As many as 52 activists, scholars, writers and lawyers have written an open letter demanding the immediate release of Khurram Parvez, a Kashmiri human rights activist who was arrested on Friday. According to the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society, where Parvez is a programme coordinator, he was not given any reason for his arrest.

He will be produced before a local court on Wednesday. On September 15, Parvez was stopped by authorities at Delhi airport from boarding a flight to Geneva, where he was to attend a session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission. He was not offered any reason for the action at that time either, he had said.

In their letter, the signatories called the move by the Jammu and Kashmir police "symptomatic of the escalated repression in Kashmir by institutions of the state". The letter pointed "with horror" to the 80 people who have been killed and thousands injured in the states in protests since Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed on July 8. "The rights to freedom of speech and movement and the right to dissent and self-determination are being imperilled," it added.

Here is the full text: