HR Kashmir

Geneva Convention adopts a working paper on Kashmir

2007-10-01T09:35:00.001-07:00

Geneva Convention adopts a working paper on Kashmir
http://www.kashmirwatch.com/showexclusives.php?subaction=showfull&id=1190929019&archive=&start_from=&ucat=15&var1news=value1news

Photo: Kashmir Watch

Geneva (Palais des Nations), September 27: History was made at the extraordinary two day successful "Geneva Convention on Kashmir: The Making of Peace in Kashmir – Analysing Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Right to Self-Determination" held at the Palais des Nations, Geneva. The last day of this two day convention concluded with the adoption of "Geneva Convention on Kashmir – Working Paper" voted on by the delegates from around the world. These included politicians, academics, scholars, Jurists, human rights activists, humanitarian organizations, think tanks, and other NGOs.

Photo: Kashmir Watch

In the opening plenary, Barrister Majid Tramboo, Chair & Executive Director, ICHR Kashmir Centre.EU, in his opening remarks offered inspirational words of welcome and encouragement. He outlined the role of the United Nations in contentious issues such as the Jammu and Kashmir issue. He asserted that – " The biggest challenge that is haunting the "peace process" is huge military presence in Jammu and Kashmir. According to various estimates, there are more than 700,000 gun-toting army and paramilitary forces in the streets, outside houses, hospitals, schools, religious places, in the fields and mountains. The men in uniform are ubiquitous and seen everywhere. There is roughly one army man for every ten Kashmiris. One can only imagine the life under such a heavy presence of the army and their paraphernalia. The situation on the ground makes a common Kashmiri skeptical about the peace as reminds them of their uncertain present and bleak future as the politics remains in continous flux. The huge army presence has given rise to their unwanted contact with the resenting civilians. This leads to continous gross human rights violations. Thus an unending cycle of violence is born and sustained. The massive army has also stifled growth of local agriculture, education and strained the natural resources beyond limit as the army has occupied huge tracts of agricultural land, educational institutions and government buildings. This has also put a massive pressure on the local environment."

H.E. Ambassador Masood Khan, Pakistan Mission to the United Nations, Geneva said that – "The UN Charter established the right to self-determination. The two international covenants affirmed the right to self-determination of all peoples by virtue of which they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural rights.

The people of Jammu and Kashmir have not yet exercised this right. The lodestar for the Kashmiris are several UN Security Council Resolutions that promised them a fair and impartial plebiscite to ascertain their political will. That promise has not been fulfilled. Meeting on the sidelines of the Human Rights Council, we can look at three dimensions: (a) the state of human rights; (B) the ongoing Pak-India composite dialogue and Confidence Building Measures involving Kashmiris; and (C) the quest for a long solution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.

This Convention being held in Geneva should call for an immediate end to the human rights abuses in IOK. Dialogue is the crucible for solutions. So far, Pakistan and India have held three rounds of composite dialogue and they are into the fourth round. The result is mixed. The dialogue, however, has not moved forward on the resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, though a willingness to address the issue has been expressed.

We need to step up efforts to find a solution of the dispute that is acceptable to Pakistan, India and the people of Jammu and Kashmir. For durable solutions, we need statesmanship, courage and flexibility."

Bilal A. Lone, Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir People's Conference and a leader of All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) said that it is regrettable that the government of India has stalled talks with APHC and that currently there are no negotiation going on between APHC and the Indian government. He hoped that the "Peace Process" between the governments of India and Pakistan shall remain on course and that these initiatives will have direct impact on the ground situation in Jammu and Kashmir particularly with regards to human rights conditions there.

Photo: Kashmir Watch

Farooq Siddiqi, Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), analyzing the democratic values of the governments of India said – "The claimant of largest democracy in the world holds civilian people under siege with 800 hundred thousand army presence within its streets, villages and hamlets. You will find how the claimant of responsible democratic country uses inhuman laws and methods to stifle the voice of freedom. You will find how under the garb of fighting terrorism it uses its acquired military might to unleash terror in the Valley of Kashmir upon civilian people in order to negate the basic unalienable right to decide their future as guaranteed by the international community. You will find how fully it shut its eyes to daily killings of men, women and children as a matter of routine governance in Kashmir. Democracy do not function in the absence of freedom, it has no relevance when people are besieged. If democracies commit human rights abuse like in Kashmir, such democracies are not defined by moral power of people, but the powerful define democracy, thereby undermining its purpose of governance."

Advocate Nazir Ahmed Ronga, President of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association, insisted upon the Kashmir Centric CBM providing some kind of relief to the Kashmiri people. He appealed to the governments of India and Pakistan to give peace a chance and to avoid confrontation. He particularly emphasized for the repeal of all draconian laws.

Dr. Z.U. Khan, Special Advisor to the President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir & Vice-Chancellor of the AJK University said that– "With Track 2 diplomacy and President Musharraf's four points formula of demilitarization, self-governance, irrelevant borders and joint control which seems to be most realistic, is expected to bring peace and prosperity without compromising anyone's belief or the spirit of the International agreement – UN Resolutions."

Photo: Kashmir Watch

Per Gahrton (Director of the Swedish Green Think Tank COGITO and a former Member of the European Parliament), P.J. Mir (Professional Journalist and the Head of the ARYONE World TV), Bashir Ahmed (Advocate and the Joint-Secretary of the Jammu Kashmir High Court Bar Association), Marjan Lucas (Senior Programme Officer on Kashmir on Kashmir at IKV), Ali Raza Syed (President of the Advisory Council to the Kashmir Centre.EU), Prof. Nazir Shawl (Executive Director of Justice Foundation Kashmir Centre), Syed Yousuf Naseem (Convenor of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, AJK & Pakistan Chapter), Mir Tahir Masood (Representative of the Jammu and Kashmir Ittihadul Muslimeen in APHC, AJK & Pakistan Chapter), Masroor Abbas Ansari (President of the Jammu & Kashmir Ittihadul Muslimeen and an Executive Member of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference), Mariana Baabar (Professional Journalist and the Diplomatic Editor of the Islamabad based newspaper "The News"), Khalid Farooqi (Professional Journalist and the Information Analyst and Consultant for GEO TV), Murtaza Shibli (Professional Journalist and the Editor of the Kashmir Affairs Journal), Ismail Khan (Elected Member of the Board of Director of the Mountain Forum and an Op-ed Columnist/Analyst of the Islamabad-based newspaper "The News"), Sheikh Tajammul Islam (Professional Journalist and the Director General of the Kashmir Media Service), Prof. Noor Ahmed Baba (Head of the Political Science Department at the Kashmir University) together with other European jurists and scholars urged the two governments to uplift the peace process and to involve the people of Jammu and Kashmir in the process.

At the closing plenary, the remarks of IHRAAM's chair Dr. Y.N. Kly were recorded in which he wishes the delegates to note that IHRAAM has a global interest in protecting and promoting the right of people to self-determination as a fundamental human rights foundation on which the charter of the UN also finds its niche.

Dr. G.N. Fai, Executive Director of the Kashmir Centre Washington in his written message. He said that - "The Kashmir conflict has been won. The question is no longer if Kashmir's right to self-determination will be honored, but when. It may come five years hence, or it could take ten years of more unwearied resolution. But it will come. India will ultimately come to recognize that it has lost the struggle to choke freedom in Kashmir, as Great Britain did in Ireland after more than a century of recurring rebellions and as the United States did in withdrawing from South Vietnam after thrashing the Ho Chi Minh Trail with more bombs than had been dropped in all of World War II." The Convention wishes him well and hoped for his speedy recovery.

Following two days of intensive presentations, discussions and debates that took place over five sessions, the following working paper was adopted at the convention:

"Geneva Convention on Kashmir – Working Paper"

BACKGROUND

For decades, India-Pakistan relation, in particular regarding the Kashmir Issue, have dominated South Asia's political and economic development, calendar.

Photo: Kashmir Watch

Kashmir is a regional issue with international implications. Therefore, the initiatives on establishing peace process by the governments of India and Pakistan are underway and the people of Jammu & Kashmir support the process.

There is a need to improve existing condition so that the peace process can eventually address and find a peaceful and acceptable solution to the Kashmir Conflict. However, may questions and pitfalls remain as to how the current initiatives can translate into concrete steps so that a meaningful process to the Kashmir conflict can begin.

Most importantly, the leaders of Pakistan and India have to demonstrate courage and vision to undertake a brave and genuine peace process on Kashmir. Without serious political will, nothing will be achieved. Not least of all, Kashmiris and the international community will need to convince the leadership of India and Pakistan to recognize the need to involve Kashmiris in the peace process and to workout concrete mechanism for Kashmiris participation in the process format. No solution on Kashmir will be durable unless it is legitimate in the eyes of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Geneva Convention on Kashmir reiterates the position taken by the ad hoc Delegation on Kashmir of the European Parliament, which is summarized as follows:

"… that there are three parties with a legitimate interest in being involved in finding a solution – the Indian government, the Pakistan government and the Kashmiri people through their representatives, who should be freely chosen, coming from both parts of Kashmir".

It is fundamental to recognize that the Jammu and Kashmir issue should not be viewed as an exclusively bilateral issue between India and Pakistan, the current status quo of the Cease Fire line (CFL) or Line of control (LOC) cannot be maintained indefinitely or its conversion into a permanent border is not acceptable to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

PROPOSALS

Following the Convention deliberations, the following key proposals are suggested:

Photo: Kashmir Watch

Proposal No. I: It is firmly believed that effective demilitarization will bring a increased sense of security, cessation of all violence and flexibility and tolerance.

With approximately, one soldier to every 10 inhabitants in Jammu & Kashmir (on the Indian side), the huge military presence is never far away. Therefore, it is extremely important that Kashmiris must, once again, feel safe and secure in their own land and homes. For this purpose a methodology needs to be devised by the governments of India and Pakistan to ultimately make the State of Jammu & Kashmir "Military free Zone" area. There are two possible ways to achieve this that are as follows:

· With regard to Jammu & Kashmir (on the Indian side), where there is an extremely strong military and paramilitary presence, it is vital that those should be withdrawn to barracks from towns, cities and all inhabited and populous areas; and

· Once ceasefire between the Government of India and the Kashmiri resistance forces is attained, the two governments in consultation with Kashmiri political & resistance leadership must devise a practicable plan to demilitarise the State of Jammu & Kashmir.

In addition, the demilitarization is vital for protection of environmental assets of global significance e.g. glaciers, waterbodies and forests.

