Rights activist Khurram Parvez booked under PSA, but FIRs do not name him

The PSA warrant issued by Deputy Commissioner Srinagar Farooq Ahmad Lone refers to four cases registered by police saying that “your role as instigator has surfaced” in these cases. “You have achieved a prominent position in the separatist camp under a hidden cover of being a human rights activist,” the warrant issued by Deputy Commissioner Lone reads. “In the ongoing unrest, you have been found instigating and advocating the disgruntled elements to resort to illegal activities”.

The J-K Police, in its dossier against the human rights defender, have produced four cases registered in Police Stations of Ram Munshi Bagh and Zadibal. None of these FIRs, filed by police, mentions Khurram by name.

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In fact, the FIRs have been registered within a month and 20 days starting July 9. All the four FIRs pertain to stone throwing protests with policemen as witnesses. The three FIRs have been registered in Police Station Ram Munshi Bagh while another has been registered at Police Station Zadibal. And barring addition of a section in one of these FIRs, in all cases the FIR has been registered under the same sections of the criminal procedure code – section 147 (breach of peace), 148 , 149 and 336 (act endangering life or personal safety). In one of the FIRs police have added section 307 (attempt to murder)

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The dossier has also accused Khurram of wielding “a considerable clout in the secessionist circles”, “supporting the (protest) programme calendars” of the separatists and “utilizing the youth to resort to violence or gathering so-called human rights activists”. On September 21, J-K government slapped PSA against Khurram, the Chairperson of Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) and Programme coordinator of J-K Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), Khurram.

He was picked up by police on the night of September 15 from his Srinagar residence and put under “preventive detention” because police “apprehended he may cause a breach of peace”. While a J-K court set aside the orders of the preventive detention and ordered his release, the court instead booked him under PSA that allows the government to detain him, without a trial, for a period up to six months.

A day before his arrest in Srinagar, Khurram was stopped from boarding a flight – at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi – to Geneva, where he was going to attend the 33rd session of UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC). In 2006, Khurram received the Reebok Human Rights Award, a prestigious international prize that “recognizes young activists who have made significant contributions to human rights causes through nonviolent means”.