The text of the Lecture that Parveena Ahangar of Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (Apdp) Delivered at the 2017 Rafto Conference at Bergen, Norway.

Abstract

To, the Rafto Foundation, Sisters & Brothers, Friends, and the International Human Rights Community, Assalamu Alaikkum,

My heartfelt thanks to the Rafto Foundation for co-awarding me the 2017 Rafto Human Rights Prize with ParvezImroz, the co-founder of The Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons with me.

It is an honour to receive this prize. I am very happy today as this prize will provide an opportunity to us to highlight APDP’s and Kashmir’s struggle for justice. The struggle which has become a spectacle for the world, but a reckless misery for the people of Kashmir I am also full of grief today because I remember my son and all the dear ones who have been disappeared, detained, tortured, blinded and killed by the state forces or the state-backed militia. In Koshur we say, mei cha daghlalnawaan. I am cradling this pain – as a mother.