PARVEENA FIRST DRAFT OF INTERVIEW ASSIGNMENT

Dear all,

This is the first draft and I am really not happy with it yet. a lot needs to be added and a lot needs to be trimmed as well. Looking forward to your valuable feedback.
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As night falls Parveena grows restless. She is missing her son. She thinks of the clothes (a shirt and a pant) last worn by her son nestled between her clothes in the cupboard. It was nighttime when someone rushed to tell her that her son who was sleeping at his uncle’s place a few houses away was picked up in his undergarments by the security forces. That was 19 years ago and Parveena Ahangar the Chairperson of the Association of the Parents of the Disappeared (APDP) still waits for her son.

Living in the Indian administered Kashmir she is among thousands of people whose kin have gone missing in the two decades of the armed conflict. Human rights activists put the figure above 10,000.

What set her apart from the rest is her drive, commitment and courage by which she converted her personal tragedy into a fight for thousands of people whose kin are disappeared in Kashmir.

“It is no longer the fight for my son. It is the fight for all the disappeared. They are all my sons,” says Parveena.

BACKGROUND

Terming it a malady which has no cure the stocky middle aged Parveena says that thousands of people were killed in Kashmir. Their families’ atleast had a last glimpse and know where they rest. The family of those arrested had a jail to rush to but for them there is nowhere to go. Not even a graveyard.

Her determination turned Parveena from a simple semi literate homemaker and a mother of five to an international activist for the mothers of missing children throughout Asia. She represents APDP at Philippines based Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) and has traveled to many countries attending seminars, conferences, workshops and other such functions which highlight the plight of the kin of disappeared.

Media savvy Parveena says the world needs to know what is happening in Kashmir. She adds that even in India people are unaware of the situation in Kashmir leave alone the issue of disappeared people. It has also made her realize the importance of raising ones voice. Traveling to other countries and meeting more such mothers has given Parveena courage. “We are not alone and it feels good when people listen to you. At such meetings we share our stories, our grief and give each other courage. It helps us to fight on”.

On a visit to Philippines Parveena saw a statue erected in a church in the memory of the missing. After she came back the association tried to set up a memorial near the martyr’s graveyard at Iddgah. They had planned a marble memorial with the names of the missing and their details. The foundation stone which had the name of three children born after their fathers went missing was removed by the government overnight with the accusation of trespassing. In retaliation Parveena laid the foundation on a small piece of her own land. The memorial has to wait for want of funds. “There is no place where people like me can go to unburden our grief when we are missing our children”

Parveena unaware of the long unending wait that awaited her thought her son will be released next day. Though a lot of guys were picked up that night she was sure her 18 year old would be home next day. Ironically he slept at his uncle’s place as he considered it safer than his own home. “He was a student and had no links with militants so I had no reason to think otherwise”. The next dawn brought an unending struggle for Parveena which started with the visit to the army camp who had picked up her son. Parveena says it was a case of mistaken identity. “They were looking for Javeed Bhat who had joined militants. Eventually he was picked up a few weeks later”

Over the next months which later translated into years Parveena visited every camp in the state searching for her son. Whenever she heard of a boy lodged in some jail of India she would rush hoping to see her son. She returned empty handed always. Her search took her to barbers and other such people who had access to army camps.

She filed a case in the court (Habeas Corpus petition at J&K High Court seeking her sons whereabouts) identifying the perpetuators. “I knew who had taken my child. I took them to court but the judge was helpless. It took him 13 years to identify the guilty and then the case was sent to the Central government for sanction to prosecute the guilty where it is lying since then.

AFSPA

“If a civilian commits a crime he is punished. Why can’t an army man be punished? How come they are above the law?”

When she was fighting to trace her son she met a lot of people in the court who shared the same fate. Parveena says she could understand their pain. Fighting all alone she realized the power of fighting together. She discovered the comfort in numbers. “I thought if I or anyone amongst us will protest alone all our lives it won’t have any effect on the government. We had a chance only when we protested together.” She formed the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons in 1994. They began to meet in the court premises but after being shooed away by the police Parveeena offered an alternate venue- her house.

Parveena went to far flung villages collecting information about the people whose kin had disappeared. Besides counseling them with the next course of action she also documented their cases making them the members of the APDP. To make their case strong against the government APDP takes only those parents as its members whose sons have been picked up by the security agencies. It also accepts women whose husbands are missing- the half widows of Kashmir.

Once a month a meeting would be held in her home where they would discuss the progress of cases, papers, formalities, next course of action and such things. “After a few years we realized that no one sees us here, no one would come to know of our woes. So we decided to shift the venue to a public park in the heart of Srinagar so that people as well as authorities come to know about us”.

(As months turned into years Parveena realized the futility of a protest held within the four walls of her house. So started the monthly sit in protest by the organization in a Park in the heart of the summer capital city Srinagar. )

What drives Parveena to the cause is the new generation. She wants no new victims, besides justice for the old ones. Her demand is ‘give us back our children if they are dead show us the bodies, if alive show them to us’. A demand voiced in unison by all the people in the sit in protest. She wants to ensure that anyone else won’t suffer the same fate.

RECENT ELECTIONS

If the politicians went from street to street asking for votes why don’t they go from jail to jail (of India) to see where Kashmiri boys are holed up.

A few years after her son was disappeared relatives started telling her that nothing will come out of her struggle. Fed up of no headway in the case her husband also asked her to give up. But Parveena assured him she would continue the cause of her son despite taking care of her family. Luckily she had the full support of her other children three boys and a girl.

“I am not tired. I will fight even alone if the need arises till I get justice. If we lose a chicken or cattle don’t we look for them? Many a mother/ father died while pursuing their search and no one is left to pursue their cause. But I have promised myself to carry on their behalf”.

The problems are plenty for the members of the APDP. Parents whose sons have vanished as well as women whose husband are missing have to face various social, economical and psychological problems. Though Islam allows a women to marry after 7 years if case her husband goes missing most of these women choose not to. They hope their husbands will turn up one day. In the absence of men the whole responsibility of the family falls on the women who usually have a few children to feed as well.

Besides organizing regular protests and providing families with legal help APDP Parveena says tries to look into other problems as well within their limitations. Generous people come forward with help and I direct them to those with need. She also guides the children to many charitable schools and women to vocational training centres.

Keeping the issue alive.

In 200 Parveena was nominated for the 1000 women Nobel Peace Prize by the .
The official website of these peace prize nominees says “48 year old Ahangar is an extraordinary woman who has risen above personal trauma to rally against injustice. The mother of a son who ‘disappeared,’ she formed the Association of Parents for Disappeared Persons (APDP) to fight this pemicious form of human rights abuse.”

“Thanks to APDP’s efforts, the government has finally acknowledged that more than 3000 people have vanished in custody and has promised to bring the practice to an end,” it says.