New York, July 02 (KMS): In New York, Human Rights Watch has urged the puppet regime of occupied Kashmir to protect an award-winning human rights lawyer, Parvez Imroz, who survived an attack on June 30 in Srinagar by Indian troops. Imroz, president of the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society and a founder member of the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons, was awarded the Ludovic-Trarieux International Human Rights Prize in 2006.

In a statement issued in New York, Human Rights Watch said that the occupied Kashmir regime and Human Rights Commission should launch an immediate and thorough investigation into the attack and take criminal action against those responsible.

Meenakshi Ganguly, senior South Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch said that the investigations should be done to see whether the attack on Imroz was related to his work.
 
“There are the graves containing unidentified people and there are families that are still waiting for news of relatives that disappeared,’” said Ganguly. “It seems that any government committed to respecting human rights would launch a credible investigation to see if any of those missing are in the graves.” 
 
Ganguly maintained that the impunity has led Indian troops and police to believe that they can get away with attacks such as the attempt on Parvez Imroz adding that the authorities can send a strong message about their commitment to protect human rights defenders by punishing the individuals who tried to attack him.