Proposal No. II: It is strongly recommended that international organizations such as the European Union, or the United Nations to appeal to the Kashmiri resistant militant groups to declare ceasefire.

"The Geneva Convention on Kashmir" urges resistance groups and all those in a position to do so to establish the circumstances, which would create an environment conclusive to breaking the cycle of violence and human rights abuses. For the peace process to succeed leading to definitive solution of the Kashmir dispute and sustainable peace, what is needed is an atmosphere free of intimidation and terrorism in whatever form.

The unilateral cease fire announced by then Prime Minister of Pakistan Mr. Zafarullah Khan Jamali on 26 November 2003 has largely held on the Cease fire Line (CFL) or Line of Control (LOC) and has increased a sense of security and safety to all those Kashmiri's living on both sides.

In order to make the entire territory of Jammu and Kashmir, violence free it is crucial to convince the Kashmiri resistance groups to hold fire.

Proposal No. III: The effective remedies be made available to protect and promote Human Rights in Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the Geneva Convention.

It is important to consider the prerequisites required to establish a socio-political and economic environment confidence building, reconciliation and goodwill negotiations. In this case, it is suggested that the starting point should substantially increase accountability for human rights abuses, for the provision adequate and effective remedies for victims of human rights violations, which may be as stated below:

· Victims be assured of the cessation of continuing violations, and there should be public disclosure of the truth behind the violations, accompanied by an official declaration of responsibilities and/ or apologisies, public acknowledgement of violations, as well as judicial and administrative sanctions against the perpetrators.

· These remedies and reparations include such things as restitution, rehabilitation, or compensation (this relates to compensating a victim for any pecuniary and non pecuniary assessable damage resulting from a violation, including physical or mental harm, emotional distress, lost educational opportunities, lost marital opportunities, loss of earnings, legal and/or medical costs);

· Given the large number of Kashmiri's currently in prisons and detention centres, it is crucial that their names be provided to their families, Human Rights organizations, legal aid agencies etc.

Further it is recommended to abrogate all such provisions, which violate international covenants and conventions.

The Geneva Convention on Kashmir strongly urges free access to respected independent NGOs and agencies to monitoring protection of human rights and to counseling for those who have been traumatized by terrorism.

A profound review of the legal framework to ensure that the dispensation of justice is duly provided for (right to a fair trail by an Independent Judicial body).

Proposal no. IV: Provision of enhanced and improved communication and free movement, between the different parts of the former state of Jammu and Kashmir.

To reinforce the involvement of Kashmiris and with goodwill on the part of both India and Pakistan, it is essential that communication between two parts of Kashmir should be enhanced and improved. Kashmiris are encouraged with the opening of Chakoti bridge crossing across the CFL or LOC. However, there are considerable administrative bottle necks hindering free movement which need to be addressed.

Trade, Commerce and Tourism be encouraged for the dwindling revitalization of the economy on both sides. Active cooperation on the preservation and good management of Kashmiri's natural resources (water, forests, minerals etc.) would benefit the whole of Jammu & Kashmir.

This will further reinforce the involvement of Kashmiris in controlling their own destiny.

Proposal No. V: Formation of European Kashmir Think Tank Group.

It is indeed, crucial to monitor and assess the "peace process" of Pakistan and India, particularly with reference to the interests of people of Jammu and Kashmir. The Geneva Convention on Kashmir to form a think tank – "Kashmir European Strategic Group (KESG)".

KESG may from time to time, as this matters may progress, engage in providing fresh, new and creative ideas to continuously encourage the two governments (India and Pakistan) and the Kashmir leadership to strike a balance in order to solve the Kashmiri conflict that can lead to establish peace and encourage prosperity in the region. KESG intends to encourage the two governments to remain on the path of dialogue and negotiations. The key proposals set-out in this working paper will further be analysed by KESG with the purpose to strengthening the peace process and addressing the Kashmir conflict.

Photo: Kashmir Watch

Be smarter than spam. See how smart SpamGuard is at giving junk email the boot with the All-new Yahoo! Mail

Rape of Kashmiri women and the South Asia

2007-09-15T16:57:00.001-07:00

Rape of Kashmiri women and the South Asia
Peace process

http://www.themuslimweekly.com/fullstoryview.aspx?NewsID=470A588D068EA5DF459E574F&MENUID=REFLECTION&DESCRIPTION=Reflections

By Farhat Jabeen

Presently, the situation in Kashmir, according to international organiasations & global media has not changed yet very much. It is still alarming and sparking flames in South Asia, that more then seven hundred thousand Indian army deployed in a small 40 -80 square miles area is the heaviest concentration in human history, and its all without any moral, political and legal code. 92 thousand Kashmiris have been killed by the Indian army in 17 years.

Since January 1989 to April 30, 2007:

Total killing. 91,865

Custodial Killing 6,899

Women gang raped

& Molested 9,708

Civilian arrested 113,798

Structures arsoned /

Destroyed 105,353

Children orphaned 106,930

Women widowed 22,530

The International NGO's Amnesty International, Human rights watch, Asia watch, Red Cross, Medicine sans frontier and others are not allowed to visit Kashmir. Torture is widespread, particularly in the temporary detention centres; methods of torture include electric shock, prolonged beatings and sexual molestation of innocent women.

Kashmir is a disputed territory. Presently, the ceasefire line between the forces of India and Pakistan has divided Kashmir into two parts. One part is under Indian occupation: this comprises 63% of the whole territory and includes the Vale; it has a population 7.5 million. The other part, with approximately 3 million people, includes Azad Kashmir and the Northern region of Gilgit and Baltistan and is administered by Pakistan. About 1.5 million Kashmiris are refugees in Pakistan, some 400,000 live in Britain, and about 250,000 are scattered around the world. The present arbitrary bifurcation of Kashmir has resulted in the division of thousands of Kashmiri families.

Kashmiris living there have no life safety and human honour. Women are degraded and humiliated, almost 10 thousands women are raped; not only adult women but even eight year old girls are victimised.

Since the Indian government crackdown against Kashmiris in the disputed territory of Kashmir began in earnest in January 1990, security forces and Indian army have used rape as a weapon: to punish, intimidate, coerce, humiliate and degrade. Rape by Indian security forces most often occurs during crackdowns, cordon-and-search operations during which men are held for identification in parks or schoolyards while security forces search their homes. In these situations, the security forces frequently engage in collective punishment against the civilian population by assaulting residents and burning their homes. Rape is used as a means of targeting women to punish and humiliate the entire community. Rape has also occurred frequently during reprisal attacks on civilians. In many of these attacks, the selection of victims is seemingly arbitrary and the women, like other civilians assaulted or killed, are targeted simply because they happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Women who are the victims of rape are often stigmatised, and their testimony and integrity impugned. Social attitudes which cast the woman, and not her attacker, as the guilty party pervade the judiciary, making rape cases difficult to prosecute and leaving women unwilling to press charges.

Government authorities have failed to bring the culprits on record. The normal trend of the Government during these years is to hide the atrocities committed by the Indian armed and paramilitary forces in order to dodge the Amnesty International and the world Human Rights Organization.

Various NGOs and human rights organisations are working for feminism and other civil & social rights, but in my opinion no satisfied work regarding Kashmiri women's safety and modesty. Women and Children are the victim of the worst human rights violations in this area of armed conflicts and ethnic war. It is crystal clear that sexual violence, which was used to subjugate and destroy a people as a form of ethnic cleansing, was an abhorrent and heinous war crime. These persistent and gross abuses, flagrant denials of the human rights of women and their right to life itself, demanded an urgent response from international human rights bodies.

According to data maintained by a media portal of United Kingdom (UK) on reported cases of rape and molestation in which security forces were allegedly involved, nearly 500 women were raped in various parts of Jammu and Kashmir between1990-1994. Media portal maintains that it has compiled the reports from what was reported by state media. The portal maintains that non-governmental organisations (NGO) hardly took interest in documenting the plight of these silent sufferers of Jammu and Kashmir.

According to a 1994 United Nations publication from 1990 to 1996, 882 women were reportedly gang-raped by security forces in Jammu and Kashmir. But Social Stigma associated with word "Rape" has made work of human rights and women NGOs cumbersome. They say that women are reluctant to come forward. Extra Judicial killings, rapes, custodial killings, kidnappings, burning of houses by Indian security forces within IHK remain a common practice. The whole IHK has risen against the Indian Army and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act AFSPA and POTA that enables the Indian Army to arrest and kill anyone, anytime, anywhere, in a bid to suppress the ongoing Kashmir liberation movement, the Indian authorities have laid a network of torture cells to practice human rights violations. In these torture cells, the worst repressive means such as electric shocks, ironing of sensitive parts of body, are practised against the innocent Kashmiris without caring for the age and health conditions. Besides, the female folk are also taken to these centres where they are reportedly gang-raped for protesting against the Indian brutalities or filing complaints against terrorising of their near and dear ones.

This poverty struck women have nothing to feed their children. Their husbands went missing and they could not even wail over their missing husbands.1000 widows, whose husbands have disappeared but not been proven dead. Their children were killed in front of their eyes and yet they are doing rounds of the government offices to prove that their children were killed in cold blood. The dreaded attack by soldiers and an assault on their honour and body remains in the minds of every woman in Kashmir. The young widows and teenaged orphan girls are facing more problems due to their youth as they are always at danger of getting molested or raped. It is matter of concern that most of the married women face the problem of miscarriages, which is one of the fastest growing problem in the rural and border areas of Kashmir.

These happenings are not confined to Muslims. In the last 16 years the women of Kashmir have had to bear male vengeance in silence and they have been unable to find spare to transcend that. Estimates given by various organisations place widowS between 30 000 to 40 000 and Orphans between 50 000 to 80 000.the raped women are doubly victimised and have to live the rest of their carrying to stamp of stigma in silence."

The peace process began three years ago between India and Pakistan on Kashmir, and there has been dozens of talks for 60 years, three wars in 1947, 1965 and 1971, thousands of innocent peoples from both sides have been killed. But the end is no where in sight. The United Nations had 6 resolutions passed time to time but justice, and implementation of these resolutions have been delayed.

It is imperative that the United Nations, European Union and Organisation of Islamic Conference and other powers to start the negotiation and mediation with Kashmiri leadership and influential organisations from both sides of Kashmir. Because both countries Pakistan and India have got nuclear capacity because of Kashmir. Political pundits predict cloud of nuclear war is seeing on sky of South Asia clearly. In these difficult circumstances, this dress code edict is simply misplaced, if not a deliberately planted red herring. More pain for the Kashmiri women, thousands of whom have already lost their husbands, sons and loved ones to the bullets and atrocities of the marauding Indian soldiers and many of whom have also fallen victim to sexual defilement.

