Who Is Khurram Parvez, The Human Rights Activist Arrested By The NIA

One of the most prominent human rights activists in Kashmir, Khurram Parvez has been taken into NIA custody. This was after raids at the office of the Jammu & Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society JKCCS of which he is program coordinator and also at his residence.

This is the latest development when the region is being seen as tightly guarded in terms of any opposition to the establishment.

With many political activists, journalists being seen targeted in the recent past by the state, Khuram whose Twitter bio describes him as a ¡°Human Rights defender working in the world¡¯s highest militarised region¡± arrest has garnered worldwide condemnation.

What are the charges against him?

He has been reportedly charged under section 120B (party to a criminal conspiracy) and section 121 (waging war against the state) of IPC and under section 17 (funding a terrorist), section 18 (conspiracy), section 18B (recruitment for the commission of a terrorist act), section 30 (membership of a terrorist organisation) & section 40 (offences for raising funds for a terrorist organisation) of UAPA.

Geo TV

Documenting alleged human rights violations in Kashmir

Khuram Parvez is an activist, who has played an important role in bringing out and documenting extreme human rights violations in Kashmir. Parvez is one of the founding members of Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), a federation of various non-funded, non-profit, campaign, research, and advocacy organizations based in Srinagar.

It is through JKCCS that Khurram had done most of his work on human rights. JKCCS has been documenting human rights issues, providing legal aid to affected people, and advocating against grave human rights violations in the region.

Khurram has been at the forefront of this campaign. He is also the chairperson of the Philippines based Asian Federation of Involuntary Disappearances AFAD, an international organisation that works on the issue of forced disappearances in Asia.

He has also worked very closely with the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons APDP, a group campaigning for the enforced disappearances in the Valley and a constituent unit of JKCCS.

He has been associated with the group, which comprises the parents of those who disappeared during the conflict since his student days. He was actively engaged with the Nobel prize-winning international campaign Ban Landmines. In 2006, he was honoured with the Reebok International Human Rights award. The JKCCS in 2017 was awarded the Rafto Prize for Human Rights.

AP

What Is Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society

The JKCCS had some influence in UNHRC¡¯s first-ever report on Kashmir. JKCCS came to prominence when in 2009 it released a report titled Buried Evidence. The report uncovered the presence of mass unmarked graves in the region.

The report claimed the presence of about 2,300 unmarked single or mass graves across 55 villages in North Kashmir. The report even caught the eye of the EU. in 2017 they further uncovered the presence of 3,844 graves in the Jammu region.

The then existing state human rights commission even acknowledged the presence of these unmarked graves. JKCCS has been publishing annual reviews of human rights situations, documenting the continuous human rights violations in the valley. T

hey have also released regular reports, documenting different types and aspects of human rights violations in the region. Some of their prominent reports include ¡®Torture: Indian state¡¯s Instrument of Control..¡¯, ¡®Impact of violence on children of J&K¡¯, ¡®The anatomy of violence¡¯, ¡®Half widow? Half wife?¡¯.

The coalition has also published a report on Khurram titled ¡®State versus Khurram Parvez, A peoples¡¯ Dossier¡¯. Apart from this, JKCCS also releases a monthly newsletter which is a collection of all human rights-related news and data.

Previous arrests

Khurram was previously arrested in 2016, a day after he was stopped from travelling to Switzerland to attend the UNHRC event. He was booked under the infamous Public Safety Act and remained in prison for more than two months. In September last year, he spoke at the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances and the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances.

Twitter/Khurram Parvez

Personalities and organisations across the world have condemned his arrest. UN special rapporteur on Human rights, the Rafto Foundation, the World Organization Against Torture, Amnesty International, have come out in support of Khurram.

I¡¯m hearing disturbing reports that Khurram Parvez was arrested today in Kashmir & is at risk of being charged by authorities in #India with terrorism-related crimes. He¡¯s not a terrorist, he¡¯s a Human Rights Defender @mujmash @RaftoFoundation @GargiRawat @NihaMasih pic.twitter.com/9dmZOrSwMY

¡ª Mary Lawlor UN Special Rapporteur HRDs (@MaryLawlorhrds) November 22, 2021

Mary Lawlor, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, called Parvez's arrest "disturbing."

"He's not a terrorist, he's a human rights defender," she said in a tweet.

For more on news and current affairs from around the world please visit Indiatimes News.