Kashmiri rights activist: Vilified at home yet honored by the world

Ironically, the Indian government does not spare even a single moment to put Kashmiris in a bad light, accolades have never ceased to come their way, especially from the world’s prestigious institutions where excellence and hard work they did to bring the situation in Kashmir into international limelight is honoured and celebrated.


 

By Altaf Hussain Wani


To the utter shock and dismay of the Indian government, which is increasingly allergic to the mention of anything about Kashmir, the Kashmiris, for all the right reasons, continue to hit the headlines at the world level despite facing restrictions at home. There is a long list of Kashmiris who received international recognition for their work in journalism, literature and human rights. However, the latest addition to this list of extraordinary Kashmiris is no less a person than Khurram Parvez- the man who put his life on the line to become a voice for the voiceless Kashmiris. 



 Khurram Parvez, who has already been honoured by several human rights awards, has yet again figured in the list of this year’s Martin Ennals laureates.  Reckoned amongst the high-profile campaigners of human rights in Kashmir Mr. Parvez and his organization (JKCCS) have worked extensively on documenting the abuses committed by the Indian forces against innocent Kashmiris.

 


The JKCCS not only documents cases of rights violations through reports, programmes, documentation and litigation but also supports the Kashmiris’ inalienable right to self-determination guaranteed to them by the international community. Affiliated with the Asian Federation against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisations (CDRO) and Armed Conflict Resolutions and People’s Rights Project, the JKCCS shot to prominence in 2009 when it revealed the presence of mass graves in a report titled Buried Evidence. The sensational report, which pin-pointed the location of thousands of unmarked mass graves spanning 55 villages in north Kashmir’s Kupwara, Baramulla and Bandipora districts, prompted the European Union (EU) to call for an investigation into the matter.

 


In 2004, Parvez’s left leg was amputated due to a landmine injury he suffered while monitoring the Lok Sabha elections in Kashmir. In 2016, he was banned from travelling to attend the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, and was then arrested and detained for 76 days. Parvez, who was arrested in November 2021 and remains in Tihar jail, in New Delhi, is among three recipients of the Martin Ennals 2023 human rights award, which is jointly administered by ten human rights groups including Amnesty & Human Rights Watch.

 


The award, named after a famed British human rights activist, recognises outstanding activists who pioneered human rights. The award’s jury chairman Hans Thoolen while praising the 2023 laureates for their incredible work said, “The common denominator between the 2023 laureates…is their courage, passion, and determination to bring the voice of the voiceless to the international arena, despite the ongoing, sometimes life-threatening, challenges they endure". 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 non-violently to the 70-year conflict in Jammu and Kashmir, the most militarised region in the world,” the award’s statement mentions.

 



Parvez, who is the chairperson of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) and program coordinator of the Jammu Kashmir coalition of civil society, is a recipient of the 2006 Reebok Human Rights Award, 2016 Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award. Besides being awarded prestigious human rights awards Khurram was paid a eulogizing tribute for his humanitarian work by Time magazine and included his name in the 2022 annual list of the 100 most influential people. 



Khurram Parvez- the worthy gentleman relentlessly investigated and reported on violations in Kashmir, including the indefinite detention and extrajudicial execution of activists, torture, sexual violence, enforced disappearances, and widespread impunity. Prominent Indian journalist Rana Ayoub likened Parvez to a “modern-day David who gave a voice to families that lost their children to enforced disappearances”. The conferment of the Martin Ennals Award on him bears testimony to the fact that the international community not only recognizes the illegally detained Kashmiri rights defenders’ struggle but also threw their weight behind their campaign to save the suffering humanity in Kashmir. Similarly, there are plenty of men and women in Kashmir who devoted their lives to justice and humanitarian causes.



They too were vilified by the Indian authorities but celebrated abroad. Woman rights activist, Parveena Ahangar, the co-founder of the Association of the Parents of the Disappeared Persons (APDP), is one of those who has been spearheading a movement in Kashmir demanding justice for victims of violence. Known as the ‘Iron Lady’ of Kashmir, her defence of human rights and her social work towards the victim's families won her the Rafto Prize for Human Rights in 2017. Imroz, a human rights lawyer and defender, president of the Jammu and Kashmir coalition of civil society is another leading



Kashmiri human rights activist who won the Ludovic Trarieux Human Rights Prize in 2006 in France. In 2017 he was awarded the Thorolf Rafto Memorial Prize for Human Rights along with Parveena Ahanger Similarly, in the field of journalism, the Kashmiri journalists despite facing myriad challenges won top media awards for covering the Kashmir conflict before and after the Indian government stripped the region of its special status in 2019. Journalists Sanna Irshad Mattoo, Burhan Bhat, and Masrat Zuhra are among those who recently received accolades for their exemplary work at the world level. Mattoo who works for Reuters won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography, Bhat has won the Rory Peck Award 2022 in News Award Category and Zuhra won the Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism award from the International Women's Media Foundation in 2020.

 


Asif Sultan who remains imprisoned since 2018 was awarded the John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award, 2019. Similarly, three photojournalists Dar Yasin, Mukhtar Khan, and Channi Anand were given the highly acclaimed Pulitzer Award in 2020 for capturing life in Kashmir after the BJP government scrapped Article 370. The photographs for which the three photojournalists were awarded Pulitzer were termed “Striking Images of Life” by the Pulitzer jury.

 



Getting honorariums and awards for one's work is indeed a matter of great honour but the true value of these honorifics is not just the recipients' aggrandizement but recognition of their hard work to bring to international limelight the political and human rights struggles their countrymen have been engaged back in Kashmir. But it is quite depressing to note that the influential world governments and powerful power centres have been playing the human rights card only to exact their strategic interests.


That is perhaps one of the main reasons that the Indian state goes unaccounted for what it has done with Kashmir and the Kashmiris during its 75-year-long illegal occupation. However, a positive aspect of an otherwise awkward situation is that Kashmiris, whether a journalist, civil society activist or a rights defender, continue to rise and shine at the international horizon through their hard work and devotion to justice and humanitarian causes.

 

Note: Writer is a Kashmiri rights activist and Chairman of Islamabad-based think tank-Kashmir Institute of International Relations (KIIR). He can be reached via email: saleeemwani@hotmail.com

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