SRINAGAR Parveena Ahanger, a rights activist, was awakened by the sound engines revving outside her Srinagar home, which is the largest city in Indian-administered Kashmir. Parveena Ahanger closed the Quran that she was reading and looked through a window to see if there were any armored vehicles or police officers surrounding her home. Ahanger was ordered to close all windows and secure all doors by plainclothes officers. It was an attack by India's counterterrorism task force, the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Ahanger is chair of the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), which she established in 1994, four years after her teenage son disappeared. NIA officials took Ahanger's entire family's cellphones during the raid. Ahanger was then driven by the agents to Hyderpora on the outskirts Srinagar where they seize documents and hard drives.The NIA also raided several journalist offices and homes that day. The Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (or JKCCS) was one of the targets. This group documents human rights violations within Indian-administered Kashmir. It also targeted the home of its coordinator. The NIA also confiscated several documents and electronic gadgets from both locations. These raids were part of an increase in Indian government crackdowns against journalists, rights activists, and civilians who voice dissent or views critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Bharatiya Janata Party). In August 2019, the government unilaterally amended its constitution to remove Jammu-and Kashmir's semi-autonomous status. Since 1947, when Kashmir was independent from British rule, India and Pakistan both claim parts of it. Since 1989, Indian-administered Kashmir has seen an armed rebellion against Indian rule.Photo: Mukhtar Khan/APA few days prior to revoking Kashmir's special status, India amended an anti-terror law, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, to make it more strict. This allowed the government to lock up for six months anyone who was arrested under the law, without any trial or bail. The UAPA has been invoked frequently by the police to restrict civil liberties over the past couple of years. The NIA claimed that it had received information that terrorist and secessionist groups in Kashmir were using funds from abroad. It invoked the UAPA after the raids in October. The NIA filed charges against JKCCS under UAPA. They claimed to have credible information that the JKCCS was involved in secessionist activity and stated that the investigation was ongoing.The raids resulted in the suppression of the two only groups that documented human rights violations in Kashmir.The raids hampered the work of the two only groups that documented human rights violations in the region. Their work was cited by United Nations. The raids were designed to intimidate Human Rights Defenders and cast a chilling influence on others. They also ensure that no information or narrative contesting the discourse of India's state is available for discussion in India or abroad, Vrinda Grover (a New Delhi-based human rights activist and lawyer), told The Intercept. The increasing use of criminal law to criminalize human rights work is a result of the fact that Indian security forces are increasingly using it to intimidate and criminalize human rights. Ahanger started organizing monthly silent protests in Srinagar in 2004. Hundreds of people would carry signs asking "Where are our loved ones?" They claimed that their family members had been forced to disappear by the Indian armed forces. They last met on July 10, 2019, just weeks after Jammu and Kashmir's quasi-autonomous status was abolished by the Indian government. The APDP collective members decided that they couldn't meet publicly anymore. Ahanger stated that they were afraid of the terror they spread. People were being held. The APDP published a report in October 2019 on the use pellet guns against protesters during a 2016 civil uprising. It also included testimony from people who lost their sight as a result. The collective published a report three months later detailing human rights violations in that region during the four-month lockdown following the removal of Kashmir's special status. The APDP has remained silent since then due to fear of Indian authorities retaliating, a fear that was exacerbated last year's raid.Parveena Ahanger (founder of Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons) is seen shouting slogans at a protest in Srinagar on January 15, 2019. Photo by Idrees Abas/LightRocket via Getty ImagesFor its part, the JKCCS was involved in documenting abuses in U.N. Human Rights reports that called for an investigation into large-scale violations in Kashmir. According to the report, Kashmiri security forces are not accountable for any violations. This was a year after India imposed a digital blockade in Kashmir. The report outlined the consequences and costs of the communication blockade in the disputable region. Parvez Imroz, president of JKCCS and human rights lawyer, said that the removal of Kashmir's special status and subsequent arrests created a fear climate. Imroz said that we had no information on anyone but learned months later that we were on surveillance and no flying lists. Since 2019, we have been prohibited from travelling. Since 2019, we have been banned from traveling. The court uses police documents to prove guilt in UAPA prosecutions. This gives police an enormous power. This law makes people who are charged under it terrorists, regardless of whether they are convicted by the government.The UAPA has completely rewritten the theory of separation and accountability. Habeel, a Kashmiri lawyer, stated that the police and executive have grown in power and that the judiciary has lost its checks and balances. He cited a Indian Supreme Court ruling in 2019 that reversed a lower court's decision to grant bail to someone under UAPA. He also noted that the Supreme Court in a recent judgment gave more force to this terrible law and tied the hands both of the High Courts as well as the lower Courts when it came to bail. The increased use of UAPA shows how paranoid state has become. Although the NIA brought the case under the UAPA, they did not take any further action to prosecute it. Our documents and gadgets were seized by the NIA when they raided our office. They cut us off from our friends and contacts. Imroz said that we had not been in touch for a while with anyone. Imroz said that we were not in touch with anyone for a long time. While the JKCCS claims it is locally funded, the APDP has been granted funding by the U.N. Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture. According to an APDP staffer, we receive funds only through the U.N. grant. This was due to fear of reprisal from Indian officials. They raided us to put pressure on us. They wanted to know what kind of victims our funds helped. Ahanger stated that the NIA raid was carried out because of the documentation they had of Indian armed forces committing human rights violations. She told The Intercept that we have been able cooperate with international organizations such as the U.N. Rafto Foundation, a Norwegian human right organization, which recognized Ahanger, Imroz and their work in Kashmir in 2017. Also, other international organizations have exerted pressure on the Indian government. The Indian government continues its use of the UAPA to oppress dissenters. Athar Mushtaq, 16, was shot and killed during a gun battle in Srinagar. The police then buried him in Sonamarg three hours from his home. Mushtaq Ahmad his father, fought for weeks to recover his son's body and bury it near his home. The police brought charges against him and his family members under UAPA in February. Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai, a Kashmiri politician and separatist leader, died from Covid-19 in Jammu while he was imprisoned. Two dozen people attended his funeral, including his sons. A few days later, the UAPA was applied to Sehrais's sons.Photo: Mukhtar Khan/AP
