Khurram Parvez, an eminent human rights defender from Kashmir, has been named among the world’s 100 most influential people of 2022 by TIME magazine, released on Monday, 23 May.
Khurram Parvez found his place under the Leaders category along with Karuna Nundy, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and his Ukraine counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Currently, Khurram Parvez, the Chairperson of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances and Program Coordinator of Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society, is lodged in a Delhi jail facing “terrorism and conspiracy” charges and has been accused of being in contact with individuals linked to a Pakistani terrorist group. On 25 November 2021, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), following a First Information Report (FIR) lodged on 6 November 2021, raided his house and the office in Srinagar. Khurram was subsequently arrested after his several electronic devices and documents were seized.
Mentioning Khuram Parvez in the list The Times Magazine wrote, “He had to be silenced, for he was a voice that resounded around the globe for his fierce fight against human rights violations and injustices in the Kashmir region…”
“The soft-spoken Khurram is almost a modern-day David who gave a voice to families that lost their children to enforced disappearances, allegedly by the Indian state,” the magazine stated.