Kashmiri rights defender Khurram Parvez completes 1,000 days behind bars
Kashmiri rights defender Khurram Parvez completes his 1,000 days in prison under draconian charges today.
On November 22, 2021, the National Investigation Agency arrested Parvez, a Kashmiri human rights advocate who has been critical of the Delhi’s policies and programs in the Valley, after raiding his home and office.
He was charged under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) reportedly on allegations of “terrorism funding, being a member of a terrorist organization, criminal conspiracy, and waging war against the state.”
Human rights organizations allege that Parvez’s arrest is motivated by his work documenting human rights violations committed by authorities in the Kashmir Valley. He works as the program coordinator for the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) and is the chair of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances.
“Today marks ONE THOUSAND DAYS of Khurram Parvez's incarceration -- a 1000 days since his many loved ones, the community of human rights defenders and survivors have been deprived of his powerful presence and guiding light!,” wrote Free Khurram Campaign 2021 on X.
On December 1, 2021, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called for Parvez’s release.
On March 22, 2023, Parvez was arrested in a second case and accused of financing terrorism under the UAPA through his work with JKCCS.
Prior to his arrest, former JKCCS associate Irfan Mehraj, a well-known Kashmiri journalist and human rights activist, was arrested as part of the same case in Srinagar. He was immediately transferred to Delhi.
On March 24, 2023, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders Mary Lawlor called for Parvez’s release.
Last year, while he was in jail, Parvez won the Martin Ennals Award for human rights defenders.
“Khurram Parvez’s life mission as a human rights activist was mapped out when, as a young boy he witnessed the tragic shooting of his grandfather at a protest. He could have sought revenge, but instead chose to contribute nonviolently to the 70-year conflict in Jammu and Kashmir, allegedly the most militarized region in the world,” read a note by award committee.
Parvez has previously been imprisoned for his work. He was arrested in 2016. Two days before his arrest in 2016, Indian immigration authorities had refused to let Parvez board a flight to Geneva, where he was scheduled to address the United Nations Human Rights Council about India’s human rights record. After 75 days of imprisonment, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court had quashed his detention as “illegal.”
“How is history written? If you are looking at the positive side of it, somebody has to look at the negative also. Such people should be allowed to work when you say it’s a democracy,” Sameena Mir, wife of arrested activist earlier said to Maktoob.
