India Tomorrow
SRINAGAR—The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday carried out raids at 10 different places in Kashmir valley, including the main office of the leading Kashmiri English daily, Greater Kashmir.
The house of human rights activist Khurram Pervez was also raided.
Officials said that NIA sleuths also raided the offices of two NGOs in Hyderpora and Nawakadal, house of a journalist, a houseboat owner and an activist from the Hurriyet Conference identified as Muhammad Yousuf Sofi.
A spokesman of NIA told mediapersons that the NIA sleuths searched the residence and offices of Khurram Parvez (co-ordinator of J&K Coalition of Civil Society), his associates Parvez Ahmad Bukhari, Parvez Ahmad Matta and Bengaluru-based associate Swati Sheshadri; Ms. Parveena Ahanger, Chairperson of Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDPK) and offices of NGO Athrout and Greater Kashmir Trust.
The NIA official said that it is part of the NIA’s effort to find out sources of terror-funding in the state.
Condemning the raids, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti tweeted, “The NIA raids on human rights activist Parvez and the Greater Kashmir office in Srinagar is yet another example of the Government of India’s vicious crackdown on freedom of expression and dissent. Sadly, the NIA has become BJP’s pet agency to intimidate and browbeat those who refuse to fall in line”.
Mehbooba also tweeted, “At a time when J&K’s land & resources are being plundered, GOI wants media publications to write op-eds about diabetes & yoga. In BJP’s ‘all is well’ charade, truth is the biggest casualty. Any journalist unwilling to become a part of Godi media is targeted”.
Kashmir Times editor Anuradha Bhasin, in a tweet, said, “The NIA raids on GK office and HR defender Khurram Parvez’s house are attempts to impose silence even on our whispers (and they’re scared of even that). This comes a day after the disempowering land laws. Can this be just a coincidence?”
She further said, “I doubt it is an eyewash. It is to ensure that they remain even more silent. Athrout is feeding poor families and Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) is taking up the cause of human rights and justice. The crackdown indeed is worrying”.
