Refusal to allow UN team in Kashmir, release human rights defender part of larger design to crush dissent: PUCL

Khurram Parvez

By A Representative
India's premier human rights organization, People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) has asked the Government of India to allow the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) to visit Jammu & Kashmir immediately, taking strong objection to blocking attempts by the top UN body to “intervene and inquire” into allegations of human rights abuses by Indian security forces in Kashmir.
In a statement, PUCL's national president Prof Prabhakar Sinha and general secretary Dr V Suresh have simultaneously sought the release of Khurram Parvez, a human rights defender who is a member of Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), a network organisation of civil liberties groups, traders, families of disappeared persons, and students.
Parvez was arrested under the preventive detention law, the Public Safety Act, Refusing to allow him to fly out of the country to represent before the UNHRC on September 14, Pervez was detained a day later in Srinagar by the police, on the allegation that he incited a mob to throw stones at the Tourist Reception Centre, Srinagar. Ever since, he has been isolated from his family and legal counsel.
“It is important to note that the Public Safety Act is a colonial law under which Bhagat Singh and others were detained during the freedom struggle”, the PUCL states, adding, “While being shunted from one detention centre to another, Parvez has been repeatedly denied access to essential medical facilities”, notes PUCL.
Refusal to allow the UNHRC team, says PUCL, has led to “a medico-legal crisis, where Kashmiris suffering from pellet-gun injuries do not have access to critical health services and equipment for their treatment, because of the de facto blockade set up by the Indian state in Kashmir.”
India disallowed the request by the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, for conducting an enquiry by independent observers in Kashmir, stating that it is an internal matter. The Government of India took this stance despite the fact that, according to PUCL, “India is a signatory to various UN conventions on human rights.”
“Despite being a signatory to 1998 UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, there have been no measures taken by the Indian state to facilitate the work of human rights defenders, or to prevent their harassment, and the Indian State has in fact been complicit in the targeting of human rights defenders”, adds PUCL.
Insists PUCL, “We note with serious concern that India’s policy in Kashmir has been marked by a culture of impunity, preventing scrutiny by national judicial mechanisms as well as independent international bodies into the actions of various security agencies of the state and central governments.”
Calling it “part of a larger design by the Indian state to crush dissent, stifle democratic debate, and silence demands for accountability, thereby suppressing Kashmiri voices articulating their political aspirations and their experiences of human rights violations”, PUCL says, all this has followed alongside “ongoing attack on civilians by Indian security forces in Kashmir.”
Recalling the killings of more than 80 young people, causing injuries to nearly 9000 people and the loss of vision of more than 500 people, PUCL says, the current situation has “caused a deep humanitarian crisis of the Kashmiri people.”

Comments

Civil society flags widespread violations of land acquisition Act before Parliamentary panel

By Jag Jivan Civil society organisations and stakeholders from across India have presented stark evidence before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development and Panchayati Raj , alleging systemic violations of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RFCTLARR) Act, 2013 , particularly in Scheduled Areas and tribal regions.

When democracy becomes a performance: The Tibetan exile experience

By Tseten Lhundup* I was born in Bylakuppe, one of the largest Tibetan settlements in southern India. From childhood, I grew up in simple barracks, along muddy roads, and in fields with limited resources. Over the years, I have watched our democratic system slowly erode. Observing the recent budget session of the 17th Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, these “democratic procedures” appear grand and orderly on the surface, yet in reality they amount to little more than empty formalities. The parliamentarians seem largely disconnected from the everyday struggles faced by ordinary exiled Tibetans like us.

Manufacturing, services: India's low-skill, middle-skill labour remains underemployed

By Francis Kuriakose* The Indian economy was in a state of deceleration well before Covid-19 made its impact in early 2020. This can be inferred from the declining trends of four important macroeconomic variables that indicate the health of the economy in the last quarter of 2019.

Food security? Gujarat govt puts more than 5 lakh ration cards in the 'silent' category

By Pankti Jog* A new statistical report uploaded by the Gujarat government on the national food security portal shows that ensuring food security for the marginalized community is still not a priority of the state. The statistical report, uploaded on December 24, highlights many weaknesses in implementing the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in state.

Why Indo-Pak relations have been on 'knife’s edge' , hostilities may remain for long

By Utkarsh Bajpai* The past few decades have seen strides being made in all aspects of life – from sticks and stones to weaponry. The extreme case of this phenomenon has been nuclear weapons. The menace caused by nuclear weapons in the past is unforgettable. Images of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from 1945 come to mind, after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the cities.

Incarceration of Prof Saibaba 'revives' the question: What is crime, who is criminal?

By Kunal Pant* In 2016, a Supreme Court Judge asked the state of Maharashtra, “Do you want to extract a pound of flesh?” The statement was directed against the state for contesting the bail plea of Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba. Saibaba was arrested in 2014, a justification for which was to prevent him from committing what the police called “anti-national activities.”

The soundtrack of resistance: How 'Sada Sada Ya Nabi' is fueling the Iran war

By Syed Ali Mujtaba* The Persian track “ Sada Sada Ya Nabi ye ” by Hossein Sotoodeh has taken the world by storm. This viral media has cut across linguistic barriers to achieve cult status, reaching over 10 million views. The electrifying music and passionate rendition by the Iranian singer have resonated across the globe, particularly as the high-intensity military conflict involving Iran entered its second month in March 2026.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Beyond the island: Top mythologist reorients the geography of the Ramayana

By Jag Jivan In a compelling new analysis that challenges conventional geographical assumptions about the ancient epic, writer and mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik has traced the roots of the Ramayana to the forests and river systems of Central and Eastern India, rather than the peninsular south or the modern island nation of Sri Lanka.

Search This Blog