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Anti-terrorism officers have arrested a journalist and rights group employee from Indian-administered Kashmir over accusations he was concerned in “funding terror activities”, authorities mentioned Tuesday.
Irfan Mehraj, a contract journalist and journal editor, was summoned on Monday to a police facility in the principle metropolis of Srinagar the place members of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) took him into custody, the company mentioned in an announcement.
He had beforehand been questioned a number of instances by NIA investigators, however was all the time let go.
Mehraj additionally labored with the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), a outstanding rights group whose founder Khurram Parvez has been detained by India since November 2021.
“Irfan Mehraj was a close associate of Khurram Parvez and was working with his organization,” the NIA assertion mentioned.
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“Investigation revealed that the JKCCS was funding terror activities in the (Kashmir) valley and had also been in propagation of secessionist agenda in the Valley under the garb of protection of human rights.”
The rights group has monitored violence within the area for greater than three many years, and its reviews have uncovered violations by each rebels and Indian authorities forces together with torture, extra-judicial killings and unmarked mass graves.
Rights teams internationally have demanded the discharge of Parvez who, like Mehraj, was accused below the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) — a vaguely worded anti-terror legislation that successfully permits folks to be held with out trial indefinitely.
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At least 2,300 folks have been arrested below the UAPA within the Indian-controlled territory since 2019, when New Delhi cancelled the area’s partial autonomy and introduced it below direct rule.
Almost half of them are nonetheless in jail, although convictions below the legislation are very uncommon.
The Press Club of India on Tuesday mentioned it “vehemently” opposed the legislation’s use towards members of the media.
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“The misuse of this draconian law by NIA in randomly arresting Irfan Mehraj, a journalist from Kashmir ominously points towards a violation of freedom of speech and expression,” the membership mentioned in a tweet. “We demand his immediate release.”
Since the 2019 adjustments, tensions have steadily risen within the extremely militarised territory, which can also be claimed by Pakistan.
Journalists have been routinely summoned for questioning over their work lately, dissent has been criminalised and protests made just about unattainable within the Indian-controlled territory.
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The area was divided between the arch-rivals throughout their first conflict over its management quickly after independence in 1947.
Since 1989, insurgent teams have fought some 500,000 Indian troopers deployed within the territory, demanding independence or its merger with Pakistan, leaving tens of hundreds of civilians, troopers and rebels lifeless thus far.
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