Free Khurram Parvez: Open letter to civil society
We, the undersigned, call for the immediate release of Khurram Parvez, a distinguished and courageous human rights defender, and write in support of the statements issued by advocate Parvez Imroz.
As we write this, Khurram Parvez has been remanded to preventive custody in a sub-jail in the highly militarised Kupwara district of Kashmir. He is expected to be produced before the court on September 21, 2016.
An executive magistrate in Srinagar issued the order against Khurram Parvez, invoking Sections 107 and 151 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) (pertaining to detention for breach of peace and design to commit a cognisable offence).
The actions against Parvez are symptomatic of the escalated repression in Kashmir by institutions of state since July 8.
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| Unrest in Kashmir. (Photo credit: PTI) |
We note with horror that since July 2016, over 80 persons have been killed, over 11,000 persons have been injured, over 1,000 persons have been arrested and over 100 ambulances have been attacked. For 70 days now, curfew has been imposed in various parts of Kashmir.
Pellet cartridges with about 400-500 pellets each have been fired, aimed above the waist, permanently blinding youth at civilian protests. Communication systems have been repeatedly shutdown; mobile internet and pre-paid calls have been repeatedly banned, post-paid phone lines have been suspended for a number of days, and even newspapers have been shutdown for a couple of days.
The rights to freedom of speech and movement and the right to dissent and self-determination are being imperiled.
We are gravely concerned by the repeated abrogation of international law and the disregard for India's constitutional provisions, and by the unceasing targeting of civilians and the continued denial of their civil and political rights.
We urge that the above conditions of collective internment within Kashmir require urgent attention and intervention.
The undersigned:
1. Abdul R. Jan Mohamed, Professor, English Department, University of California, Berkeley
2. Ahmed Sohaib, Jamia Millia Islamia
3. Amitava Kumar, Helen D. Lockwood Professor of English, Vassar College
4. Angana Chatterji, Feminist Scholar
5. Ania Loomba, Catherine Bryson Professor, Department of English, University of Pennsylvania
6. Arundhati Roy, Author
7. Ather Zia, Anthropology and Gender Studies Program, Assistant Professor, University of Northern Colorado
8. Basharat Peer, Writer
9. Basil Fernando, Asian Human Rights Commission
10. Bijo Francis, Asian Human Rights Commission
11. Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Chair and Distinguished Professor, Department of Women's and Gender Studies, Dean's Professor of the Humanities, Syracuse University
12. Deepti Misri, Associate Professor of Women and Gender Studies, University of Colorado-Boulder
13. Dibyesh Anand, Professor of International Relations, University of Westminster
14. Fawzia Afzal-Khan, Professor of English and University Distinguished Scholar, Montclair State University
15. Gautam Navlakha, Member of People's Union for Democratic Rights.
16. Ghazala Jamil, Jawaharlal Nehru University
17. Ghazi Shahnawaz, Jamia Millia Islamia
18. Gloria Steinem, Co-founder Ms. Magazine, Writer, Feminist Organizer
19. Goldie Osuri, Associate Professor in Sociology and Director of Undergraduate Studies, University of Warwick
20. Haley Duschinski, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Center for Law, Justice & Culture, Ohio University
21. Harsh Mander, Writer and Activist
22. Kavita Krishnan, Politburo Member, CPI (ML)-Liberation and Secretary, All India Progressive Women's Association (AIPWA)
23. Mallika Kaur, Lecturer, School of Law, University of California, Berkeley
24. Manisha Sethi, Jamia Millia Islamia
25. Mansi Sharma, Activist
26. Mary Aileen Diez Bacalso, Secretary General, Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances
27. Mihir Desai, Senior Counsel, Supreme Court of India and Mumbai High Court
28. Mirza Waheed, Novelist
29. Mohamad Junaid, The Graduate Center, City University of New York
30. Mona Bhan, Associate Professor of Anthropology, DePauw University
31. Mridu Rai, Professor of History, Presidency University, Kolkata
32. Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor & Professor of Linguistics Emeritus, Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
33. Paola Bacchetta, Associate Professor and Vice Chair for Pedagogy, Department of Gender and Women's Studies, University of California, Berkeley
34. Paramjit Kaur Khalra, Patron, Khalra Mission Organization
35. Partha Chatterjee, Professor of Anthropology, Columbia University
36. Piotr Balcerowicz, Professor and Chair of South Asia, University of Warsaw
37. Rahul Govind, Delhi University
38. Rajvinder Singh Bains, Counsel, Punjab High Court and Haryana High Court
39. Richard M. Buxbaum, Professor Emeritus, School of Law, University of California, Berkeley
40. Ruchira Gupta, Women's Right Activist, Founder of Apne Aap and Adjunct Associate Professor, Center for Global Studies, School of Professional Studies, New York University
41. Sanghamitra Misra, Delhi University
42. Sanjay Kak, Filmmaker
43. Shabnam Hashmi, Social Activist, Anhad
44. Shahid Lone, Research Scholar, Jamia Millia Islamia
45. Shohini Ghosh, Sajjad Zaheer Professor, AJK MCRC, Jamia Millia Islamia
46. Shubh Mathur, Independent Scholar
47. Suddhabrata Sengupta
48. Suvir Kaul, A. M. Rosenthal Professor, Department of English, University of Pennsylvania
49. Tanweer Fazal, Jawaharlal Nehru University
50. Teesta Setalvad, Civil Rights Activist, Journalist and Educationist
51. Urvashi Butalia, Writer
52. Veena Das, Krieger-Eisenhower Professor, Department of Anthropology, Johns Hopkins University
53. Vrinda Grover, Lawyer, Supreme Court of India