Among the 35 inmates of district jail Bhaderwah undergoing training in handicraft skill is hanged JKLF founder’s brother Zahoor Ahmad Bhat who believes the craft would help him to earn a living after his release.
Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) co-founder Maqbool Bhat was hanged in Delhi’s Tihar jail on February 11, 1984 and his younger brother Zahoor is lodged in district jail Bhaderwah under stringent Public Safety Act (PSA).
He was arrested in 2015 and lodged in a jail in Kupwara earlier. The PSA is an administrative law that allows detention without charge or trial for up to two years in some cases. Bhaderwah Jail Superintendent Mushtaq Malla said 35 inmates, majority of them PSA detainees, are being trained to manufacture paper carry bags, flower pots and other handicraft items from discarded material. “The decision was primarily taken to save the environment from harmful impact of plastic bags. In the first phase, paper carry bags are being used in jails. In addition, flower pots and other handicraft items have also been gifted to the visitors who liked them a lot. We hope to sell these in markets later,” he said.
