NEW DELHI: National Alliance for Justice, Accountability & Rights (NAJAR), a collective of progressive legal professionals for democratic causes, vehemently condemns the recent crackdown on multiple advocates in Kashmir.
The arrests of four lawyers, part of Jammu & Kashmir High Court Bar Association, have sparked outrage and concern both within Kashmir and outside. 52 advocates, who are signatories of the statement, on July 19, 2024, unanimously called for the release of all advocates, activists, and journalists arrested in Jammu & Kashmir, both recently, and since 2019.
As per reports and eye-witness accounts, Adv Nazir Ahmed Ronga, the ad hoc Chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association was arrested on 11th July, in the middle of the night, under the Public Safety Act (PSA), without prior notice. Sr. Adv Mohammad Ashraf Bhat, former general secretary of the Kashmir chapter of the J&K High Court Bar Association (JKHCBA) was arrested on 17th July from his residence and booked under PSA. He has been lodged in Kathua jail.
Adv Mian Abdul Qayoom was apprehended on 25th June by the Jammu & Kashmir police for questioning related to the tragic assassination of lawyer Babar Qadri in 2020, under circumstances that raise serious questions about due process. Another lawyer, Adv Mian Muzaffar was also arrested recently.
These arrests follow a troubling pattern of suppression and violation of human rights and rule of law in the region. NAJAR is of the view that the arbitrary use of the Public Safety Act is unconstitutional and disproportionate. The targeted attack on the Bar Association members is worrying and inimical to the legal profession.
This crackdown is part of a broader trend where voices advocating for Kashmiri rights to social, economic, and political self-determination have been systematically silenced and persecuted. Since the abrogation of Article 370 in Aug, 2019, activists and dissenting voices, have faced increased scrutiny, arrests, and intimidation tactics from state authorities. Social activist Khuram Parvez, journalists Irfan Mehraj and Sajad Gul have been in jail for the last few years.
There has also been a systematic hindrance of the functioning of the Jammu and Kashmir Bar Association properly since the abrogation of Article 370. In June, restrictions were imposed on the elections to the association citing alleged ‘secessionist ideology’. The District Magistrate stated that the restrictions were imposed since the Bar Association failed to clarify why the constitution for the Association called ‘Kashmir an issue to be settled’. Despite, the association amending its constitution, they have not been allowed to conduct elections. The Bar Association’s elections have been pending for four years.
The targeting of senior advocates like Mian Abdul Qayoom and Nazir Ahmed Ronga sends a chilling message to the entire legal community in Kashmir. By using draconian laws like the Public Safety Act to stifle dissent and legal representation, authorities are undermining the fundamental rights guaranteed under the Indian Constitution. This suppression not only threatens the livelihoods of these advocates but also erodes people’s trust in the judicial processes.
NAJAR called upon democratic-minded people and organizations everywhere to closely monitor the situation in Kashmir and ensure that the Indian Govt upholds the principles of justice, due process, constitutional and human rights for all individuals, regardless of their political beliefs or affiliations.
In light of the above, we demand:
We also remind the state of its constitutional duty to create enabling conditions for citizens and civic groups to exercise their freedoms of speech and expression and to carry out their professions without any fear and unreasonable restrictions.
Issued by NAJAR: National Alliance for Justice, Accountability & Rights. The statement has been signed by 52 advocates from Supreme Court of India and different High Courts of India.
Ashraf Bhat arrested in Srinagar
Mohammad Ashraf Bhat, a Kashmiri lawyer, who served as the general secretary of the Kashmir chapter of the J&K High Court Bar Association (JKHCBA), was arrested by the J&K Police on Tuesday night, July 16, 2024.
A report in The Hindu said, “Bhat was arrested from his Srinagar residence during a night raid. We fear Bhat too has been shifted to a jail outside the Kashmir Valley,” a colleague of Bhat said.
Bhat has become the fourth lawyer of the erstwhile Bar to be arrested in 23 days. Earlier, ex-Bar chief Mian Qayoom, acting Bar chairman Nazir Ahmad Ronga, and Qayoom’s nephew advocate Mian Muzaffar were arrested by the police and shifted to jails in the Jammu province.
Ronga and Muzaffar have been booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA), a draconian law dealing with preventive detention that allows two years of detention without trial. However, Qayoom was arrested in a case related to the killing of a lawyer, Babar Qadri, in 2020 in Srinagar. All these arrests came immediately after the Bar announced it would hold internal elections to elect a new body.
