Prominent Kashmiri Activist and Journalist Released on Bail

In New Delhi, a notable Kashmiri human rights activist and a well-known journalist have been released on bail after facing accusations of funding terrorism in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir. Human rights activist Khurram Parvez and freelance journalist Irfan Mehraj were detained in 2021 and 2023, respectively, under India’s anti-terrorism laws. Although they were released from a New Delhi prison late Wednesday, they remain under strict restrictions imposed by the court, and the country’s federal anti-terror agency is seeking to overturn the decision.

The Indian government has stepped up its crackdown on human rights activists, journalists, and dissenters in Kashmir through stringent anti-terrorism laws, particularly after August 2019, when India revoked the region’s special status. A lower court in India allowed the two men to be released on bail last week, but India’s National Investigation Agency appealed the decision. The Delhi High Court refused to suspend the release order on Tuesday but imposed harsher restrictions on their movements and activities while reviewing the agency’s appeal.

International human rights organizations, including a United Nations body, have consistently called for their release, arguing that they were imprisoned for their work. Parvez has long been associated with the prominent rights group the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) where Mehraj worked as a researcher. The National Investigation Agency alleges that both used the group to finance militant activities and promote a separatist agenda. They deny the charges against them.

JKCCS has published reports on what it describes as the endemic use of torture by some of the hundreds of thousands of Indian soldiers in Kashmir and has highlighted the broad powers granted to them, which have led to a culture of impunity and widespread human rights abuses. After their release, the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights and the World Organization Against Torture stated in a joint communiqué that the two men were detained on ‘fabricated charges’. They also urged Indian authorities to drop all charges against them as part of politically motivated proceedings intended to discredit their legitimate work and the JKCCS.

The proceedings of the case against them will continue in the coming weeks. The disputed region of Kashmir has suffered a decades-long conflict, with both India and Pakistan claiming the entire Himalayan territory. Militants in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989, with many Muslim Kashmiris supporting the goal of unifying the territory under Pakistan’s governance or becoming an independent country.