Human rights defender Mr Aftab Alam received death threats and was the subject of harassment and intimidation on 9 February 2010. Aftab Alam is a weaver by trade and is associated with the Peoples’ Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR).

Further Information

Since 2004, Aftab Alam has been working on the issue of hand-loom weavers rights in the Lohta Panchayat region of Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, an area where hand-loom weaving is a common occupation. He has reported on the issue of malnutrition, tuberculosis, starvation and the general situation of hand-loom weavers in Lohta following the downturn in the hand-loom weaving industry as a result of the introduction of power looms into India which left many hand-loom weavers without work.

0n 9 February 2010, at approximately 12.16pm, Aftab Alam received a threatening call on his mobile phone from the number +91-9936036962 while he was on a routine visit to members of the hand-loom weaver community in the village of Dhannipur in the Lohta region. When he was preparing to return home from Dhannipur, a Mr Mukhtar Ahmad stopped him to ask him about the case of a weaver from the village of Sabha Bhatti who has been unable to work for the last three months as a result of a serious illness. The man's wife stitches blanket for a living and earns only 10 -15 Rupees a day which is not enough to provide for her husband, herself and her two children. Aftab Alam had previously highlighted the case of this weaver and had sent a letter in relation to the matter to the leader of Sabha Bhatti village, Mr Sujeet Yadav (alias Lakkad Pahalwan).

While Aftab Alam was discussing the case with Mukhtar Ahmad, Sujeet Yadav and a group of influential villagers approached them and threatened Aftab Alam, verbally abusing him and warning him not to return to their village. When Aftab Alam asked what he had done wrong the group tried to physically force him onto his motorbike. Fearing for his safety, Aftab Alam quickly left the village on his motorbike.

Front Line believes that the death threats, aggression and intimidation against Aftab Alam are directly related to his work in defence of human rights, in particular the rights of the hand-loom weaver community of Lohta. Front Line fears for the physical and psychological integrity of Aftab Alam.