SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir, July 17 (Xinhua) -- A court in Indian state of Kolkata has sentenced two Kashmiri youth for life term imprisonment in an arms smuggling case, the families of youth said Wednesday.
The two men 31-year-old Sheikh Farhat and 27-year-old Sheikh Imran, residents of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian- controlled Kashmir, are languishing in Kolkata jail since December 2003 and were sentenced on Monday. "On Monday evening I came to know from my lawyer that my son has been sentenced for life in an arms smuggling case," said Ghulam Nabi Sheikh, father of Farhat. "My son is innocent and was arrested from Srinagar."
According to families of Farhat and Imran, the duo was working as salesmen on a handicraft shop in Kolkata and had left their jobs three months before their arrest from Srinagar. "I am unable to tell my aged parents that their son may never be released," said Sheikh Muzamil, brother of Imran. "I know it is difficult for my parents to hear this. I am perturbed." Imran and Farhat were among six persons sentenced for smuggling 25,485 bullets of AK-47 ammunition into Kolkata in September 2003. The others convicted in the case include Syed Abid Imam, Sirush Momin (arrested in Meghalaya), Moidul Hussain and Sukoor Ali ( arrested in Assam). All six were charged under the Indian arms act.
Muzamil said he has plans to file an appeal in a higher court to seek the release of his brother. "If Indian film star Sanjay Dutt has been awarded only five year imprisonment for similar charges, how come my brother be sentenced for life for the similar allegation," said Muzamil. The life terms handed over to Kashmiris is likely to evoke severe criticism from separatists, who view sentencing as part agenda to implicate Kashmiris in Indian states.
China’s weekly story
(2013.7.5-7.12)
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