Kashmir: Telling the Story
I interviewed Khurram Parvez in Srinagar, Kashmir in February 2011. When I returned to India that September to follow up on reporting on the mass graves in Kashmir, I was denied entry by the Indian government. I’ve been banned from India ever since. Sadly, this interview is still relevant. Since August 2019 the Hindu nationalist regime ruling India has imposed even harsher conditions on Kashmiris and eliminated what little autonomy they had. This story needs to be told. But the G20 won’t hear it. Its tourism officials are visiting Kashmir in late May in what will be an orchestrated photo-op extolling the valley’s natural beauties and comparing Kashmir to paradise. Kashmir is off the media radar screen. India has carefully controlled the narrative.
Interview by David Barsamian.
Speaker
Khurram Parvez
Khurram Parvez, a Kashmiri human rights activist, is the program coordinator of the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society. He has been jailed by the Indian government since November 2021 joining many other Kashmiris behind bars. Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world calling him a “modern-day David.” Arundhati Roy calls him “one of the most remarkable people that I know. He and the organization he works for have for years meticulously documented the saga of torture, enforced disappearances, and death visited upon the people of Kashmir.”
Dedicated listener –
I learned a lot about India’s occupation of Kashmir. The interview was interesting and saddening. I hope the Kashmiris get more support from the international community in the future and that the rapes, abductions and murdering stops! The Kashmiris have had very tragic lives since 1931.
Listener in NM –
Appreciated the presentation about Kashmir. Didn’t realize how dire the situation was and is.