Unable to quell an unwavering stretch of protests in Kashmir for over past two months, the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP-BJP government has resorted to mass arrests of what it calls “instigators” to wrestle back the situation.
Police have arrested or detained over 2,700 people in nocturnal raids across the Valley in the past two months. Three hundred of them have been booked under the draconian Public Safety Act. A majority of them are from South Kashmir’s Pulwama and Anantnag districts.
Termed as a “Lawless Law” by rights defender Amnesty International, under PSA a person can be detained for a term of six months to a year without trial.
Arrested by the Same Law He Fought Against
Making it clear that the government will not shy away from acting against anyone, the list of those arrested and subsequently booked under PSA includes religious-political leaders, students and even a rights defender.
On 15 September, noted rights defender Khurram Parvez was picked up by police from his home and shifted to a sub-jail in Kupwara under “preventive custody”. A day earlier, he was stopped from boarding a flight at New Delhi airport to Geneva where he was to attend the UN Human Rights Council session.
Khurram, who is the coordinator for the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) and chairperson of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), has been documenting and highlighting human rights violations in Kashmir for over a decade.
Up until his arrest he had publicly criticised the government for its excessive use of force against civilian protests that has resulted in the death of 86 people and left more than 11,000 injured.
Khurram has published detailed reports on enforced disappearances, mass graves, fake encounters and half-widows in Jammu and Kashmir. He also has been one of the most vocal critics of PSA and its use in the Valley. Khurram was subsequently booked under the same law and shifted to Kotbalwal Jail in Jammu – some 300 kms from Srinagar.
In his PSA dossier prepared by SSP Srinagar, Khurram has been described as being “instrumental in mobilising the anti-social elements in the on-going unrest for carrying on secessionist activities.”
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“The subject has achieved a prominent position in the separatist camps under a hidden cover of being a human rights activist. The subject in the on-going unrest has been found instigating and advocating the disgruntled elements to resort to illegal activities and rise against the union of India,” the dossier further reads.
Khurram’s family believes by arresting him under PSA, the state is trying to silence his voice.
This is not new for Khurram. He has been documenting and reporting human rights violations in Kashmir for most of his life. But as a family we are shocked. He was whisked away in the middle of the night. We got really scared.Sameena Mir, Wife of Khurram Pervez
Amnesty International and other rights groups have called for an immediate release of Khurram. Various prominent scholars and thinkers including Noam Chomsky and Arundhati Roy too have appealed for his immediate release.
I haven’t been able to meet him since he was shifted to Jammu. Although some of his friends went to see him there, they were denied access. Jail authorities told them, a person lodged in a jail can’t have visitors for the first seven days.Sameena Mir, Wife of Khurram Pervez
Mehbooba Mufti Suddenly Shifting Stance
A majority of people that have been booked under PSA have been taken to various jails in Jammu region.
On 16 September, two days after Kashmir for the first time in its tumultuous history celebrated Eid-Ul-Adha under curfew, 19-year-old Yunis Khan was picked up by the police while he was out distributing sacrificial meat to his relatives.
He was with his cousin who somehow managed to escape from them (police). We went to the police station to see him, they told us he has been booked under PSA for stone pelting and will be shifted to Jammu.Fazil Khan, Brother of Yunis Khan
On 20 September, Yunis was shifted to Jammu. His family hasn’t been able to meet him since. “I went to see him when he was taken to Jammu,” said his father, Naseer Ahmed. “The bus he was in was filled with other young boys. I couldn’t hold my tears.”
In the same locality there are two other boys who have been booked under PSA. A lawyer has told Yunis’ family that it will take at least 2-3 months to get him released.
Interestingly, during the 2010 mass protests in the valley, while she was in the opposition, Mehbooba Mufti had severely criticised the Omar Abdullah-led Jammu and Kashmir government for evoking PSA against hundreds of “innocent youth”.
The hard-line stance of the government, observers believe, has created an atmosphere of fear against any form of “dissent against the actions of the state”.
According to Gowhar Geelani, a Kashmiri columnist and political commentator, Khurram’s arrest has been designed to “deter others from talking about rights violations and expressing dissent.” He believes the arrest of Khurram and others under PSA "exposes the overall radicalisation of Indian politics."
Valley-based political analyst professor Gul Wani agrees with Geelani. He cites the past examples of “political prisoners kept under detention under draconian laws”.
(Adnan Bhat is a Srinagar based journalist)
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