The arrest of human rights defender Khurram Parvez by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) of India in an alleged terror funding case has raised alarm across the world. It is not the first time that a human rights activist has had to pay a price for his work. However, the frequency of such incidents is increasing and the Government of India is choking all dissenting voices and even potential critical voices since it unilaterally abrogated Article 370 and 35 A in the Indian-Held Kashmir. Parvez’s arrest is yet another example of how authorities muffle activists and human rights advocates.

Khurram Parvez is consideredof Kashmir’s best-known activists. He is the programmecoordinator of the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), a federation of human rights and individuals working in the Indian-held Jammu and Kashmir. Besides brief and monthly publications and updates on the frequent human rights abuses, the JKCC has published 18major reports. These reports have drawn immense international attention. The one titled Structures of Violence published in September 2015 triggered an international debate and played a vital role in bringing the Kashmir issue back to the forum of the United Nations Human Rights Council which then published two reports on the Kashmir situation in 2018 and 2019.

Khurram Parvezalso received the 2006 Reebok Human Rights Award due to his phenomenal work in the field of human rights and social work. He is also the chairperson of the Asian Federation against Involuntary Disappearances (AfAD), an international rights organisation that looks into the forced disappearances in Kashmir.

In 2016, Parvez was put behind bars under the controversial Public Safety Act.He was freed after two months by a court that called his detention “illegal and an abuse of power”. International human rights organisations also expressed great concern about Khurram Parves’s recent arrest, urgingthe Indian authorities to ensure his immediate release. Amnesty International, in a tweet said, “The arrest of Kashmiri activist Khurram Parvez is yet another example of how anti-terror laws are being misused to criminalise human rights work and stifle dissent in India. Instead of targetting HRDs, the authorities should focus on bringing accountability for human rights violations”.

Mary Lawlor, the UN special rapporteur on human rights defenders, has called Parvez’s arrest “disturbing”. “He’s not a terrorist, he’s a human rights defender,” she said in a tweet.

Protesters also gathered outside the BBC office in the United Kingdom (UK) and urged the international community to pressure India to release Parvez. Tehreek-i-Kashmir (Europe president Raja Fahim Kayani has said that he stands with the oppressed people of Jammu Kashmir.

For a long time now, India has been eliminating human rights defenders, and has tried to penalise and silence them. HN Wanchoo, a retired civil servant and human rights defender who documented cases of torture in Jammu Kashmir, was assassinated by unidentified gunmen on December 5, 1992. Similarly, Jalil Andrabi, a 36-year-old leading Kashmiri lawyer and human rights activist, was murdered by an Indian Army major in 1996. Andrabi had been meticulously documenting the human rights violations across Jammu and Kashmir.

The Kashmiri people have been subjected to draconian laws in Jammu and Kashmir. Indian troops deployed in the region are given a free hand to play with the lives and properties of Kashmiris. Black laws such as Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978 and Terrorists and Disruptive Activities Act (TADA), 1990, are widely employed. These laws are used in unauthorised detention cases, violating the basic human rights.

Altaf Hussain Wani, the chairperson of the Kashmir Institute of International Relations (KIIR) has termed Parvez’s arrest “a blatant violation of international basic human rights”. He said that Khurram Parvez had played a major role in calling international attention towards the human rights situation in Kashmir, particularly in the post-August 5, 2019 period when Kashmir was turned into an information black hole.

A social media campaign for his release has been launched. A number of leading figures, international human rights activists, prominent writers, politicians, students and the Kashmiri diaspora have vigorously criticised India for his detention and demanded his immediate release. The arrest was made at a time when tensions are boiling in the Kashmir valley after the recent death of several civilians who were being used as human shields. India has launched a massive military operation against Kashmiris in the recent months and several people who had nothing to do with the militant outfits were targetted and killed in fake encounters. Their families were not allowed to participate in their last rites. The forces took away their bodies and buried them in unknown places.

Kashmir is in the grip of a terrible fear.People are silent, not expressing their views and opinions. Some of those who expressed their views on social media were arrested and reprimanded. The arrest of Khurram Parvez sends a strong message to activists and aspiring human rights defendersnot to mess with the state authorities.

Unfortunately, human tragedies in Jammu Kashmir are notcoming to an end and almost every day brings new and painful challenges.

The writer is a Rawalakot, AJK, based freelance contributor.   She can be reached at     hunainmehmud101@gmail.com