The European parliament has adopted MEP Emma Nicholson report titled "Kashmir; Present situation and future prospects" on May 25, 2007, by an overwhelming 522 votes in favour to 19 votes against. The report recognised Kashmiris right to self-determination, deploring massive human rights abuses in Jammu & Kashmir, encouraging the Peace process between India and Pakistan and emphasising inclusion of Kashmiris in the Peace process. The Amnesty International released a latest Global report 2007 said in that there is many violence, torture, custodial deaths enforced disappearances and extra-judicial executions continued in Jammu & Kashmir in the year 2006.

Rape in war is not merely a matter of chance nor is it a question of sex. It is rather a question of power and control which is `structured by male soldiers' notions of their masculine privilege. Kashmir is rising flame, which is increasing speedily. If United Nations, European Union and other world wide NGO's do not succeeded in finding an acceptable solution with the participation of kashmiris, it will cause disaster for this part of South Asia. World powers and Global Institutions need to understand this burning issue.

The people of Kashmir demand an end to the military occupation of their land. Because they demand what they have been pledged by both India and Pakistan and guaranteed by the United Nations Security Council with the unequivocal endorsement of the United States, demilitrisation of Kashmir and a free plebiscite vote organised impartially.

Every Kashmiri is waiting anxiously for somebody to help attain freedom for them. I am a women so I understand feelings and emotions, inner voice of every Kashmiri woman.

Farhat Jabeen is Student of PhD

All new Yahoo! Mail

Get news delivered. Enjoy RSS feeds right on your Mail page.

India legalises State sponsored terror in Kashmir

2007-09-15T16:56:00.001-07:00

India legalises State sponsored terror in Kashmir
http://www.kashmirwatch.com/showheadlines.php?subaction=showfull&id=1189880485&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1&var0news=value0news
THE Indian Government has invoked black and draconian laws in held Kashmir to subjugate the people despite its tall but hollow claims of largest democracy. International human rights groups have continued to highlight a very important component of the Kashmir dispute, the human rights violations in occupied Kashmir by Indian security forces, including the use of rape as a weapon of war.

Different types of laws have been put in force while Indian forces and intelligence agencies have been given unlimited powers and impunity to frisk, arrest, torture, detain, kill, rape and molest the Kashmiri men and women. What is shocking and annoying is that nobody is raising voice against the atrocities being perpetrated by the occupation forces. A US State Department Human Rights report published last year said Indian troops continue to use extra judicial killings as a method to suppress the Kashmiris but except that Washington is keeping a deaf ear. Even on Thursday during meeting with US Deputy Secretary of State Negroponte President Pervez Musharraf emphasized the solution of Kashmir issue and said Pakistan wanted a movement on it but the US official just restricted himself to listening the views of the Pakistani leader. The Kashmir dispute, as recorded in the UN documents involves the principle of right of self-determination and it is recognized that the dispute basically involves three parties — Pakistan, India and the Kashmiris. The excesses being committed against the Kasmiris are aimed at silencing their voice so that there is no third party in the dispute and thus complete the Indian strangulation of Kashmir. The Kashmiri people have sacrificed ninety thousand of their dear ones in addition to several thousand others who have gone missing. They would continue to offer sacrifices till the achievement of their inalienable right of self-determination to ensure a better future for their coming generations.[Editorial note-Pakistan Observer]

Be smarter than spam. See how smart SpamGuard is at giving junk email the boot with the All-new Yahoo! Mail

Shawl condemns cold-blooded murder

2007-09-14T07:53:00.001-07:00

Shawl condemns cold-blooded murder

http://www.kmsnews.org/Kashmir%20News%20Archive/13/News130907-03.htm

London, September 13 (KMS): In London, the Executive Director of Kashmir Centre Professor Nazir Ahmed Shawl has condemned in strong terms the cold-blooded murder of a college student by Indian troops at Handwara in occupied Kashmir.

In a statement, Shawl said that the recent killing of an innocent student Muhammad Ramzan Shah is an eye-opener to the world human rights groups. He said this is not the first case of human rights abuse by Indian army, which he added, has been using Kashmiri youth as human shields since 1989. He said such gross human rights violations would only stop if India demilitarises Jammu and Kashmir immediately.

Shawl appealed the international community and world human rights organizations to take serious notice of such a gruesome murder. The appalling human rights scenario in occupied Kashmir suggests that India is not interested in a conclusive dialogue.

The Kashmiri leader stressed that any forward movement on addressing the Kashmir dispute through the means of the ongoing Pak-India dialogue process, could only be made with the inclusion of Kashmiris in the negotiation process.

Shawl also paid glowing tributes to the martyred student and expressed sympathies with the bereaved family.

All new Yahoo! Mail

Get news delivered. Enjoy RSS feeds right on your Mail page.

Human rights violation highest in NE, J&K: Dr Sandeep Pandey

2007-09-14T07:51:00.001-07:00

Human rights violation highest in NE, J&K: Dr Sandeep Pandey

Luit Neil Don

13 September 2007, Thursday

"The human rights violation in North East and Jammu & Kashmir is worst in the country. These areas have suffered a lot from time immemorial and people of these areas are facing an identity issues. It is a pity that after the 60 years of democracy, Assam cannot become a part of true democratic set-up in the largest democracy in the world," said Ramon Magsaysay Award winner Dr Sandeep Pandey, in Guwahati, on Wednesday.

For his years of dedicated service and leadership Dr Pandey was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2002, often considered the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Prize. He was selected in the Emergent Leadership Category, and is among five others to have won the coveted award. At 37, he is also the youngest Indian to have been conferred the award.

Dr Pandey, who was in Guwahati, on way to Imphal, the capital of Manipur, to take part at a three-day solidarity fast to support Irom Sharmila's campaign against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in Manipur, said: "It is not only the Northeast region but the human rights violations are going on in almost every place of India. Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of encounter killings in the country, but there is no draconian law like the AFSPA there. The Government of India is biased against Northeast and J&K in this issue."

Talking about the separatist movement in the northeastern region, Dr Pandey said: "Continuous presence of military in this region will have a severe impact on the people. If this process goes on, the Northeast will soon become militarized state. Whatever form of Naxalism, separatism and terrorism exists, the only way to solve is by political solution."

When asked about the armed conflict in Northeast, he said: "It is up to the people of the region to find out an amicable solution. What the local people want, should be respected. The Government will facilitate talks. I think dialogue is the only way to solve the insurgency. Militarisation will never solve the issue."

Coming down heavily against the uranium mining in Meghalaya, Dr Pandey said: "Uranium is radioactive and creates health hazards. Till now world has not find out any solution to the radioactive effects. At a time when many countries have given up the nuclear programmes, it is really shocking to see the Indian Government is planning uranium mining in Meghalaya."

Mentionably, hundreds of human rights activists from all over the country as well as from neighbouring Asian nations will assemble in Imphal today (13 September).

Sharmila had gone on hunger strike on November 2, 2000 demanding the repeal of the AFSPA, after soldiers of the Assam Rifles allegedly killed ten young Meitei men in Malom. Three days later, police arrested Sharmila on charges of 'attempted suicide', because suicide or attempted suicide is a criminal offence under Indian law. She was later remanded to judicial custody. To keep her alive, she was forcefully fed a cocktail of vitamins, minerals, laxatives, protein supplements and lentil soup through the nose with a rubber pipe.

All new Yahoo! Mail -

Get a sneak peak at messages with a handy reading pane.

Human Rights abuse: From Punjab to Kashmir

2007-08-02T16:13:00.001-07:00

Human Rights abuse: From Punjab to Kashmir

http://www.kashmirwatch.com/showhumanrights.php?subaction=showfull&id=1186078345&archive=&start_from=&ucat=2&var0news=value0news

From Nagaland to Punjab and from Andhra Pradesh to Kashmir, from the early 1950s to the year 2003, spanning almost the entire time and space comprising independent India, there have been reports of the security forces, including the army, forcing local people to act as shields and to actively participate in anti-terrorist operations. These reports have been consistently denied by the authorities who have routinely give out other reasons, such as 'caught in the cross-fire', 'aiding/ abetting terrorists', etc, to explain away civilian casualties. This is an account of two such cases, one from Kashmir and the other from Punjab. In both cases, the army and the Punjab police, respectively, categorically denied the allegation against them, claiming that the villagers were killed in the cross-fire between the terrorists and the security forces. Since neither incident was the object of an authoritative fact finding, the truth will never be known. However, the following accounts give us a glimpse of the truth. Both accounts are based upon the eyewitness testimony of those who survived the operation itself, being similarly press-ganged into service by the troops involved and/ or surviving family members and villagers who witnessed the entire operation.

Case-1

(Report by Ashok Agarwal, advocate and human rights activist)

On the 5th of March 2003 there was an encounter at village Kaw-chak, PS, Kreeri, Tehsil Pattan, District Baramulla, J&K. Three militants were stated to have been killed. Some soldiers are also said to have lost their lives. In addition, two villagers were killed and several wounded. The Army/ RR claimed that these "civilian casualties happened in the "cross-fire" between them and the terrorists.

The encounter started early in the morning of the 5th. Villagers were pressed into servicing the Army's needs from the inception. Teams of soldiers also scoured the surrounding area for more "volunteers". At about 10 a.m three army vehicles (trucks) came from the direction of Kreeri. Ashiq Hussain Malik was sitting in his shop, by the side of the road. Mohamad Arif Mir s/o Abdul Gafar Mir and his brother Ghulam Mohamad Mir residents of Dolipora were walking on the road from Dolipura, towards Kreeri. Ghulam Mohiuddin, who had just returned from Pattan where he had spent the night, had stopped near a house opposite the shops by the road on hearing about the crackdown/ encounter in his village. The trucks stopped near the shops. Two officers, one in sunglasses and another, jumped out of the vehicles. The officer in sunglasses grabbed Ghulam Mohiuddin from behind and dragged him towards the vehicles. They ordered Ashiq Hussain Malik to close his shop and come with them. The Mir brothers, who had by then reached where the army vehicles were parked, were ordered to get into the army vehicles. However, Ghulam Mohamad Mir, a government employee, was let off when he pleaded that he had to report for duty.

Inside the truck there were four other people, residents of village Watargam, who had similarly been picked up by the Army. They were all brought to the site of the encounter, in village Kaw-chak, in the truck.

