NCHRO hails concern of US rights forum for rights defenders imprisoned in India – Kashmir Media Service
New Delhi, Jan 27 (KMS): – Welcoming the recent decision by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) to include human rights defender Khurram Parvez and journalist Siddique Kappan on the list of victims of Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB), the National Confederation of Human Rights Organizations (NCHRO) shares USCIRF’s concern.
The list is a database of people who have been imprisoned or detained in what is called a Country of Special Concern (CPC), which USCIRF defines as a country that has committed or tolerated “systematic, continuous and blatant acts” of freedom of religion. India has now been recommended in this category for two consecutive years.
The first name on the list was that of Khurram Parvez who was arrested by Indian police in November 2020. Parvez is a human rights defender from Kashmir known worldwide for his work.
Parvez is also the coordinator of the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), an organization that has for some time exposed human rights abuses committed by Indian security forces in Kashmir. that is why the Narendra Modi government targeted him.
Siddique Kappan, the second name on the list, is a Kerala-based journalist who was arrested in October 2020 by Uttar Pradesh police while traveling to Hathras to cover a gang rape case there. He was later charged under several sections of the Indian Penal Code as well as the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. He has been in jail ever since.
NCHRO welcomed USCIRF’s acknowledgment of the dire situation in India. At a time when any acknowledgment of the same is dismissed by the government as an international plot to defame the country, it is all the more important to reach out and speak out against human rights abuses in the country. .
Reiterating its position that Khurram Parvez and Siddique Kappan were convicted on false charges, NCHRO said it shared USCIRF’s concern. These arrests are politically motivated, and we therefore demand that Khurram Parvez and Siddique Kappan, along with all other political prisoners, be released immediately.
We also call on other justice-loving organizations and individuals to come forward to demand the same and speak out against the injustices happening across the country.