An unconfirmed report said that the Bar has decided to “shun the idea of holding any elections.”
The 3,000-member erstwhile Bar has been denied permission by the J&K Lieutenant Governor’s government to hold internal elections for the past five years and is accused of “pro-secessionist ideology.” The Bar also remains a non-recognised body, even after dropping a paragraph from its earlier constitution, that read “seeking a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute.”
The J&K and Ladakh High Court, earlier this month, recognised a new lawyers’ body in Kashmir, the Kashmir Advocates Association (KAA), by exercising powers under Section 58 of the Bar Council, which was extended to J&K after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.
Meanwhile, the Kashmir chapter of erstwhile JKHBA was not mentioned by Justice N Kotiswar Singh, Chief Justice, who has been appointed as Judge of the Supreme Court of India, in his farewell speech on July 16.
J&K judges should take note of growing arrests of Kashmir lawyers: Mirwaiz
Hurriyat chairman and Kashmir’s chief cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on July 19 sought the intervention of judges of the J&K and Ladakh High Court into a series of arrests of lawyers in the past month, in the wake of erstwhile J&K High Court Bar Association’s plans to hold internal elections.
“If lawyers are put behind bars, who will fight people’s cases in courts? Who will defend their judicial rights? In this situation, it is incumbent upon the judiciary, including the judges, to take notice of this matter and intervene to do the needful,” the Mirwaiz said, in his Friday sermon at the Jama Masjid in Srinagar.
Several senior lawyers, who held positions in the JKHCBA, have been arrested in the past month. Former Bar chief Mian Qayoom, acting Bar chairman Nazir Ahmad Ronga, former general secretary Ashraf Bhat, and Qayoom’s nephew advocate Mian Muzaffar were arrested and shifted to jails in the Jammu province, which is around 300 km from Srinagar.
“I am deeply concerned by the flurry of nocturnal arrests of senior functionaries and advocates of the JKHCBA and slapping of Public Safety Act. They have been dispatched to outside jails in the sweltering heat,” the Mirwaiz said.
He said that it was distressing because these senior and reputed advocates are an important part of civil society. “They are being treated in this authoritarian manner. Today, it is lawyers. Tomorrow, it could be traders, shopkeepers, or ordinary people. One fails to understand what the authorities want to achieve by such actions except to instill fear among people and alienate them further,” the Mirwaiz said.
The Mirwaiz said the administration, instead of releasing thousands of political prisoners, journalists, youth, and others languishing in jails for years, is sending more locals into jails.
“Those in positions of power should discontinue the policy of arbitrary arrests and show humanity and compassion in dealing with the people of J&K. The lawyers should be released immediately. All matters can be addressed through dialogue instead of force,” the Mirwaiz said.
District Magistrate’s restrictions on JKHCBA elections
In his latest order, Srinagar’s District Magistrate had cited concerns over public order and legality. The JKHCBA had issued a notification on June 11, announcing the holding of its internal elections. But the DM in his order while justifying the restrictions on the schedule had said that the Kashmir Advocates Association (KAA) has raised objections regarding the legality and authenticity of the JKHCBA, Srinagar, alleging it promotes secessionist ideologies and operates as an unregistered entity and warned that conducting the elections could lead to disturbances and threaten public order.
The DM claimed that he sought detailed reports from the SSP Srinagar and the Registrar of Societies Kashmir and while the latter confirmed that the JKHCBA is not registered with their office, the report submitted by the former noted that it advocates for a “peaceful settlement of the Kashmir issue” and that it was a secessionist group known for intimidating dissenters and providing legal aid to anti-national elements.
The DM, while referring to the Bar’s constitution, had pointed out that it was “not in consonance with the Constitution of India, whereby J&K is an integral part of the country and not a dispute”.
Following this, the JKHCBA dropped the paragraph from its constitution that called for “working towards a peaceful settlement of the Kashmir dispute”. Its amended constitution, among other things, said that it is principally concerned with “promoting the rights and interests of the legal profession in general and of the members of the Association in particular”.