At the encounter site they were pulled out, ordered to remove their upper garments and their backs were marked with a rubber stamp, presumably in order to fix their identity. They were divided into pairs. Each pair was given some explosives – that looked like a car battery in shape and weighed about 15 – 20 kilos – and were ordered to carry these into the house in which the militants were holed up and to place the devices against the walls inside the ground floor of the building. The militants were on the upper floors.

On showing hesitation to do the army's bidding all the villagers were beaten and threatened with death. Each explosive devise (called a "mine") was picked up by two persons and carried inside the house. Meanwhile the exchange of fire with the militants was going on. The militants were also calling out to the villagers, warning them not to cooperate with the army. Frightened by the firing and the shouts of the militants the villagers were placing the mines against the outside wall of the house. After some mines were in place they were made to carry large stones and pile them against the mines so as to cover them. Eight villagers were doing this work, which went on till two pm.

Around 2 pm, as they were coming out of the house after placing some stones, Ghulam Mohiuddin and Arif were injured. Ghulam Mohiuddin received three bullets in his left arm. Arif was hit by two bullets in his right upper arm, near the shoulder. Both fell down, unconscious. The others dragged them to safety. They were then taken in a matador that had been commandeered by the army and brought to the Bone and Joints Hospital, Barzalla, Srinagar. Ghulam Mohiuddin stayed in the hospital for 15 days. The bones in his arm having been shattered, after two surgeries the doctors told him that he would require at least one more, with no guarantee that he will recover the use of his arm.

Several villagers who houses are close to the site of the encounter had fled to another part of the village (called Harnau) to escape being forced into military service. Sometime that afternoon, some army jawans came to this part and selected four people. These were: Abdul Rashid, aged 42, Ghulam Mohd. Mir, aged 40, Abdul Hamid Bhat, aged 25 and Bashiruddin aged 30.

At the encounter site three of them were taken towards an army truck loaded with boxes. Each of them was given four bottles filled with petrol with cotton wicks stuffed in the neck (Molotov cocktails) and made to sit behind the house of one Mohd. Akbar Bhat, opposite the house of Ali Mohd. Bhat where the militants were holed up.

Ashiq Hussain Malik was sitting already present behind Mohd. Akbar's house when they reached there. The soldiers were very angry with Ashiq Hussain as they felt that he had spoilt/ damaged one of mines entrusted to him. They claimed that but for this they would have destroyed the house and killed the militants holed up inside, much earlier. Due to this delay, they claimed, one of their comrades had died. They were threatening him with dire consequences while Ashiq was repeatedly pleading his innocence.

The soldiers took the Molotov cocktails from the villagers and carried them inside Mohd. Akbar's house. The officer with sunglasses (called 'captain' by the villagers), asked for more Molotov cocktails. Two of the villagers, Bashiruddin and Abdul Hamid Bhat, were ordered to get some more from the truck. When they returned, Ashiq and Abdul Rashid were not present at the back of the house. They were made to sit down again. No talking was permitted between the villagers but Bashiruddin and Abdul Bhat heard the soldiers shouting – 'Bhaag gaye saale' accompanied by heavy firing. They kept sitting there, thinking the soldiers were referring to the militants.

Shortly thereafter, there was a call– 'Aur civilians ko bhej do'. Bashiruddin and Abdul Bhat were sent inside the house. They were forced to remove their upper garments and their backs were marked with a stamp. Bashiruddin was handed a mine and Abdul Hamid was made to pick up a couple of stones. We were pointed out the spot, near a window, where we were to place the mine. Immediately after they returned the mine they had placed blew up and the house in which the militants had holed up, collapsed.

Thereafter, the villagers were ordered to go and pull out the bodies of the militants from the rubble. Initially, they could not find any bodies. The soldiers then ordered them to blow up a cattle shed adjoining the collapsed house. Just after that they heard a cry for help from the rubble. On the soldiers' orders the villagers placed an explosive device with wires near that spot, which was then exploded. The cries for help persisted.

Some other villagers were brought to the site all were put to the task of removing the rubble. The newcomers were: Maksood Ahmed Din, Bashiruddin's brother, Ali Mohd. Bhat and his younger brother, Abdul Hamid Bhat and Ghulam Nabi Waza. The rubble was very hot. Fires were burning in some places. Their hands and feet were singed by the burning heat. Finally, they pulled out the militant who had been calling out for help. He was still alive. He was asking for water. The officer with sunglasses refused saying— 'we gave him so many opportunities to surrender'.

The officer and his men interrogated the captured militant. His name was Shabir. He was from Kachua Mukam (Kandi area), Tehsil and district Baramulla. Then they took him away somewhere. The villagers were ordered to continue their search beneath the rubble. They found two fully clothed bodies. At first they did not recognize them and thought they were dead militants. The soldiers asked them to search their pockets. From one pocket they recovered a purse and from the other a bunch of keys and an identity card. On seeing the identity card they realized that the bodies were of two villagers, both of whom had been pressed into service by the Army. The man with the purse was Abdul Rashid Mir, a teacher by profession and the man with the keys and the identity card was Ashiq Hussain Malik. The keys were to his shop. Half of Abdul Rashid's face had been torn apart by a burst of bullets. Ashiq had a similar burst of bullets on his back around the waist.

The villagers were ordered by the officers to keep quiet about the fact that two civilians, villagers, had been killed in the encounter and made to continue the task of removing/ searching through the rubble. The rubble was very hot – their hands and feet were getting blistered and burnt. However, the officers refused to allow us to pour water on the rubble to cool it.

Around sunset the Army/RR commandeered some more villagers. They were asked to pick up the bodies. Eight villagers picked up the two bodies and carried them to the army vehicle by the road. Then they were asked to bring a third body. This turned out to be of the militant whom they had pulled out of the rubble, alive.

After this, they requested an officer – addressed as 'CO. Saab' – that they be allowed to go as they were exhausted. Four of them were allowed to go. They were: Bashiruddin, Ghulam Mohd. Mir, Ishtiaq Ahmed Ganai and Abdul Hamid Bhat. Others continued to work at the Army's orders, searching the rubble. Bashiruddin's brother, Maksood was one of them. Maksood and about 30 other villagers were forced to continue removing rubble till 11 AM the next morning. Most of them were from village Dolipura. About eight or ten people were from village Kaw-chak.

These people recovered one body around 9 pm on the …... It was fully burnt. Another body was recovered around 10 AM the next day. They also recovered two guns and empty magazines. Around 11 AM a procession of protestors from Dolipura arrived at the site. The Army fired in the air to disperse them. Frightened by the firing the protesters ran helter skelter. Shortly thereafter, thinking the situation might deteriorate, the Army ran away.

The bodies taken by the Army to Hambray. Ashiq Hussain's brother, Tariq Ahmed, who had reached the site in search of his brother, was also forced by the Army to clear the rubble of the demolished house. Even though by that time his body was already in Army custody, they told Tariq that Ashiq's body was lying beneath the rubble. The bodies were handed over to the police at P.S. Kreeri. Ashiq's parents were away on the Haj pilgrimage when he was killed. Minister Ghulam Hasan Mir, Minister Sharifuddin Niazi and a Corp Commander (a Sikh) from the army came for Taziat (the shared mourning after a death). One of the officers wounded in this encounter, a Major, also came. The Corp Commander expressed regrets for the civilian deaths. 'However', he said, 'the casualties cannot be helped as we cannot do our job effectively without civilian help'.

The Ministers promised to take up the issue of the Army using civilians in this manner. They also promised relief to those killed and injured. The Major expressed regrets and said that had he not been injured, he would not have allowed this mishap to occur.

Both families lodged a report with the police but till the time of this investigation, about a month and a half later, they had not been given a copy of the FIR.

The visiting Ministers had ordered that inquiry into the incident and directed that it should be completed within 15 days. They also ordered payment of ex gratia compensation and compassionate appointment to next of kin under SRO 43. According to Ashiq Hussain's family they had been paid an ex gratia of Rs. 1 lakh but the compassionate appointment had not yet been given.

The Inquiry against the Army had made no progress. The families of those killed were afraid to press for the inquiry though they wish that justice is done with the guilty officers being identified and punished. The villagers asked the CO of the unit concerned, who had come to condole, to produce the guilty officer. He merely echoed the Corp Commander and said 'We need the civilians. What happened will happen again. This cannot be helped'.

Publicly, the Army took the stand that the two villagers, Ashiq Hussain and Abdul Rashid Mir were killed in 'cross-firing' during the encounter. However, the truth of the matter was reported extensively by the press who visited the village on the very next day, the 6th of March 2003.

On being asked whether their were any circumstances in which they would willingly provide assistance (of the non-dangerous kind) to the security forces in their battle against the terrorists/ militants the response of the villagers was a uniform and vehement no. The villagers also informed the investigation team that some days later, even as the ministers were promising that they would ensure that such incidents are not repeated, the Army conducted a similar operation at Tilgram, using the local villagers as human shields and for menial tasks that thrust them into the midst of the firefight and put their lives at extreme risk. However, fortunately no civilians were killed in that operation. There was only one militant involved in that encounter.

Case-2

Report by Ram Narayan Kumar and Amrik Singh, human rights activists[1]

Police version

Based upon the affidavit filed before the NHRC by Ashok Bath, Superintendent of Police (Detective), Tarn Taran.

On 8.6.92 the police received information that Surjit Singh Behla s/o Tarlok Singh Jat, r/o Behla and Madan Singh @ Maddi @ Sukhdev Singh @ Chota Behla s/o Santokh Singh r/o Behla, self-styled Deputy Chief and Lieutenant General of Bhindranwala Tiger Force of Khalistan (BTFK), a sikh militant outfit was holding a meeting with other terrorists and planning to commit a major terrorist crime. A police party with officers of 91/Bn and 102 Bn CRPF cordoned the village Behla. When the police were searching the first floor of the house of Manjinder Singh Behla the terrorists, who were hiding inside the house, opened fire and killed HC Jarnail Singh and LC Harjit Singh 4160/TT. Constables Pargat Singh & Som Datt and L/K (?) Kalash Chander were injured. The terrorists "cordoned" (?) the police party who had gone inside the house to conduct their search. The army was deployed to tighten security arrangements for the night. The next morning the police officers who were trapped inside the house were freed with the army's help. The cross-firing continued till the next day. Two jawans of the Punjab Police were killed and one constable and 3 jawans of the CRPF were injured in the encounter. After the firing ceased, the police recovered 9 bullet ridden, dead bodies of terrorists. Four of the bodies were identified on the spot and the remaining five bodies were identified later on.

