UN rapporteur calls on India to end attacks on human rights activists in Kashmir

India must immediately end its crackdown on Kashmiri human rights defenders, a UN expert has said, following the arrests of noted human rights defender Khurram Parvez and journalist Irfan Mehraj earlier this week. 

In a statement released on Friday, Mary Lowler, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, lamented about the shrinking landscape for civil society in the valley and called for the immediate release and the closing of the investigations against Parvez and Mehraj.

“The arrest and detention of persons for exercising their human rights are arbitrary. There must be accountability and remedy where such abusive actions are taken.”

“Time and time again, the government has been called upon to address the fundamental issues with the country’s anti-terrorism framework and its misuse to smear and silence human rights defenders,” Lawlor said.

India must immediately end its crackdown on Kashmiri human rights defenders, a UN expert has said, following the arrests of noted human rights defender Khurram Parvez and journalist Irfan Mehraj earlier this week. 

In a statement released on Friday, Mary Lowler, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, lamented about the shrinking landscape for civil society in the valley and called for the immediate release and the closing of the investigations against Parvez and Mehraj.

“The arrest and detention of persons for exercising their human rights are arbitrary. There must be accountability and remedy where such abusive actions are taken.”

“Time and time again, the government has been called upon to address the fundamental issues with the country’s anti-terrorism framework and its misuse to smear and silence human rights defenders,” Lawlor said.