Mirwaiz was kept under house arrest for more than four years to prevent him from leading protests against the 2019 scrapping of the special status to Jammu and Kashmir. Although he was released in September, he had since occasionally been put under house detention as the Gaza war broke out
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has in a fresh crackdown started declaring Kashmiri separatists operating from some foreign countries including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey as terrorists.
Security agencies have used a dubious dossier to claim the former journalist and event manager is now a terrorist who is threatening journalists in Kashmir. But journalists in the valley say it is a means to a darker end.