(Note: The affidavit provides the identities of only 8 of the 9 bodies: Harbans Singh, Ajit Singh, Lakhwinder Singh, Paramjit Singh @ Shingara Singh, Sakkattar Singh @ Mangga Singh, Naranjan Singh, Madan Singh @ Maddi @ Sukhdev Singh @ Chota Behla, and Jagtar Singh @ Varpal. A large quantity of arms and ammunition was recovered from the site (house) of the encounter.

The investigation by the CCDP

Based upon interviews conducted with the families of the deceased and other eyewitnesses.

Nine persons were killed at village Behla in the course of an encounter on 8-10 June 1992. Out of these nine, three were militants and six were villagers unconnected with the militancy who the security forces used as human shields to storm the house in which the three militants were hiding. The body of one person killed in the encounter remains unaccounted for. The CCDP's (Committee for Coordination on Disappearances in Punjab) investigation took it to the homes/ families of 8 of these 9 persons and other eye-witnesses in the village.

On 8 June 1992 morning, a large mixed force, comprised of the Punjab police led by SSP Ajit Singh Sandhu and Khubi Ram, SP (Operations), and units of the army and paramilitary, surrounded the old and abandoned house of Manjinder Singh, a former member of the Punjab Legislative Assembly, in village Behla. Apparently, the house was being used as a hideout by militants associated with Surjit Singh, s/o Tarlok Singh from Behla village. One of his associates, 18 year old Sukhdev Singh, alias Maddi, son of Santokh Singh, was also from Behla. After completing his matriculation, he had started working in a Sugar Mill at Sheron. The police often illegally detained and tortured his elder brother Kulbir Singh for information because of their suspicions of his having militant connections. Sukhdev Singh was unable to tolerate this injustice done to his brother and decided to become a militant himself. Later on, his father Santokh Singh was abducted and disappeared by the police. The third associate of Surjit Singh Behla was Harbans Singh, s/o Mehr Singh from Sarhalli in Tarn Taran subdivision of Amritsar district.

Before storming the house, the police officers decided to round up seven or eight villagers to walk in front of the police force and to act as human shields. The following are the names of the six of those who got killed in the course of the operation that followed: [1] Kartar Singh, s/o Aasa Singh, [2] Niranjan Singh, s/o Boor Singh, [3] Sakatter Singh, s/o Niranjan Singh, [4] Lakhwinder Singh, s/o Channan Singh, [5] Gurmej Singh and [6] Ajit Singh, s/o Mangal Singh.

The police randomly selected these people, and this had nothing to do with suspicions of their possible involvement in the militancy. For example:

Ajit Singh, from Behla village in Tarn Taran, was a 60 year old man married to Preetam Kaur with seven children. He owned a horse driven cart and was employed by a brick kiln owner to transport bricks to his clients.He had no political or militant association, no criminal background and no enmity with anyone in his village.

Ajit Singh had that morning carried a cartload of bricks to the house of Niranjan Singh when the police came and forced him along with Niranjan Singh and his sons to be part of the front column.

Niranjan Singh, a 55 year old farmer, was married to Balwinder Kaur and had three sons and a daughter. He was a devout Sikh unconnected with any political or militant organization and took care of his family by cultivating three acres of land and selling milk from his buffalos.

Twenty-five year old Sakatter Singh was Niranjan Singh's son. He used to help his father with the agricultural work and was married to Sharanjit Kaur with two daughters who are now barely teenagers. He had never been arrested before and had no political or militant connections.

Sakatter Singh died in the police operation. His younger brother Sukhchain Singh, also included in the front column, managed to escape after getting seriously wounded.

Twenty year old Lakhwinder Singh, the youngest son of Channan Singh and Gurmej Kaur, had no political or militant associations or record. He was watering his fields when the forces picked him up and compelled him to walk in front of them as a human shield.

Kartar Singh, a 62 year old farmer, was married to Iqbal Kaur with four adult children. He also had no record of a political or criminal past.

After entering the house, the security forces discovered that it had a basement but no door to enter it from inside. They started demolishing the floor that was also the celler's roof. When the militants holed up inside opened fire, the police pushed these six villagers to the front, and using them for cover, fired back. All of the six persons who have been named died in this situation. Two others got seriously injured. The encounter lasted around 30 hours.

Three militants, holed up in the cellar who also got killed, are: [1] Surjit Singh Behla, s/o Tarlok Singh, [2] Sukhdev Singh Maddi, s/o Santokh Singh. Both were from Behla village. [3] Harbans Singh, the third militant killed in the action, was a resident of Sarhalli Kalan .

In the evening of 9th June, the police extricated the bodies of all the people who had been killed in the action without bothering to distinguish the militants from the others who the police had used as human shields.The next morning, the police told the press that they had killed nine militants in the action. In the aftermath, several newspapers published stories questioning the police claims and explaining how the six unconnected villagers had been pushed into the jaws of death. Two others, wounded in the course of the operation, had been abandoned by the police to their own resources to obtain medical help. Embarrassed by the publicity, the Punjab government later announced an inquiry, which was, however, never carried out.

The police cremated all the bodies at Tarn Taran on 9 June 1992, labeling them as "unidentified/ unclaimed", though the family of Ajit Singh attended the cremation. Other families were not allowed to attend.

Subsequently, in 1995-96, on orders from the Supreme Court the CBI carried out an investigation into the illegal cremation of thousands of bodies by the Punjab police between 1984 and 1994. Its December 1996 report to the Court divided the 2097 such cremations by the police in three cremation grounds in Amritsar district of Punjab into three categories: "identified", "partially identified", and "unidentified". The CBI's placed the cremations of Ajit Singh, Lakhwinder Singh and Harbans Singh, a militant and an associate of Surjit Singh Behla, in the "identified" list. Five others, [1] Surjit Singh, r/o Behala, [2] Sikkatar Singh, r/o Behala, [3] Niranjan Singh, r/o Behala, [4] Madan Singh, alias Maddi, [5] Kartar Singh, r/o Behala, were placed in the "partially identified" list. According to the CBI, SHO Gurbachan Singh of Tarn Taran city police station carried out these cremations in the same case of encounter under FIR No. 57/92. Out of these, Surjit Singh and Madan Singh, alias Maddi, (who must be Sukhdev Singh Maddi) were the militants. The other three, Sikkatar Singh, Niranjan Singh and Kartar Singh had been picked up to serve as human shields.[2]

These cremations from the identified and partially identified lists of the CBI do not account for the body of Gurmej Singh, one of the six villagers forced to become a human shield and killed. The CBI's list of unidentified cremations does not show any cremation on 9 June 1992.

End Notes

[1] Reported in Reduced to Ashes: The Insurgency and Human Rights in Punjab pp 293 & 496, Pub. South Asia Forum for Human Rights, Kathmandu, May 2003

[2] Curiously, the CBI duplicated the record of Niranjan Singh's cremation under Sl. No. 121/392 of its "identified" list. Here, it recorded Niranjan Singh's cremation as having occurred on 18 April 1991,over a year earlier than its actual date. Further, the information to identify all was not only available to the police but had also been published in newspaper reports. Hence, it is not clear why the CBI decided to place some of them in the list of partially identified bodies.

[Source: Kashmir Times]

Note:

Kashmir

Since 1988, the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir has been hit by confrontation between armed Kashmiri Guerrillas and the Armed Forces of India, which has resulted in more than One hundred thousand of deaths.

Armed Forces Special Powers Act contains no guidelines for ensuring effective control of the armed forces by the civil authorities. Under the act the Indian armed forces have the power to shoot, arrest, search, seize and even kill when they deem it necessary.

International human rights groups have called for an end to "fake encounters" in Kashmir.

Be smarter than spam. See how smart SpamGuard is at giving junk email the boot with the All-new Yahoo! Mail

KT exposes Indian policy to perpetrate HR violations

2007-06-19T19:31:00.001-07:00

KT exposes Indian policy to perpetrate HR violations

http://www.kmsnews.org/Kashmir%20News%20Archive/19/News190607-04.htm
Jammu, June 19 (KMS): In occupied Kashmir, Jammu-based leading Kashmiri English daily, Kashmir Times (KT), in its editorial, today, unveiled Indian troops yet another fake encounter unearthed in Chankipoa-Nowgam near Srinagar.

The KT editorial defied Indian police's version that the personnel of Special Operations Group had killed two militants in an encounter. Quoting the residents of the area where the incident occurred, the editorial said that the two innocent Kashmiris "were first dragged to the fields and then killed after staging a fake encounter."

The KT editorial said, "it seems to be a repetition of the innumerable stories already unsuccessfully churned out by the security forces that militants were first arrested, taken for recovery, where they managed to lay their hands on the guns and were finally killed in an encounter. Such cock and bull stories impress no one." The editorial added, "fair and independent probes are elusive in this part of the world where allegations of atrocities, custodial killings, missing persons and fake encounters, all of which seem to be inter-related, are the order of the day."

The editorial suggested that it was a systematic Indian policy to arrest innocent youth, kill them and project the events as 'encounters' and 'victims' as 'foreign militants' on suicide mission. The editorial said that the so-called Indian slogan of "zero tolerance" was only an effort aimed at the face-saving on international front as Indian and its puppet regime had never been "able to rein in the forces in resorting to gross violations of human rights abuse, nor has it been able to live up to the promise of fair probes."

Coming hard on the draconian laws imposed in occupied Kashmir, the KT said, "As long as the central security forces continue to enjoy immunity under draconian laws like Armed Forces Special Powers Act, which by virtue of clauses that empower any personnel to shoot and kill anyone on mere suspicion, forbid anyone to question the errors of the security force personnel, there can be no question of transparency." Referring to the use of brute force by the SOG of Indian Police, the editorial said that their personnel continue to evade prosecution, under the political and official patronage they enjoy for indulging in abuse of human rights. The editorial also highlighted Indian policy about Indian troops, which "are also known to resort to killings of civilians in lieu of promotions and awards; performance in the official circles is sadly counted only on the basis of head count of the dead, which is nothing short of barbarism."

