[Reader-list] AFAD condemns the arrest & assault on Parvez Imroz

[Khurram Parvez]

PUBLIC STATEMENT

  

AFAD Strongly Condemns the Abduction, Beating and
Detention of Atty. Parvez Imroz, Firdous Ahmed Sofi and Ajaz Ahmed Mir of India

   

The Asian Federation Against Involuntary
Disappearances (AFAD), a regional federation of human rights organizations
working directly on the issue of enforced or involuntary disappearance,
strongly condemns the arrest and detention of Atty. Parvez Imroz and his two
associates, Firdous Ahmed Sofi and Ajaz Ahmed Mir. The arrest took place at
12:30 noon on Monday, November 17, in the Indian state of Jammu &
Kashmir.  We learned from the Association of Parents of the Disappeared
Persons that he and his colleagues were released on the same day at 10:15 p.m.
at Bandipora Police Station and are presently going for medical check up as
they were heavily beaten. 

  

AFAD learned about this
condemnable incident from an urgent appeal sent by the Jammu & Kashmir
Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), our partner-organization in Kashmir.
 According to said appeal, JKCCS President Parvez Imroz along with a team
of around 50 volunteers composed of journalists, human rights activists, trade
union activists from within and outside Kashmir, were monitoring the first
phase of the Jammu and Kashmir State Legislative Assembly Election.   
Monitoring the elections is a
usual activity of the JKCCS along with civil society groups from various parts
of India. It is recalled that the group also monitored the Assembly Elections
of 2002 and the parliamentary elections in 2004. Accordingly, Advocate Parvez
Imroz and his two companions, Firdous Ahmed Sofi and Ajaz Ahmed Mir, were
arrested when they reached the place where a protest demonstration was going
on. The three were allegedly beaten up by the police in front of media men and
were later taken to the Police Station in Bandipora.    

December 9, 2008 is the 10th
anniversary of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.  Moreover, December 10, 2008 is the 60th
anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  In this connection, abducting, beating and
detaining human rights defenders in the likes of Atty. Parvez Imroz and his two
companions should never be done by agents of the Indian government.  

Atty. Parvez Imroz is an internationally-known human rights defender
having been a recipient of the Ludovic-Trarieux International Human Rights
Prize in 2006. He was also the representative of their human rights
organization, the Srinagar-based Association of the Parents of Disappeared
Persons (APDP), during the conceptualization and founding of our Asian-wide
Federation for the disappeared.  It is, indeed, absurd to abduct, beat and
detain him and his two companions because of their human rights activities.  

It is worrying to note that because of his work, Parvez
Imroz has indeed earned the ire of the powers-that-be in the country that
boasts itself as the biggest democracy in Asia.    It has been more than three years since his passport has not
been renewed and very obviously, such act by the Indian government can be
obviously interpreted as constraining Imroz’ mobility with the desperate
intention of keeping his mouth shut on the sorry state of human rights in Jammu
and Kashmir, thus, constraining his capability to tell the international
security about the skeletons inside the closet in this beautiful yet sad valley
of Kashmir.   

Furthermore, on June 30, 2008 at 10:00 p.m., 4-armed men, believed to be policemen,
knocked at the house of Mr. Imroz. When asked of their identity by Mr. Imroz’
wife, Rokhsana, the men were aggressively calling on Mr. Imroz to open the door
and come out. The latter, aware of the intimidation he received days earlier
because of the work of the International People’s Tribunal on Human Rights,
immediately informed his brother, Sheikh Mustaq Ahmad through the backdoor. Mr.
Ahmad reportedly shined a torch at Mr. Imroz door and asked the persons in
front to identify themselves only to be aggressively ordered to put off the
torch. Mr. Imroz nephew came out of Mr. Ahmad’s house, afraid that Mr. Imroz
might have been taken away. This forced the armed men to leave, but only after
firing a shot in the dark believed to be pointing towards the direction of Mr.
Imroz’ nephew. The perpetrators threw a grenade that exploded in Mr. Imroz’
compound.  On their way back, the
perpetrators beat a male neighbor. 

  In view
of the above, AFAD strongly calls on the Indian government -    



  ·                 
To
investigate the incident of the beating, arrest and detention of Parvez Imroz
and his colleagues and to punish the violators of human rights;   



  ·                 
To
ensure that those who are responsible for the arrest, beating and detention of
the three human rights defenders be urgently brought to justice.    

  

·                 
To
be true to India’s being a signatory to the UN Convention for the Protection of
All Persons from Enforced Disappearance which provides for the right of
families of the disappeared and their organizations to organize themselves, thus,
the government should give Parvez Imroz and his colleagues in the Association
of Parents of Disappeared Persons their freedom to strengthen their association
and work for truth, justice, redress, memory for the disappeared and other
victims of human rights violations. 



              In positively responding to our urgent
calls above, in some ways, India proves to be true to its being a bastion
of democracy in the world.   

 



Signed and authenticated by:





MUGIYANTO                                            MARY
AILEEN D. BACALSO 

Chairperson                                                                Secretary-General