I am poor, can’t afford to visit him to Jammu jail: Barkati’s wife
Srinagar: Wife of pro-freedom leader, Moulana Sarjan Barkati, popularly known as “freedom chacha and Pied Piper of Kashmir”, for his peculiar way of sloganeering, today appealed the authorities especially Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti that her husband be shifted to Srinagar jail from Kot-Balwal jail Jammu.
Barkati’s wife told over phone that her financial condition is very weak and she is not in a position to visit her husband to Jammu’s Kot-Balwal jail.
Barkati was arrested on October 1 from Wanpoh area of south Kashmir when he was on the way to Arwani. He was immediately booked under Public Safety Act (PSA).
She told that the recent rumors about “Barkati’s death under custody” forced her to hire a vehicle and visit Jammu in the dead of Saturday night, to see her husband. “He was alive, but has been beaten ruthlessly. He is ailing in the jail,” she said.
“I along with my two sons want to visit him (Barkati) but our financial conditions don’t allow us,” she said.
She appealed the authorities that on humanitarian grounds her husband be shifted to Srinagar jail, so that she could visit him frequently.
Barkati a religious cleric from Shopian district and a senior leader of Ummat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir, headed by Mirwaiz Qazi Yasir, rose to the prominence
Barkati was instrumental in organizing public rallies across South Kashmir in the on-going civilian uprising. He popularised “new forms of anti-India sloganeering” that went viral across Kashmir. Police had been conducting raids on Barkati’s house in Shopian until he was arrested.
When contacted MLA Wachi Aijaz Ahmed Mir said he would take up the matter with the concerned authorities and the Chief Minister to do the needful about the shifting of Barkati from Jammu jail. (PTK)