NIA arrests Kashmir journalist Irfan Mehraj on terror charges

Srinagar: Kashmiri journalist Irfan Mehraj was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Srinagar on Monday for allegedly propagating a secessionist agenda under the garb of protecting human rights. Separately, the agency also charge-sheeted an alleged militant associate.

Mr. Mehraj worked for the online portal TwoCircles.net, which focusses on news about marginalised communities, and also edited Wande Magazine, an online magazine of longform writing. The NIA said that his arrest followed a comprehensive investigation into a non-governmental organization’s (NGO) terror funding case, which was registered in October 2020.

Mr. Mehraj was a close associate of Khurram Parvez and was working with his organization, Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Societies (JKCCS). Investigation



revealed that the JKCCS was funding terror activities in the Valley and had also been in propagation of a secessionist agenda in the Valley under the garb of protection of human rights,” the NIA said.

Mr. Parvez, 46, whose organisation worked on alleged custodial disappearances and rights abuses in J&K, was arrested in 2022. The JKCCS was awarded the Rafto Prize for human rights in 2017. Mr. Parvez’s arrest was condemned by human rights groups, as well as by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders Mary Lawlor. 

Mr. Parvez is facing charges under sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in a case that pertains to “criminal conspiracy and illegal money transfer for terror activities”.