Oslo: Norway’s prestigious Rafto Prize for human rights will be conferred on two prominent human rights activists, Parvez Imroz and Parveena Ahanger, from occupied Kashmir on Sunday.
According to KMS, both the Kashmiri activists, who have reached Oslo, will be speaking at the ceremony titled, “Voices of Kashmir – Defending Civilians in a Heavily Militarized Zone”.
Rafto has also dedicated this year’s Torch Rally to Kashmiris who are living the most heavily militarized zone of the world.
Parvez Imroz is the co-founder of the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS). The JKCCS has documented the torture by Indian troops in occupied Kashmir and published several reports, which are being used as reference document worldwide.
Parveena Ahanger is the other recipient who is founder president of the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons. Indian forces had picked Ahanger’s 17-year-old son from their home in Srinagar’s Batamaloo area in 1990. She is seeking his whereabouts since then. Nicknamed ‘The Iron Lady of Kashmir’, Parveena has stood against the atrocities of the Indian forces in occupied Kashmir.
Meanwhile, the Executive Director of Kashmiri Scandinavian Council and lobbyist, Sardar Ali Shahnawaz Khan, in a statement in Oslo said that Kashmir dispute had came under discussion in the Norwegian Parliament over seventeen times so far.
A Kashmir group in the Norwegian Parliament was too established several years ago which had shown its concerns about unabated human rights violations in occupied Kashmir.
“Being a Norwegian Kashmiri, I feel honored that the Rafto Foundation is cknowledging the struggle of Kashmiri people who have been at the fatal end of barrel since 1947,” Sardar Ali Shahnawaz Khan said.
He said, musicians – Lluvia Son and Jonas Apeland – will perform at a concert in Oslo on Monday to raise the awareness about the Kashmir dispute.
