NEW DELHI: Police in Indian held Kashmir have detained a prominent human rights activist, Khurram Parvez, two days after he was prevented from leaving India to attend the ongoing session of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Police officials did not say under what charges the spokesperson of Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Societies (JKCCS) was picked up from his home inSrinagar.
On Wednesday, the campaigner was stopped at the New Delhi airport from boarding a flight to Geneva where he was due to submit a report and brief U.N. officials about alleged human rights violations in Indian Kashmir, which has witnessed a wave of unrest since July.
Speaking to VOA before his arrest, Parvez said airport authorities did not cite a reason for stopping him, only telling him it was a directive from the Intelligence Bureau.
The activist said he feels he is being targeted for the work he has done highlighting alleged violations in Kashmir.
“We feel they don’t want people internationally to know all this, what is happening in Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
The campaigner says a report being submitted by his group to officials at the UNHCR session highlights “how India at the institutional level is involved in carrying out violence against the people of Jammu and Kashmir.”
The president of JKCCS, Parvez Imroz, slammed Parvez’s detention as an attempt to intimidate and restrain his human rights work.
