Human rights defenders, Mr Zafar Iqbal, Mr Yousaf Kashmiri, Mr Aurangzeb Saifullah and Mr Amiruddin Mughal of Press for Peace, have received threats from security agencies and militants in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, between 3 and 10 July 2009.

Further Information

Zafar Iqbal is the Executive Director, Yousaf Kashmiri the Field Director, Aurangzeb Sifullah the Youth Director and Ammir Uddin a member of Press for Peace (PFP), a Kashmir-based NGO which works for the promotion of peace, tolerance and the protection of human rights and freedom of the press in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

In September 2008, PFP launched a peace campaign in the Neelem Valley in reaction to the regrouping of banned extremist militants around the zone of the Line of Control (LoC), an area under cease fire since 2003 which had previously been the focal point of intense conflict.

Following this peace campaign, members of PFP have been repeatedly threatened by militants and members of the Pakistani security forces. Front Line is deeply concerned that the threats against members of PFP are related to their work in defence of human rights in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

On 10 July 2009, at approximately 8:00 p.m., Yousaf Kashmiri was followed by three individuals in a black vehicle when he was returning home from work in Bagh. The three men who followed him then questioned him in Punjabi about the recent activities of PFP and threatened that if PFP continued writing letters to the Pakistani government denouncing the presence of militants in the LoC area, Yousaf Kashmiri would be killed or kidnapped and the PFP would be declared illegal.

Between 3 and 10 July 2009, Yousaf Kashmiri was also repeatedly questioned and threatened by Pakistani security agents.

On 8 July 2009, at approximately 3:00 p.m., Zafar Iqbal received a call from an unknown number in which an unidentified man who spoke in English and Urdu threatened him that due to his recent activities, Zafar Iqbal was no longer in his “good books.”

When Zafar Iqbal asked the man about his identity and the purpose of the call, the caller responded that he was doing the job which he had been assigned by his “big bosses.” The caller said that for many years he and his superiors had been tolerating the work of Zafar Iqbal but that now he should prepare himself for the consequences of highlighting human rights violations in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

On 3 July 2009, at approximately 8.30 p.m., Aurangzeb Saifullah was leaving his media office in Muzaffarabad when two men, believed to be members of the militant organisation Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT) threatened him, saying that he and the other members of PFP were no “bigger that Daniel Pearl” (an American journalist murdered and beheaded in Pakistan in 2002) and that it would be easy for them to replicate such a murder on the members of PFP.

On 30 June 2009, PFP sent an appeal to Government of Pakistan concerning the recent reorganisation of banned militant groups in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, which requested that urgent measures be made to curtail the growing activities of these militant groups.

The appeal was sent after residents of the Muzaffarabad and Neelum districts had approached PFP to express their concern over the renewed activities of banned militant groups in the region.

The local people requested that PFP help to protect them against the potential repercussions that militant operations in the area would have and asked that PFP petition the Government to cease the activities of those banned militant groups. Certain media elements published the contents of the PFP appeal. To date, no response to the appeal has been received from the Prime Minister's office.

Following the September 2008 PFP peace campaign in the Neelem valley, Amiruddin Mughal and Yousaf Kashmiri received threats from the intelligence agencies from 1 to 15 October. Their employers were also harassed and placed under pressure to fire the two men from their jobs. Both defenders' contracts were subsequently terminated, causing the men significant monetary loss.

Front Line believes that the persistent harassment of human rights defenders from PFP is directly linked to their activities in defence of human rights in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Front Line is deeply concerned for the physical and psychological integrity of Zafar Iqbal, Yousaf Kashmiri, Aurangzeb Saifullah and Amiruddin Mughal and all members of PFP and their families.