Be smarter than spam. See how smart SpamGuard is at giving junk email the boot with the All-new Yahoo! Mail

In conflict area police has to understand the whole statecraft, comments Naseer A Ganai

2007-04-05T14:07:00.001-07:00

http://www.greaterkashmir.com/Home/Newsdetails.asp?newsid=5839&Issueid=201&Arch=

In conflict area police has to understand the whole statecraft, comments Naseer A Ganai
"2500 writ petitions are pending in the Punjab High Court against the police officers who wiped terrorism there. Same is happening in Kashmir," said a police officer in a recent debate on human rights in a one-day workshop here in Srinagar. (Greater Kashmir March 21).
The title of the debate was also interesting. That "there should be equal condemnation of human rights violations by security forces and terrorists." There seems to be confusion among some police officers here about perception of the police and its powers. In such situation it is indispensable for the police officers particularly local police officers and the constables to understand their role in a conflict like that of Kashmir.
To begin with, in conflict areas the State gives enormous powers to the armed forces and police. Powers to kill, crush, raid, arrest and then there are laws enough to protect interests of the State and those who execute its orders. In disturbed area any police person from a constable to SSP, wield powers that give impression that he is State unto itself and could do anything.
But the day the officer or a constable really starts thinking that he is State unto himself, things could go wrong. He might abuse his powers and the State is there to pat him as long as it suits interests of the State. "Yes armed forces are doing commendable job," the Chief Minister might say. And other Ministers will have also same comments about the armed forces.
New Delhi will be much more enthusiastic in its response. "We are not occupational forces," Prime Minister will say. And when you have such kind of the backing, you might consider it an easy job to overrun anyone, whether the law permits it or not. But situations don't remain same. Iraq was yesterday battle of Ideas for Americans and the world, but today it is pure occupation for all including Americans. Taliban was anathema for the Western world but now in the same West there are countries who are for negotiation with Talibs. Yesterday troop deployment and draconian laws were no issues in Kashmir. Today they are major issues.
So once the State feels that it wants "demilitarization" it has to give some excuses to people why it wants demilitarization. The State will not say that the massive troop deployment was hurting its interests. That it is in the interest of the State to withdraw troops. Because, to sell such an argument will be counter-productive. That too to the peoples of India whom so far it has described Kashmir as an 'ideological battle" where India is fighting war against "Islamic terrorism."
Thus it has to construct some other arguments but this time genuine ones. The arguments like all encounters are not genuine in Kashmir. That there are fake-encounters in the Kashmir. Now don't remain under this impression that the State will take responsibility of these fake encounters. It won't. Never on earth, it will condemn itself for the crimes committed by it through different agencies. If does so, in such case it will present itself as perpetuator of crimes against people. Thus, it won't commit any such folly.
So it adopts different modus-operndi. That is, it arrests some constables (not all constables) some SPs (not all SPs) who in their tenure had acted as if they were the State and will project them as mere constables or SPs. And will weave situation in such a way that everyone will get impression that only few constables and SPs were responsible for the crimes and the State has nothing to do with it.
And then the State will go on and will take actions against the "now erring constables and police officers" who few days ago "were getting rewards from the same State for those very deeds." And the State will brazenly say whatever 'now erring cops or officers have done" they have done that in their personal capacities. It will argue that how the State was tough against those who commit human rights violations and in the same breath will say situation has apparently changed. So there is need of demilitarization.
The statecraft is such that journalists, columnists, thinkers, general people, academics all will curse the individuals responsible for the war crimes and forget the State. Then the same State arrests them, charge sheets them, engages best of lawyers ostensibly to book them and police officials feel that they have been wronged.
Those police officers, who feel they have been wronged or back stabbed by the State, should understand that the State could sacrifice over a dozen SPs and over 100 constables if it has to save its skin. If Azad Sahib is threatening National Conference or the Peoples Democratic Party of exposing them or "bringing out cupboards" he will not expose the State but some police officers and thus exonerate the State which gives police and armed forces powers to do anything in the disturbed areas.
Moreover, if tomorrow, if for argument's sake, Truth and Reconciliation Commission is established in Jammu and Kashmir, as has been demanded by Omer Abdullah, who will face the brunt? Only those officers who are the State subjects.
Unlike Punjab Kashmir is different, here alienation is so complete that those who swear by the constitution of India even accuse India of perpetuating genocide in Jammu and Kashmir. "You are committing genocide in Kashmir," shouted MLA and former Home Minister Ali Muhammad Sagar in the State legislative Assembly recently. Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, the former chief minister in his tenure has never uttered a word against militants or Pakistan. Omer Abdullah describes Mushraff as straightforward who does not beat around the bush. He condemned arrest of Kashmiri youth in Delhi and described recovery of RDX from them as concocted stories of Delhi police.
This is the pro-India element in Kashmir. Imagine what might be the mental set-up of the masses. In such a situation if tomorrow truth and reconciliation commission sits here and indicts police officers of "crimes like faking encounters" what will be their position in the society, about which MJ Akbar writes that in 1990 they (Kashmiri people) were so sure of Azadi that they thought it is round the corner. The local police personnel or officers will face ostriacization, they will be looked down.
In Punjab only one police officer committed suicide. Only one. There are writ petitions in the Courts but they have been filed by the Human Rights Groups. In Kashmir when fake encounter killing surfaced, hundreds of people came out seeking whereabouts of their kith and kin. Knowing well what will be its consequences, they still came out. Imagine what will be situation when things will change and people will be asked by the same State (for arguments sake) to name those who have committed crimes or who have exceeded their brief.
So the moral of story is that police officers particularly local officers should act as police officers not as State. Because State is different concept and it can give an individual a feeling that you are State for some time but the day it feels that for the reputation of the State it is necessary to sacrifice few police officers or policemen, it will in a jiffy turn them mere police officers and policemen. This U-turn of the State might be surprising for the officers and they will shout! "2500 writ petitions are pending in the Punjab High Court against the police officers who wiped terrorism there. Same is happening in Kashmir."
Now the topic of the debate that "There should be equal condemnation of human rights violations committed by security forces and terrorists."
If you plead this argument then you are seeking platform with those people whom you describe "terrorists." According to Oxford Advanced Learning Dictionary "terrorist" is a person who takes part in terrorism. So terrorist has no rights, he is not abide by any law or international convention like security forces. In contrast security forces are law-abiding and whatever they are doing, they are doing it under the ambit of law. So why should then there be equal condemnation. Or what will you do in case some people will argue that "terrorists" are doing commendable job somewhere, should they be described as security forces? The questions need answer.

Dr. Sudip Minhas
Executive Director
Voices For Freedom
www.voicesforfreedom.org
info@voicesforfreedom.org

Make free worldwide PC-to-PC calls. Try the new Yahoo! Canada Messenger with Voice

Human rights abuses alarming in IHK, says us HR body

2007-03-29T06:35:00.001-07:00

http://www.kmsnews.org/Kashmir%20News%20Archive/28/News280307-05.htm

Human rights abuses alarming in IHK, says us HR body

Geneva, March 28 (KMS): International Human Rights Association of American Minorities has said that in Indian–held Kashmir, Indian forces routinely abuse the rights of innocent Kashmiris including jail without trial and illegal and arbitrary detentions.

Tahira Jaleen Khan of the Association, while speaking at the session of the United Nations Human Rights Council here, said that the absence of internal checks and the silence of the international conscience had only served to worsen the agony of the Kashmiris.

Tahira noted that the curse had reached to the levels where even the Indian national media had to report on the severity of the situation. The Association called on the UN HR Council to allow a Special Rapporteur to visit Indian held Kashmir to examine the situation.

All new Yahoo! Mail

Get news delivered. Enjoy RSS feeds right on your Mail page.

Kashmiri was civilian - DNA tests

2007-02-22T13:03:00.001-08:00

Kashmiri was civilian - DNA tests
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6386141.stm
DNA tests have confirmed that a man killed by security forces in a staged gun battle in Indian-administered Kashmir was a civilian, police say.

The body of Abdul Rehman Paddar, a carpenter, was exhumed three weeks ago from a grave in Sumbal near Srinagar.

He had been buried as a Pakistani militant, but protesters said that he was killed in a "fake encounter".

Deputy Inspector General of Police Farooq Ahmed told the BBC that charges against his killers will be filed soon.

'Harsh punishments'

"The DNA samples taken from a body have matched with those of the carpenter's relatives, proving beyond doubt that he was killed in custody and later declared a militant," a police spokesman told the AFP news agency.

Mr Paddar was reportedly detained in the summer capital, Srinagar, in December 2006. He was killed and later described by police as a Pakistani militant.

"Equipped with scientific evidence we will now press for harsh punishments for the policemen involved in Padder's killing," the spokesman said, adding other DNA reports were expected to arrive soon.

The BBC's Altaf Hussain in Srinagar says that police are investigating four cases of staged killings, involving police, paramilitary personnel and the army.

The senior superintendent of police of Ganderbal district and a deputy superintendent are among seven police officials arrested so far on charges of murder.

Disappeared

The army has ordered a separate inquiry into the involvement of soldiers in the killings.

Mr Paddar, a carpenter from the Kukernag area in southern Kashmir, was allegedly killed by the anti-militancy task force.

His family say he had paid 80,000 rupees (more than $2,000) to a police official - who is now in custody - to get himself a government job.

Instead, it is alleged the police official killed him and claimed a reward for killing a militant.

Our correspondent says that thousands of people have disappeared in Indian-administered Kashmir, many of them after being arrested by the security forces, in the past 18 years.

Their families have been demanding the cases be investigated so that the missing people could at least be declared dead.

All new Yahoo! Mail -

Get a sneak peak at messages with a handy reading pane.

