In July 2023, Indian authorities continued to commit grave human rights violations in Indian-administered Kashmir (IAK). Indian forces killed at least twelve people in IAK, including an infant Rohingya refugee. The Jammu & Kashmir administration continued to crack down on free expression, including by continuing to terminate public sector employees who purportedly hold dissenting or disfavored views and eliminating celebrated Kashmiri literature from university curricula. The administration also continued to target human rights defenders and dissenters in IAK, including through the cancellation of passports. The administration continued to escalate forced demographic change in the region, including through the announced distribution of public land to 199,000 people. Numerous Kashmiri journalists, human rights defenders, political activists and dissenters continue to be arbitrarily detained. Indian authorities continue to use the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978 (PSA) and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) as tools for persecution, including through preventative, prolonged and repeated detentions. In a case emblematic of the repression of Kashmiri journalists, Aasif Sultan, arbitrarily detained on August 27, 2018, remains illegally imprisoned. As of the date of this publication, Sultan has been detained for 1,814 days. In a case emblematic of the repression of Kashmiri human rights defenders and civil society, Khurram Parvez, arbitrarily detained on November 22, 2021, remains illegally imprisoned in a maximum-security facility in New Delhi. As of the date of this publication, Parvez has been detained for 631 days.

This communication from the UN Special Rapporteurs on promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism the situation of human rights defenders, promotion and protection of freedom of opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and association and the situation of human rights defenders and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention analyzes the counter-terrorism framework in Jammu & Kashmir—including relevant provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, Public Safety Act, National Security Act, Code of Criminal Procedure, Penal Code, and Foreign Contribution Regulation Act—and highlights its ripeness for human rights abuse.

Topics: counter-terrorism legislative and regulatory framwork in Jammu & Kashmir

Terms: Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), Public Safety Act (PSA), National Security Act, Code of Criminal Procedure, Penal Code, and Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), abuse of counter-terror laws, reprisals

This communication from the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and the UN Special Rapporteurs on the situation of human rights defenders, the rights to assembly and association and the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism expresses serious concern at the arrest, detention and accusations brought against Irfan Mehraj and Khurram Parvez, which gravely conflates their legitimate human rights work with terrorism. The UN human rights experts "underline the legitimacy of their work" and note that their persecution is "designed to delegitimize their human rights work and obstruct monitoring of the humanrights situation in India-administered Jammu and Kashmir."

Topics: arrest and arbitrary detention of human rights defenders Irfan Mehraj and Khurram Parvez

Terms: March 2023 arbitrary detention of Irfan Mehraj, November 2021 arbitrary detention of Khurram Parvez, Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society, abuse of counter-terror laws, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), abuse of terror funding laws, Financial Action Task Force (FATF)

In June 2023, Indian authorities continued to commit grave human rights violations in Indian-administered Kashmir (IAK). Indian forces killed at least 17 people in IAK. One individual was killed as a consequence of forced labor, a longstanding and systematic violation in IAK. Additionally, the Jammu & Kashmir administration continued to escalate forced demographic change in IAK by domiciling thousands of non-locals and systematically dispossessing local residents through property expropriation drives. The administration also continued to target human rights defenders and dissenters in IAK, firing two doctors for revealing evidence of an official cover-up in the rape-murder case of two Kashmiri women killed by Indian forces in 2009. The Indian government also continued to escalate its disinformation regarding IAK, including by unveiling a map in its new parliamentary building which depicts a Hindu supremacist, expansionist map of an imaginary “undivided India.” In a case emblematic of the repression targeting Kashmiri journalists, Aasif Sultan, arbitrarily detained on August 27, 2018, remains illegally imprisoned. As of the date of this publication, Sultan has been detained for 1,790 days. In a case emblematic of the repression targeting Kashmiri human rights defenders and civil society, Khurram Parvez, arbitrarily detained on November 22, 2021, remains illegally imprisoned in a maximum-security facility in New Delhi. As of the date of this publication, Parvez has been detained for 607 days. Notably, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) released a detailed legal opinion in June 2023 demonstrating that Parvez is arbitrarily detained.

This report is based on the primary and secondary source of information collected by team of Legal Forum for Kashmir, including official sources, media sources, NGO reporting and primary reports from victim families. Between January and June 2023, at least 113 cordon and search operations, 126 killings, 91 incidents of property destruction, 109 internet shutdowns and 5,392 arrests were reported.

Topics: human rights violations, heightened militarization, freedom of expression, association, assembly and free movement, the NIA's disturbing tactics, land grabbing, enforced disappearances, ceasefire violations, list of civilians killed, list of Indian forces killed, list of freedom fighters killed, list of individuals detained

Terms: a narrative to win hearts of kashmiris, instances of atrocity crimes, G20 tourism working group meeting, religious freedom, arbitrary detention, Public Safety Act (PSA), Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), silencing dissent, suppression of expression, raids, arrests and residential properties attached, expropriation of property, destruction fo property, NIA seeking death sentence for Yasin Malik

This opinion from the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention finds that Khurram Parvez is arbitrarily detained and that his deprivation of liberty is in contravention of articles 2, 7, 9, 11, 19 and 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and 2, 9, 14, 15, 19, 22 and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, is arbitrary and falls within categories I, II, III and V, requests the Government of India to take the steps necessary to remedy the situation of Mr. Parvez without delay, release Mr. Parvez immediately and accord him an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations, in accordance with international law.

Topics: arbitrary detention, Khurram Parvez

Terms: Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, violation of freedom of opinion, expression and association, violation of  right to the presumption of innocence and the right against self-incrimination, violations of due process and fair trial rights, reprisals, discrimination based on political or other views