“ERASING MEMORY IS THE CRIME”: ACTIVISTS RALLY BEHIND IMPRISONED KASHMIRI RIGHTS DEFENDER AT BANGKOK EVENT

Sun 02 November 2025:

At the 16th International Civil Society Week (ICSW) taking place in Bangkok, where over a thousand civil society activists have gathered, the inaugural plenary session expressed solidarity with Kashmiri human rights defender Khurram Parvez, who has been imprisoned since November 2021 under India’s Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) of 1967.

The show of solidarity was part of the #StandAsMyWitness campaign by ICSW, which advocates for human rights defenders across the world.

In Kashmir, “Khurram Parvez represents a generation of human rights defenders who documented what the state wanted forgotten, enforced disappearances, torture, militarisation, and unmarked graves,” read a statement by the organisers.

“He represents the institutional memory of Kashmir’s human-rights movement, and his incarceration represents an attempt to erase that memory,” added the statement by FORUM-ASIA.

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“As Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) coordinator, Khurram’s work on unmarked graves directly challenged the Indian state’s ability to erase. His detention under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) criminalizes precisely that work: fact-finding, archiving, memory-keeping. Khurram’s imprisonment is not simply the detention of a person, it’s the incarceration of a people’s right to remember.”

The statement further said: “When you are detained in places like Kashmir, silence is the first punishment. You disappear not only from the streets but from public conversation. Campaigns thus help in: interrupting that isolation, telling the states that we are watching. When human-rights defenders are charged with terrorism, campaigns insist on rehumanizing them, they restore context, telling the story of their work, their ethics, their courage. Campaigns are useful to reclaim the moral vocabulary that repression tries to erase: defending rights is not terrorism; For Khurram, whose case the Indian state treats as a national-security matter, this visibility is protection.”

UN BODY APPEALS FOR THE ‘IMMEDIATE RELEASE’ OF JAILED KASHMIRI ACTIVIST KHURRAM PARVEZ

The organisers noted that campaigns such as #StandAsMyWitness and #SpreadingTheEcho have helped secure the release of many defenders across the world.

“We need to sustain these campaigns as we have seen that these campaigns do work. Lastly, we, the community of human rights defenders and civil society, must keep Khurram’s work alive. We must cite the work he did. Talk about it. Teach it. Because the state’s problem is not Khurram’s freedom, it is his relevance.”

On 22 November 2021, Khurram Parvez was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) under the UAPA, on what the statement described as politically motivated charges.

UN CALLS FOR RELEASE OF KASHMIR RIGHTS DEFENDER KHURRAM PARVEZ

Parvez serves as the Coordinator of the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), Chairperson of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), and Deputy Secretary-General of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH).

His contributions to human rights have earned him international recognition, including the Martin Ennals Award (2023) and the Reebok Human Rights Award (2006).

In 2016, Khurram was prevented from attending a UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva and later detained under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act for 76 days — a preventive detention law widely criticized for violating international legal norms.

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court subsequently ruled his detention unlawful, underscoring its arbitrary nature. In October 2020, the NIA raided the offices of JKCCS, Khurram’s residence, and other locations, just months after the organisation published a report detailing the human rights impact of Kashmir’s communications blockade.

Currently held in Rohini Jail in New Delhi, Khurram has been repeatedly denied bail, subjected to prolonged pre-trial detention, and in March 2023, faced additional charges linked to a First Information Report filed in 2020. Irfan Mehraj, a Kashmiri journalist and human rights defender associated with JKCCS, remains detained on similar charges. Others linked to the organisation continue to face harassment, frequent summons, and interrogations.

INDIA ARRESTS PROMINENT KASHMIR RIGHTS ACTIVIST UNDER TERROR LAW

The 16th International Civil Society Week (ICSW), held from 1–5 November 2025 and convened by CIVICUS and the Asia Democracy Network, began in Bangkok on Saturday. The gathering brings together more than 1,300 delegates, including activists, civil society groups, academics, and human rights advocates, to empower citizen action and build powerful alliances.

ICSW also pays tribute to activists, movements, and civil society organisations that have achieved significant progress, defended civic freedoms, and demonstrated remarkable resilience despite numerous challenges.

This article is republished from Maktoob Media. Read the original article.