Blame the System, Not the Sucker

2007-02-04T11:59:00.000-08:00

http://www.kashmirobserver.com/index.php?id=1748
Blame the System, Not the Sucker
By David Lepeska
Zero tolerance. It's a phrase Kashmiris have heard a great deal in the past couple of years. A promise of behavioral discipline on the part of Indian armed forces in Kashmir, made first by Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad when he assumed his post in late 2005, and again six months later by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. They swore "zero tolerance for custodial deaths." But what is zero tolerance, exactly? What does it mean, in practice, in reality? Recent events demand we take a closer look.
Last week a routine Ganderbal police investigation uncovered a falsified encounter with militants that ended in the killing of Abdul Rahman Padder, a 35-year-old Kokernag carpenter who made the fatal mistake of trusting Farooq Ahmad Padder, his ostensible friend and a low-level SOG officer.
In early December Farooq Ahmad, finding himself in possession of a cache of seized militant weapons, called Abdul Rahman in Batmaloo and told him to wait for him; apparently he had told his acquaintance that he could help him. Instead, he snatched up Abdul Rahman and brutally killed him, then hurriedly buried the young father and offered his superiors a few previously seized weapons as proof of his victim's (falsified) militancy. W ithout any questioning or investigation, Farooq Ahmad and his fellow constable were immediately awarded Rs 1.2 lakhs each for the killing of an enemy of the state. Despite the fact that they had almost zero evidence to support their claim and that they had in truth committed pre-meditated murder on an innocent, law-abiding Kashmiri, a crime for which any one of us would be condemned and punished with the full force of the law, these two officers were rewarded handsomely. This is not zero tolerance; this is a deeply flawed system.
As details of the story spread the Valley seethed, with open expressions of anger and cries for vengeance, while further investigations turned up three more potential incidents of recent trumped up encounters with militants that resulted in civilian deaths. (On Friday, the victim of another such encounter – a perfume seller that had gone missing a year ago – was identified by his wife.) Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad denounced the Ganderbal incident and called for a judicial inquiry into the Padder killing. Meanwhile, frustrated Kashmiris turned bloodthirsty; thousands of angry locals attended Thursday's disinterment of Abdul Rahman in Sumbal, throwing stones at military personnel and demanding that the guilty parties be hanged.
Indeed, it is all too easy to focus our rage and frustration on Farooq Ahmad. If, as it appears, he was the mastermind of this gruesome and unjust slaying, he is a liar and a murderer and a traitor to his own people, deserving of neither forgiveness nor sympathy. Yet Farooq Ahmad is no more than a sucker, a warped Manchurian candidate and the product of a demented security apparatus that degrades human life – Kashmiri lives, to be specific – to the point of negation. For Indian security personnel the line between good and bad Kashmiri was blurred long ago, ever since several soldiers opened fire on protesting civilians in Bijbehara in 1993, or perhaps even sooner. Under the Special Powers and Disturbed Areas Acts Indian forces have been killing Kashmiris on mere suspicion for nearly two decades, receiving not punishment but rewards and promotions as a result. According to an international rights group that released a detailed study of abuses in Kashmir late last year, such practices have become embedded in the culture of Indian security.
"Police and army officials have told Human Rights Watch that security forces often execute alleged militants instead of bringing them to trial," HRW wrote recently. "Most of those summarily executed are falsely reported to have died during armed clashes between the army and militants in 'encounter killings.' This is done with the knowledge of superior officers and has led to a culture where security forces feel they can murder persons in their custody for rewards and promotions."
Indeed, in September 2003 Abdul Hamid Ganie was killed by officers of this same department – the Ganderbal SOG – because of a debt owed to an SOG officer by his brother Rashid. Afterwards, the perpetrators forced a local dentist untrained in autopsy to sign papers claiming the death had occurred in a gun-battle. A subsequent professional examination revealed torture and pointed towards a custodial killing, but over three years later no charges have been filed and the accused officers still hold the same jobs.
"'These people are like trained killer dogs,'" one senior police official told Human Rights Watch, referring to the SOG. "'Once unleashed, it is difficult to keep them in check.'"
So is it any wonder that Farooq Ahmad killed Abdul Rahman, and that fake encounters and custodial killings continue to occur with regularity? The Indian armed forces put the carrot out there long ago, for all to see. All Farooq Ahmad did was reach out and take a bite.
For his part, CM Azad has altered his tune, saying Thursday that the insurgency made maintaining zero level of human rights violations difficult. He then underscored his argument by pointing out the inability of the all-powerful U.S.A. to eradicate human rights violations in Iraq.
Although weak-kneed and incomplete, his point is well-made. With some 7 lakh security personnel patrolling the state, there will inevitably be some mistakes, some of which will be fatal violations of human rights. It's unfortunate, but it's also the nature of imperfect man; no matter how vigilant the Indian government, keeping watch over every soldier every hour of the day is simply not possible.
Keeping this in mind, then, why not take the next step? Since individual soldiers can never be completely controlled, the system itself must be changed. Soldiers should not be rewarded for murdering Indian citizens, for instance, nor should they be able to kill, arrest, and harass with impunity. Not only because it is morally and socially wrong, but because these practices foster the very cycle of violence they are meant to stamp out; fake encounters and unjust custodial killings inspire Kashmiris to turn militant, precipitating further battles and Indian army deaths, thus justifying future rights violations by Indian security personnel, and so on.
Although he later retracted his statement, Mirwaiz Omar Farooq called last month for an end to the violence, claiming the militants "have not achieved anything other than creating more graveyards." Coming from the leader of a supposed separatist faction, this was an unprecedented and powerful statement, signaling a potential sea change in Kashmiri sentiment vis a vis India. Further, the total death count for 2006 was about 1000, the lowest total since the war began in 1990 and a mere one fifth of the total killed as recently as 2002. Clearly, the climate in Kashmir is changing, and if the Central Government wants to foster any semblance of goodwill in the local populace it should alter its policies to reflect this cooling of hostilities.
And here, right on cue, is the perfect opportunity for Azad and, by implication, Singh, to prove their mettle. Here they have a case in which, by all appearances, human rights were violated and a horribly unlawful custodial death was the result. The evidence seems clear: Farooq Ahmad's number on Abdul Rahman's mobile phone in the days and hours leading up to his early December disappearance; a quickie burial; and false claims of Pakistani origin and armed militancy. How should they proceed? Get the DNA results, investigate the crime with an open and transparent judicial inquiry, and, if the findings merit it, punish the perpetrators of these crimes: put them on trial and send them to prison or death, whatever is deemed appropriate.
But more importantly, revamp the system. Zero tolerance is not just a penalty to be meted out after the fact; it is as much about prevention as punishment. The culture of operating above the law, of killing Kashmiris for reward, must be altered. The Central Government must use its security apparatus to display its intolerance towards these offences and violations, towards unlawful kidnappings, abuse, and custodial killings. In light of a less violent, more diplomatically engaged political climate in Kashmir, the Centre should be capable of making concessions to Kashmiris, who have for a generation suffered grave losses and been understandably unsure of their loyalties. End the black laws. Disband, or at least re-train and rein in, the renegade Special Operations Group officers. If rewards must be handed out they should be offered only when foreign rebels are killed on Indian territory and after concrete proof –more than mere weapons – has been confirmed.
For until zero tolerance is actually enforced – until the state-sponsored perpetrators of these vile acts face justice and the Indian security forces' contemptible culture of falsifying killings and rewarding murder is eliminated – peace in Kashmir will be no more real than the militancy of Kokernag carpenter Abdul Rahman Padder, may he rest in peace.
--David Lepeska is a keen Kashmir Observer
Back 03.02.2007.
We encourage users to analyze, comment on and even challenge Kashmir Observer's reports and articles. User reviews and comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Entries without name and location and those containing false names or using signatures by someone elses other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards.
" src="http://www.kashmirobserver.com/images/commentname.gif"> Editor 03.02.
Very Well written David. Completely agree with these views. Its time for India to act decisively and transparently.
" src="http://www.kashmirobserver.com/images/commentname.gif"> Kaushal Desai 03.02.
Its nothing new. Such Genocides are taking place in KASHMIR by the Indian security forces everyday .Its nothing but SHAME for India.I am an American who was in kashmir in 2003.During my trip i was really shocked to see how Indian Forces treat Kashmiri people which i cannot even explain.This has to stop. Moury Becker San Francsico
" src="http://www.kashmirobserver.com/images/commentname.gif"> mourybecker@yahoo.com 03.02.
These incidents are shocking and horrifying but not surprising to Kashmiri's. People like Farooq have committed a grave crime but they have been given an oppurtunity by the demented security apparatus that makes Kashmir a war zone. In criminology, the Rational Choice Theory adopts a practical belief that man is a reasoning actor who weighs means and ends, costs and benefits, and makes a rational choice. It assumes that the rational decision is always the decision that will maximize gain and minimize pain for each individual. Therefore, if the actor is rational, the state can influence any given decision by ensuring that the perpetrators of the crime are brought to book and given a tough punishment. This is supposed to serve as a deterrent both specific (the person will not do it again) as well as general. Now take the case of Kashmir. Indian forces enjoy special powers; they can question, arrest, torture and kill anyone and they are not accountable for tnything they do. There is a bonus too and every killing fetches monetary rewards, encouragement and promotion. It is, therefore, no surprise that hundreds and thousands of innocent Kashmiri's have been arrested, tortured, killed and many more have been subjected to enforced disappearance. When you give a free hand to kill, it is only natural to have horrifying and shocking incidents happening on a daily basis. India may have initiated a peace process and it vows to settle the Kashmir dispute by peaceful means but for a common Kashmiri it means nothing. As long as the special powers act is in place Kashmiri's will continue to endure death and destruction. The biggest confidence building measure would be to repeal the draconian law; in fact this should have been a pre-condition of Huriyat Conference to participate in any kind of peace process. If the killings persist the peace process will cease to make sense and so will the Huriyat.
" src="http://www.kashmirobserver.com/images/commentname.gif"> Sameer 03.02.
In same Gandrebal area wandhama massacre was done by these Muslims. Who bothered? Other Hindus ran away, some houses are occupied, some vandalized, some thrown away in distress sale, some occupied by security forces, this is all gift of Muslims to the Hindus in the villages of Kashmir. And how many of them were killed there? History as they say repeats itself. Murdering the people, then cutting them to pieces, binding the people by rope to the jeeps and then drag them through villages so that they die by striking and fiction on the stones on road was first done by Muslims in villages of Kashmir to the Hindus, that was the Jihad to kill local by the local, now these people are killed on the same pattern, the difference is that these people were killed secretly and people in 1990 were killed openly with most brutal fashion without regard to the human rights of those Hindus, What these people will tell now, look like crocodiles as they are????? Sixty massacres of Hindus in J&K on their head? Where is their cry for justice? WHERE IS THE HUMAN RIGHTS THERE?
" src="http://www.kashmirobserver.com/images/commentname.gif"> kishore 04.02.

India has a terrible record of HR abuses in Occupied Kashmir

2007-01-19T18:52:00.001-08:00

		Editor-in-Chief: Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman

http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=39602

India has a terrible record of HR abuses in Occupied Kashmir

What does not seem to be on the agenda at the next session of the so-called "Composite Dialogue" between India and Pakistan, to be held in New Delhi, is India's appalling record of human rights violations in Occupied Kashmir.

For the past several years, "confidence building measures" (CBMs) have been the buzzword at talks between the two countries. But CBMs like the much-touted bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad can never generate any confidence among the Muslim population of Indian-occupied Kashmir so long as the Indian army continues its reign of terror in the beleaguered territory.

The struggle of the Muslims of Indian-occupied Kashmir is not about bus services; it is about ridding the territory of the Indian occupation forces and about the holding of a free and fair plebiscite to determine the territory's future status.

