Campaigner Khurram Parvez Detained in India

Khurram Parvez ©Facebook

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) calls for the immediate release of human rights activist Khurram Parvez, held under administrative detention by the Indian authorities in Srinagar. See Amnesty International India’s full story.

Mr Khurram Parvez is a well-known human rights campaigner in Jammu & Kashmir State, and a laureate of the Reebok Human Rights Award. In 2006, he lost his leg in a landmine incident while monitoring an election in Kashmir. In 2007, as part of an ICBL delegation, he successfully advocated for a ban on mine use by militant groups in Kashmir. Khurram Parvez is the Programme Coordinator for the Jammu & Kashmir Coalition for Civil Society (JKCCS), an information provider for the ICBL’s Landmine Monitor.

On 14 September 2016, Khurram Parvez was stopped by immigration authorities at Delhi’s international airport and prevented from boarding a flight to Geneva where he was due to attend a meeting of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. He stated to an Indian newspaper that “At around 1.30 am, as I was about to board my flight to Geneva, I was stopped at immigration and detained for one-and-a-half hours. … They subsequently disallowed me to proceed to board the flight. … I was only orally informed that immigration officers had instructions that [I] was not to be arrested, but that [I] should not be allowed to leave the country”.

On the following day, 15 September, he returned to Srinagar, where he has since been detained by the police. His family stated to an Indian newspaper that police officials called him in the evening asking him to visit the police station because the Superintendent of Police wanted to speak to him. His family says he called the Superintendent and said he would come the following morning. According to his family, late in the night, a group of police arrived at his home and requested he accompany them to the police station. As there were no officers in the police station his family was told he would be held for the night. His family said the police did not give any reason for the arrest.

The ICBL is concerned for Khurram’s well-being and asks the Indian authorities to release him immediately, and to provide information on why he was prevented from leaving the country.

The ICBL has conveyed its concerns and messages through a letter to the Permanent Mission of India to United Nations in Geneva.