Ali Raza Syed for immediate release of Irfan Meraj, other Kashmiri journalists & HR activists imprisoned by Indian authorities

BRUSSELS, Mar 22 (SABAH): Chairman of Kashmir Council Europe (KC-EU) Ali Raza Syed has called for early release of Irfan Meraj, other Kashmiri journalists and human rights activists imprisoned by Indian authorities.

Irfan Meraj, the free-lance Kashmiri journalist was arrested by the Indian National Investigation Agency (NIA) on fake charges of in a terror funding case (of 2020) in Srinagar on Monday. A Delhi’s court on Wednesday remanded him to NIA’s custody for 10 days under the Indian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

Reacting to the arrest of Irfan Meraj, Chairman KC-EU Ali Raza Syed said, charges on Irfan Meraj are false and we strongly condemned this unlawful Indian act. Indian authorities should release him and other Kashmiri journalists and human right rights activists immediately.

“We strongly condemn the imposing of UAPA on Irfan Meraj as a media person. Implementation of this act is a misuse of the authority by the Indian officials and a violation of freedom of speech and expression,” Chair of KC-EU added.

Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and Aakar Patal, the chair of Amnesty International board in India and office bearers of Indian Press Club, Journalist Federation of Kashmir also expressed deep concerns on arrest of Irfan Meraj.

It is important to mention that three other famous Kashmiri journalists Asif Sultan, Sajad Gul and Fahad Shah are already in jail on fake charges. Khurram Parvez, the internationally famous human rights defender is also among the Kashmiri human rights activists facing hardships in the Indian prisons on the bogus charges.

Ali Raza Syed said that these arrests were being made to spread fear among the people of Jammu and Kashmir but the brave Kashmiris will not afraid of this Indian state terrorism.

Indian authorities cannot make silent the people of Kashmir and their right to self determination could not be suppressed by such inhuman acts. He said that draconian laws like the UAPA are being abused constantly by the Indians and it is an alarming indication of how far the authorities will go to clamp down on independent journalism, freedom of speech and expression in the occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

Al Raza Syed called the international community to stop this systematic targeting of independent journalists in the occupied Kashmir, who seek to practice their profession in the occupied land without fear. Human rights activists should also be allowed to continue their work without any hurdle in the occupied territory.