The Association also informed the DM that the “misgivings you harbour regarding conducting of elections for JKHCBA, Kashmir, are unfounded and/or lopsided and/or ipsi dixit.” A letter sent to the DM on July 5, it also said, “The JKHCBA is on record to have sufficiently conveyed to you, in the past, its response to obviate such misgivings that sans suppression.” The letter further stated that “some changes in the constitution of the JKHCBA, Kashmir, also became necessary (after the Supreme Court judgment on Article 370 provisions on December 23, 2023) and, accordingly, were brought about”.
Nazir Ronga’s detention under PSA
A report in Deccan Herald said: Ronga’s son Umair Ronga, also a member of the JKHCB, while pointing his fingers at the rivals of his father and his colleagues said, “What we are witnessing is a vile concoction of jealousy and the blatant misrepresentation of facts by certain vested interests. These individuals, devoid of any merit or legitimate grounds, have managed to usurp positions of power and security through deceit and manipulation”.
He said, “These adversaries harbour a deep-seated animosity towards us because they cannot match us on merit. They have distorted the truth before higher authorities, leading to actions like the unwarranted detention of my father”.
He added, “Initially, the state objected to the Bar Association’s constitution, which was then amended, and a new constitution was duly provided to the authorities. Despite this, my father, who had decided not to contest this year’s elections due to his health, has been subjected to this draconian measure”.
Nazir Ahmad Ronga, who has been targeted by the J&K administration in the past for raising his voice against the reading down of Article 370 and his political affiliations, was taken from his residence in Srinagar without an arrest warrant by a J&K police team at around 1:30 am on Thursday, said his son Umair Ronga.
Umair, who is also a lawyer, said that the police official leading the party told the family that “it is an order from above”. Later, he said, the authorities told them that the senior advocate was being detained under the PSA and would be lodged in Kot Bhalwal jail in Jammu.
“We are in a state of shock and profound distress. His health has not been good lately,” he said. In a post on X, Ronga also shared two clips of CCTV footage showing a group of police personnel arriving at their residence and exiting along with the senior lawyer.
Days after Mian Qayoom’s arrest
The detention follows the arrest of Mian Qayoom, another senior advocate and the last elected president of HCBA. Qayoom was held in a terrorism conspiracy case, termed as a “primary suspect” and arrested by the State Investigation Agency of J&K last month in connection with the murder of advocate Babar Qadri.
Qadri was killed on September 24, 2020 by unidentified gunmen disguised as clients at his Srinagar residence.
PSA dossier against Nazir Ronga
A report in The Wire said that it has contacted Deputy Commissioner Srinagar Dr Bilal A. Bhat and Inspector General of J&K Police (Kashmir) V. K. Birdi for details of the case and the PSA dossier of Ronga, and whether any other charges have been brought against him.
Ronga’s detention comes days after the administration banned the HCBA election due to take place on July 1 by citing unspecified fears of a “breach of peace”. Many lawyers believe that the ban and the ongoing crackdown on HCBA’s office-bearers was part of a wider attack on the lawyers’ body, which advocates “peaceful settlement of the Kashmir issue”.
‘Able to convince your electorate to come out’
Ronga’s PSA dossier had noted that he had the potential to mobilise people to participate in voting. “Your capacity can be gauged from this fact that you were able to convince your electorate to come out and vote in huge numbers during poll boycotts,” the dossier reads.
The government had also blamed Ronga for raising his voice against the reading down of Article 370. “You have led many protest marches in this behalf and created problem in public order in Srinagar district,” reads the 2019 dossier while accusing him of being affiliated with Mirwaiz Umar Farooq-led All Parties Hurriyat Conference.
On January 10, 2020, the PSA against Ronga and 25 other individuals was revoked, hours after the Supreme Court came down heavily on J&K administration over the imposition of Internet ban and prohibitory orders in Kashmir valley.
In November 2022, a disciplinary committee of J&K high court has summoned Ronga, Mian Qayoom and G N Shaheen on a complaint of “professional misconduct” against them by Achal Sethi, then secretary to the UT government, department of law, justice and parliamentary affairs,
“You are hereby summoned to appear before the disciplinary committee on December 17 at 10.30am at the high court of J&K and Ladakh at Srinagar in the above-titled complaint,” read the order by the court. While Qayoom and Ronga have headed HCBA in the past, Shaheen has served as its general secretary.
Sethi has urged the court to open “disciplinary action against the three advocates … for committing professional and other misconduct under the Advocates Act.”
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