Separatists leaders criticise CID report on Srinagar central jail

The separatists leader today criticised a CID report which claimed that said the Srinagar Central Jail was a hub for recruiting militants, with inmates establishing a "parallel administrative" set-up, ignored by local police, despite warnings by prison authorities.
The Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) in a statement claimed that the Ameer-e-Zindan institution was a forum facilitating good relations between jail authorities and inmates since Plebiscite Front days.
According to the report, accessed by PTI, the inmates have a "parallel administrative set up" with an 'Ameer-e-Zindaan' (chief of prison) appointed by a self-styled 'shura' (a consultative council) for six months.
The separatist leaders, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik, alleged that this was a deliberate attempt to shift blame as it was not the central jail but actions of the police which were forcing youths to join militancy.

"One inmate escaped from SMHS but five others who were with him at the hospital returned to jail on their own. Nobody is discussing this aspect of the story but instead those who chose to return are now being victimised and terrorised by the police, CID and agencies, and are being blamed for recruiting militants," they alleged.
They were referring to Lashkar-e-Taiba militant Naveed Jhatt's escape from SMHS hospital here.