Parveena Ahangar rejects nomination for ‘Indian of the Year 2011′

This press release has been issued by the PARVEENA AHANGAR-led ASSOCIATION OF PARENTS FOR DISAPPEARED PERSONS

Srinagar, December 10, 2011:  On this ‘International Human Rights Day’, December 10, 2011, the 

APDP (Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons), Srinagar, wishes to state that there is 

something obscene and perverse in the manner the CNN-IBN has nominated our organization for the

 ‘Indian of the Year 2011’ award. Sometimes, human rights can be violated by merely mocking those who struggle for human rights.

The channel and its associates are promoting this ‘award’ in all their publicity material as a recognition for

 “architects and ambassadors of Brand India”. The APDP would like to forthwith REJECT and 

condemn this gratuitous nomination of our organization for this award which smacks of being yet 

another attempt by corporate Indian media to cover-up and neutralize the crimes of the Indian state in 

Kashmir.

We believe there is something sinister in the way our organisation, which has been relentlessly 

struggling for core human values like freedom, dignity and justice in the Valley in the face of brutal state 

repression – largely condoned by the corporate media – has been drafted into the eclectic ‘menu 

card’ of shortlisted nominees just to buy some credibility to the ‘award’. The CNN-IBN or its associates

 certainly did not consult us before including our name on the nominees list.

The nomination states, ‘The award recognizes the Indian(s) whose contribution to the country in a 

calendar year has strengthened the foundation of our society and has helped build Brand India in the 

process. The pinnacle of Indian achievement….’

Applied in the context of our organization, this is patently absurd. The APDP’s struggle for justice and 

accountability has never been about “building Brand India” but about questioning and challenging 

Brand India and its trampling over the rights and lives of the people of Kashmir. We refuse to allow 

ourselves to be co-opted into that brutal system and demean our struggle for ‘rights’ by being foisted 

upon with some self-styled award. Particularly, when it seems obvious that our name is on your list merely 

as a ‘decoration’ to help prop up your credibility.

The award citation describes APDP as an organization ‘relentlessly highlighting the issue of missing 

persons in Kashmir, and forcing the government and rights groups to acknowledge and act’.

Describing the cases of enforced disappearances in Kashmir as that of ‘missing persons’ and claiming 

that due to efforts of APDP the government and its agencies have acted and acknowledged the 

issue ofenforced disappearances in Kashmir, is both misinformed and misleading.

We wish to place on record that there has been no formal response from the government agencies or 

institutions on the issue of enforced disappearances in Kashmir. The APDP have identified the 

perpetrators of the crimes, and there are thousands of cases pending in the Srinagar High Court 

seeking sanction for prosecution of the accused. However, draconian laws like the AFSPA 

(Armed Forces Special Powers Act) in Kashmir continue to provide them complete impunity. 

To claim that the government and its agencies have responded to these gross acts of human rights

 violations and has ‘acted’ or punished the guilty is a blatant falsehood.

This nomination is a farce. Such nominations take away from the struggle that we as the 

Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons have been fighting for past two decades.

 It also makes a mockery of the trauma and sufferings of the Kashmiri people.

The only real ‘award’ the news channel can bestow upon us is consistent and honest reportage of the

 heinous crimes committed by the armed forces in Kashmir and highlight the struggles and 

sacrifices of the people of Kashmir for justice and freedom.

We demand that CNN-IBN forthwith remove our name from their nominee’s list.

PARVEENA AHANGARSpokesperson,
Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP)