The Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) is a collective of family members of people from Kashmir who were allegedly abducted or murdered by the Indian security forces and have been missing since then. The APDP was founded in 1994 by a woman called Parveena Ahangar. She founded the collective after her son Javaid was allegedly abducted by Indian army personnel.
According to a report published by the International People’s Tribunal for Human Rights and Justice in Kashmir (IPTK) in 2009, the number of the people subjected to such disappearances is estimated to be more than 8000 since 1989. Ever since the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Power Act (AFSPA), 1990 was enacted in response to the rising militancy in the region, it gave the Indian army a lot of impunity in the state. There have been grave allegations of human rights abuses against the army.
The APDP has collaborated with organisations such as the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and has been at the forefront of documenting human right violations in Kashmir. APDP has brought global attention to the issue of such alleged disappearances in Kashmir. The European Parliament passed out a resolution and called out on the Indian government to ensure independent and impartial investigations into all sites of mass graves. In the resolution, an APDP report issued in March 2008 was mentioned. The report had indicated the existence of mass graves in areas which aren’t easily accessible without the permission of security forces.
Parveena was the Nobel Peace Prize nominee in 2005. In 2011, she rejected CNN-IBN nomination for the ‘Indian of the Year 2011’ award as her organisation believes it was just another attempt by the Indian mainstream media to cover-up and neutralise the crimes committed by the Indian state. She won the prestigious Norway Rafto Prize 2017 for Human Rights.
Youth Ki Awaaz caught up with Parveena Ahangar, where she talks about APDP, the current PDP-BJP government in Jammu and Kashmir, controversial acts such as the Public Safety Act and AFSPA, and more.
Muda Tariq (MT): Can you tell us how the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) was started and why?
Parveena Ahangar (PA): The army abducted my son Javaid in 1990. I have been searching for him ever since. I have gone to every jail, every military camp, every police and every torture centre in Kashmir. But I haven’t found him so far. I have travelled bare feet, sometimes without having a proper meal for days together.
In the early 90s, as I was going around Kashmir searching for my son, I met mothers, fathers, wives who had met the same fate. I started bringing them together and in 1994, we formed the APDP – in my kitchen. That’s how our movement began.
Since then, we have been protesting at various places, demanding our loved ones be returned. I have only ever asked one thing from the government: you took our sons and husbands; just tell us where you have kept them.
MT: What work does the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) exactly do?
PA: To begin with, APDP is a movement against the amnesia that the state forces on its crimes in Kashmir. We document the cases of the enforced disappearances and try to bring them into public space; we try to form a collective memory of the issue. APDP also supports the families of the victims of enforced disappearances in various ways. We provide medical, livelihood and psychological support to the victim’s families. Besides that APDP fights legally to get justice for the families and we run a campaign against enforced disappearances.
MT: How much impact would you say the APDP has had since it started out?
PA: The impact of APDP can be gauged from two facts; due to a relentless campaign by us, the enforced disappearances, if not fully, have stopped to some extent. And the issue of the enforced disappearances is wide known throughout the world and APDP has been able to bring the issue of the enforced disappearances in the notice of the world community. Apart from that, we have helped to rehabilitate, on a micro scale, the lives of the families of the victims of enforced disappearance.
MT: How has your experience been with the administrative and the executive setup? Are you subjected to any hassles when you apply for a document as basic as a passport?
PA: Yes, there was a pressure. They would also threaten. Initially, we protested outside the gate of the high court but the police and the CRPF beat us and dragged us away. Then, we started protesting at other places but there too the forces would beat us. In fact, there is a case against me for indulging in anti-social activities.
But days went by; we didn’t care about the threats and continued on our path. The state has nothing to threaten us with. We only demand to know where they have kept our dear ones. We will continue to ask that, again and again, and again.
MT: What is your take on the impunity given to the armed forces and various legislations like the Public Safety Act?
PA: One of the reasons that justice is delayed to us is because the perpetrators enjoy impunity and under its shield, the armed forces do extensive human rights abuses on Kashmiris. In relation to enforced disappearances, the courts after hearing some cases asked the Government of India to prosecute the perpetrators but the government is shielding them via these draconian laws. In the Indian Home Ministry, around fifty cases were sent for sanction to prosecute but the Home Ministry is unwilling to sanction them. They use the laws like AFSPA, etc to protect them.
MT: What is your take on the current political leadership in Kashmir? Do you have any hopes from the current PDP-BJP government which is governing the state?
PA: The current pro-India leadership is as it always is; unaccountable and brutal. I don’t have any hope from them. They will not do justice with us. It is the state who took our dear ones and how can we expect any justice from them. They just care about power and their chairs and nothing else. They have made laws only for us but when it comes to applying laws on them, they don’t.
MT: Given that you are a Rafto prize recipient and a Nobel Prize nominee, how significant do you think is the role of other nations and international bodies like the United Nations in recognising and preventing human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir?
PA: I think it will help bring more international attention to the issue of enforced disappearance. It will help start a conversation in international forums about this issue, which is important. It will help build pressure on the Indian state to allow investigation into cases of enforced disappearances. Also, by giving us this award, the global community recognizes our cause.
The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
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