Freelance journalist Irfan Mehraj, who was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday in an alleged NGO terror funding case, also worked with the human rights group Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Societies (JKCCS). The NIA has alleged that JKCCS was funding terror activities in the Valley and propagating secessionism. Mehraj was initially called in for questioning at Srinagar and then shifted to New Delhi. The NIA said Mehraj was “a close associate” of prominent human rights activist Khurram Parvez, who is in the custody of the central investigating agency since November 2021 in a case pertaining to alleged terror funding by certain NGOs and trusts. In 2020, the NIA had registered an alleged NGO terror funding case. The central agency said that Mehraj’s arrest is the first arrest in the case. A resident of Padhshahi Bagh in Srinagar, Mehraj completed his Master’s in Mass Communication and Journalism from the University of Kashmir. He works as a freelance journalist and his work has been published by many national and international media outlets. Mehraj also worked as a researcher for the JKCCS, which documented human rights violations in the Valley. “Following comprehensive investigations into the NGO terror funding case registered in October 2020, the National Investigation Agency arrested Irfan Mehraj from Srinagar (J&K) yesterday (20.03.2023),” the NIA said in a statement on Tuesday. Mehraj is the third journalist arrested by the central agency from the Valley. In 2018, the central agency arrested Valley-based photojournalist Kamran Yousuf. He, however, was acquitted by the NIA court last year. In October 2021, the NIA arrested photojournalist Manan Ahmad Dar. He was granted bail in January this year with the court saying that the charges against him were “mere assumptions”.
