NGO Janhastakshep condemns arrest of Kashmiri Rights Activist, Khurram Parvez

Janhastakshep, a people’s intervention group, condemned the arrest of Khurram Parvez, a noted civil rights activist in the Kashmir valley, by the National Investigating Agency under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and the various sections of the Indian Penal Code.

Earlier in the day, the NIA raided Parvez’s residence and also carried out searches at the office of the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) in Srinagar. Parvez is the programme coordinator of the JKCCS, a federation of human rights groups and individuals working in J&K founded in 2000 by human rights lawyer and activist Parvez Imroz.

While Parvez was initially detained for questioning, the NIA formally arrested him in the evening. The arrest memo says he was arrested in the case, FIR RC-30/2021/NIA/DLI filed on November 6, under IPC Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 121 (waging, attempting to wage, abetting waging of war against the government), and 121A (conspiracy to commit offences punishable by Section 121); and Sections 17 (raising funds for terrorist act), 18 (conspiracy), 18B (recruiting of any person or persons for terrorist act) and 40 (raising funds for a terrorist organisation) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

In October last year, the NIA had raided Parvez’s residence and office in Srinagar, along with the residences of several activists and journalists. Following the protests after the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani in 2016, Parvez was booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA) by the then Mehbooba Mufti government.

By arbitrarily arresting Khurram Parvez, Janhastakshep noted that the government sought to smart out of the setback it received from the adverse publicity and widespread condemnation of the encounter in Hyderpora where innocent civilians were killed by the security forces.

Parvez was actively involved with Kashmir Coalition of Civil Rights which has brought out some remarkable reports on civil rights and liberties abuses in the Kashmir valley and he is the chairperson of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD). He had lost his leg in a landmine while monitoring the 2004 Parliamentary elections.

In arresting activists like Khurram Parvez the government seems to have opened in earnest what was described by the National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval as “The new frontier of warfare is about subverting civil society”.