As India has released a number of prisoners to stem the spread of Covid-19 in the country, Kashmiri political prisoners continue to languish in detention Human rights groups and relatives of prisoners from India-controlled Kashmir are calling for the release of political detainees held in Indian jails, as fears grow that they could catch coronavirus. As of Thursday, India has recorded 5,916 cases of virus, including 178 fatalities, forcing the government led by the Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) to scale up its efforts to contain the virus. In late March, India’s Supreme Court recommended that the government begin granting parole to prisoners in a bid to stop the exponential spread of the coronavirus pandemic in the country’s overpopulated prisons. Kashmir: Coronavirus is a new tool for India to oppress us The government has imposed stringent restrictions on movement across the country, and followed the Supreme Court ruling, begun releasing a number of prisoners. But amid extraordinary measures taken during the global pandemic, hundreds of people from India-controlled Kashmir remain detained in prisons across India, eight months into a lockdown on the region. Nuzhat Shahid has been running from pillar to post for two and a half years fighting for the release of her husband, Shahid ul Islam, and now fears coronavirus puts him in further jeopardy. Islam was among scores of pro-independence Kashmiri leaders detained in 2017 by India's National Investigation Agency (NIA) and accused of “funding terrorism” - charges many Kashmiri activists say are used to suppress the freedom movement. "My husband is diabetic. He lives in the most pathetic conditions one can imagine,” Nuzhat Shahid told MEE. “In the current crisis, he is among the most vulnerable to getting infected. He has lost weight and it has now gotten to a point where his eyesight is getting affected. “He has committed no crime but is made to live like a criminal," she added. Human rights activists have warned that very few Kashmiris have been thus far paroled and if nothing changes, the consequences could be disastrous.