulers' jail.
The concerning thing is that there has been no movement or announcement yet from the core committee of the Joint Awami Action Committee for his release, which is causing doubts and questions among the public, freedom-loving people, and students.
It is true that Mujtaba Banday is associated with the revolutionary student organization and is linked to the ideology of self-determination, but this does not mean that he is not a vital and active member of the Joint Awami Action Committee from the Muzaffarabad division. He has always participated in all activities from Neelum to Bhimber, organizing the youth and public effectively.
There is no doubt that the punishment being faced by Mujtaba Banday is due to his raising the slogan for freedom and revolution, but essentially, his punishment is also a result of his significant and active role as an impartial and powerful member in the Joint Awami Action Committee from the Muzaffarabad division.
Because of his connection with the Action Committee, Mujtaba is being targeted for torture. At this stage, the silence of the Action Committee is both alarming and disappointing.
As a member of the Joint Awami Action Committee, as a citizen of this state, and as a human rights activist, I have the right to raise the question: The Action Committee must make its clear and firm stance on this matter. Not just for Mujtaba Banday, but for any citizen of this state who becomes a victim of state repression and violence, whose legal, human, political, and economic rights are taken away, and whose freedom of expression is suppressed – the Joint Awami Action Committee should stand in full opposition to such state oppression and exploitation, and it should be prepared to resist in any way possible.
Because no injustice that violates human freedom and human rights can be tolerated for even a second.
Therefore, Mujtaba Banday, in general, and particularly the voice for freedom, revolution, and public rights from the Muzaffarabad division, is our strength and a powerful voice.
Today, if the ruling class fails to suppress Mujtaba Banday's voice, it will not only be the killing of a single voice, but the foundations of the entire resistant public and national camp will shake. Questions will be raised, and the whole structure will gradually become conditional, limited, and ultimately suppressed.
Therefore, in these difficult circumstances, it is the fundamental duty of not only the freedom fighters, progressives, and nationalists but also every citizen of this oppressed and exploited region, who believes in human freedom, democracy, and human values, to raise their voice for Mujtaba Banday's release with full force, to express solidarity, and to take to the streets.
I would warn the occupying powers and rulers of this region: do not kill the voices that speak, let them speak, do not stop or suppress them, or else these voices may come out with swords. Let the people speak.
Through this writing, I appeal to the students of Azad Jammu and Kashmir to start a powerful protest movement so that the ruling class imposed on Muzaffarabad faces the same fate as that of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
The purpose of this writing is not to target the Joint Awami Action Committee or any of its respected and honored members, but to draw attention to the violations of human rights and the unjust treatment faced by its members.
Undoubtedly, the Joint Awami Action Committee has its own Charter of Demands and a Code of Conduct in place, but the growing contradictions in the existing oppressive, rotten system have led to the necessity of standing together, for the pain of one to be felt by all.
Because revolutionaries like Mujtaba Banday, who are progressive, human-loving, and national public-class fighters, are assets for the entire public, nation, state, and society. They cannot be conditioned or limited. Instead, it is our duty to stand behind such young leaders.
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