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

[Shivam V]

The attack and continuing threats to Parvez Imroz by the Indian state
betray the state's insecurities. Clearly they have something to hide
that they fear Imroz will find and reveal to the world. This must be
widely circulated and condemned.
best
shivam

2008/11/18 Khurram Parvez <khurramparvez at yahoo.com>:
> 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
>
>
>
>
>
>
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