Back in 2004, the then-Indian army chief, General N. C. Vij, speaking at the inauguration of a commanders' conference in New Delhi on April 12 of that year, came out with the astonishing claim that the Indian army's human rights record in Occupied Kashmir was "impeccable".

Echoing their chief's astonishing comments, Indian army officers were quoted by the Times of India as saying: "Around 1,380 allegations (of human rights abuses) have been leveled in Kashmir since 1990. Out of these, only 36 allegations in Jammu & Kashmir have been found to be genuine."

In fact, the Indian army has a terrible human rights record in Occupied Kashmir, as spelled out in detail in numerous reports by international human rights organisations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

A report by two human rights organisations, Asia Watch, a division of Human Rights Watch, and Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), charges that Indian security forces in Occupied Kashmir have deliberately executed hundreds of detainees in custody as part of a "catch and kill" policy to crush the freedom struggle of Kashmiri Muslims.

"More than any other phenomenon, these deliberate killings reveal the magnitude of the human rights disaster in Kashmir," says the report.

Condemning the human rights abuses, the report urges India to take immediate and effective steps to end the abuses, rigorously prosecute security personnel responsible and grant access to international human rights organisations in order to prevent abuse of detainees.

The 163-page report, "The Human Rights Crisis in Kashmir: A Pattern of Impunity", focuses on the sharp escalation in human rights abuses, particularly custodial deaths, reprisal killings, rape, torture and assaults on the medical community by Indian paramilitary and military forces since December 1989, when the current insurgency against Indian occupation began.

The findings contained in the report are based on an analysis of the testimony of over 130 witnesses, independently selected and interviewed by Asia Watch and PHR, as well as medical examinations and other documentation of the incidents described.

The report concludes that while the conflict in Kashmir constitutes a grave security threat, the steps taken by the Indian government to crush the insurgency have resulted in grave violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.

"Moreover, the Indian authorities have done little to curb these abuses," the report adds. "Members of the Indian army and security forces are almost never prosecuted for human rights violations in Kashmir. In the rare cases in which investigations have taken place, the most severe punishment for abuses have generally been limited to dismissal or suspension from duty."

The report says: "The Indian government's failure to account for these abuses and take rigorous action against those members of its forces responsible for murder, rape and torture amounts to a policy of condoning human rights violations by the security forces."

Among the worst of these violations have been the summary executions of hundreds of detainees in the custody of the security forces in Occupied Kashmir. "Such killings are carried out as a matter of policy," says the report.

Nineteen cases are documented in detail in the report. In one case, Indian Border Security Force (BSF) troops detained a young man, Masroof Sultan, tortured him with electric shock, and then took him to a field where they shot him four times and left him for dead.

In another case documented in the report, four young men were shot dead after being taken into custody on April 9, 1993, despite the fact that the deputy commissioner of the district told relatives that the young men were in custody but would be released.

"Indian army soldiers and paramilitary troops of the BSF and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have also engaged in frequent reprisal attacks against civilians, opening fire in crowded markets and residential areas, and burning down entire neighbourhoods," says the report.

The report says that security legislation has increased the likelihood of such abuses by authorising the security forces to shoot to kill and to destroy civilian property. "Under these laws, the security forces are protected from human rights violations," says the report. The report documents many such incidents.

"Most detainees taken into custody by the security forces in Kashmir are tortured," says the report. "Torture is practiced to coerce detainees to reveal information about suspected militants or to confess to militant activity. It is also used to punish detainees who are believed to support or sympathise with the militants and to create a climate of political repression."

The report says methods of torture include severe beatings, electric shock, suspension by the feet or hands, stretching the legs apart, burning with heated objects, and crushing the muscles with a heavy wooden ruler. "Rape most often occurs during crackdowns, cordon-and-search operations during which men are held for identification in parks or schoolyards while security forces search their homes, " says the report. "In these situations, the security forces frequently engage in collective punishment against the civilian population by assaulting residents and burning their homes."

Another report by Human Rights Watch/Asia says that Indian security forces have intensified their efforts against militant groups, stepping up cordon-and-search operations and summarily executing captured militant leaders.

"Alongside them, operating as a secret, illegal army, have been state-sponsored paramilitary groups," says the report. "Many of these groups have been responsible for grave human rights abuses, including summary executions, torture and illegal detention as well as election-related intimidation of voters."

The report says the deterioration in the human rights situation can be traced to early 1995 when the security forces began making systematic use of these irregular militias.

"While attempting to reassure the international community that they have taken steps to curb human rights abuses in Kashmir, Indian forces have in effect subcontracted some of their abusive tactics to groups with no official accountability," says the report.

"The extrajudicial killings, abductions and assaults committed by these groups against suspected militants are instead described as resulting from 'intergroup rivalries.'"

But civilians have also been their victims, and the state-sponsored militia groups have singled out journalists, human rights activists and medical workers for attack.

The report says: "They have been given free rein to patrol major hospitals in Srinagar, particularly the Soura Institute, the Sri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) hospital and the Bone and Joint Hospital. They have murdered, threatened, beaten and detained hospital staff. In some cases these abuses have occurred in full view of security force bunkers or in the presence of security force officers. They have also removed patients from hospitals. These abuses constitute clear violations of medical neutrality."

Violations of human rights and humanitarian law by the regular security forces - the Indian army, the Border Security Force and the Central Reserve Police Force - have also continued. These violations include the deliberate killing of detainees in the custody of the security forces in Occupied Kashmir and reprisal killings of civilians.

In the 17 years since December 1989, more than 70,000 Muslim civilians, including women and children, have been killed by the Indian army and paramilitary forces in Occupied Kashmir. With some 600,000 Indian army troops and paramilitary forces stationed in Occupied Kashmir today, the beleaguered state has the highest troops-to-population ratio for any territory on earth.

Can things like bus services compensate for the barbaric actions of the Indian army, BSF and Delhi-backed goon squads?

Now you can have a huge leap forward in email: get the new Yahoo! Mail.

United Nations Must Fulfill Kashmir Obligation

2007-01-04T12:24:00.001-08:00

Kashmiri American Council / Kashmir Center
1111 Sixteenth Street, N.W. Suite 420, Washington, DC 20005
Tel: 202-628-6789 / Fax: 202-393-0062

UN must fulfill Kashmir obligation

Washington, DC. January 5, 2007. Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Executive Director of the Kashmiri American Council / Kashmir Center, lamented today's 58th anniversary of the non‑implementation of the January 5, 1949, United Nations Security Council resolution which states that "The question of the ac! cession of the State of Jammu and Kashmir to India or Pakistan will be decided through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite;…The Secretary-General of the United Nations will, in agreement with the Commission, nominate a Plebiscite Administrator who shall be a personality of high international standing and commanding general confidence…No restrictions are placed on legitimate political activity throughout the State. All subjects of the State, regardless of creed, caste or party, shall be safe and free in expressing their views and in voting on the question of the accession of the State to India or Pakistan. There shall be freedom of the Press, speech and assembly and freedom of travel in the State, including freedom of lawful entry and exit."

Dr. Fai said while addressing a gathering of peace activists in Washington that today we find that the resolution of January 5, 1949 has not been implemented even after the lapse of 58 long years. Kashmir is not an integral part of any country and yet we have the failure of the realization of the expression of self-determination of the people of Kashmir.

He emphasized that Kashmiris' claim to self-determination is exceptionally strong even without the United Nations recognition. Kashmir has been historically independent, except in the anarchical conditions of late 18^th and the first half of 19^th centuries. The territory of Kashmir is larger in size than 121 independent countries and bigger in number than 117 nations of the world. The Kashmiri culture - Kashmiriat - is distinct from other cultures in the area in all respects -- folklore, dress, traditions, and cuisine.

Dr. Fai called upon the newly elected United Nations Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon to impress upon the parties concerned to create an atmosphere for a free and impartial plebiscite in Kashmir that will guarantee peace and prosperity not only in Kashmir but in the whole region of South Asia – that is home to one-fifth of total human race.

****************************************************************************************************************************************** You received this message as a subscriber to Kashmiri American Council (KAC) Big List. If you do not wish to receive future email from KAC you can unsubscribe by sending an e-mail to info@kashmiri.com. Contact us: by mail : 1111 16th Street, N.W. Suite 420, Washington, DC 20036 by phone:Tel: 202-628-6789, Fax: 202-393-0062 / 703-295-8683 by e-maI: Info@kashmiri.com

________________________________________________________________________
The information in this e-mail, and any attachment therein, is confidential and for use by the addressee only. If you are not the intended recipient, please return the e-mail to the sender and delete it from your computer. Although The Bank of New York attempts to sweep e-mail and attachments for viruses, it does not guarantee that either are virus-free and accepts no liability for any damage sustained as a result of viruses.

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com

India's shame by Arundhati Roy

2006-12-15T20:07:00.000-08:00

India's shame
Arundhati Roy
Friday December 15, 2006
The Guardian
Mohammad Afzal is due to hang for his part in the 2001 attack on India's parliament building. But was he only a bit player? And is the country trying to bury embarrassing questions about its war on terror? By Arundhati Roy

Friday December 15, 2006
The Guardian

Mohammed Afzal. Photograph: Prakash Singh/AFP/Getty Images

Five years ago this week, on December 13 2001, the Indian parliament was in its winter session. The government was under attack for yet another corruption scandal. At 11.30 in the morning, five armed men in a white Ambassador car fitted out with an improvised explosive device drove through the gates of Parliament House. When they were challenged, they jumped out of the car and opened fire. In the gun battle that followed, all the attackers were killed. Eight security personnel and a gardener were killed too. The dead terrorists, the police said, had enough explosives to blow up the parliament building, and enough ammunition to take on a whole battalion of soldiers. Unlike most terrorists, these five left behind a thick trail of evidence - weapons, mobile phones, phone numbers, ID cards, photographs, packets of dried fruit and even a love letter.

Article continues

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not surprisingly, prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee seized the opportunity to compare the assault to the September 11 attacks in the US only three months previously.
On December 14 2001, the day after the attack on parliament, the Special Cell (anti-terrorist squad) of the Delhi police claimed it had tracked down several people suspected of being involved in the conspiracy. The next day, it announced that it had "cracked the case": the attack, the police said, was a joint operation carried out by two Pakistan-based terrorist groups, Lashkar- e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad. Three Kashmiri men, Syed Abdul Rahman Geelani, Shaukat Hussain Guru and Mohammad Afzal, and Shaukat's wife, Afsan Guru, were arrested.

In the tense days that followed, parliament was adjourned. The Indian government declared that Pakistan - America's closest ally in the "war on terror" - was a terrorist state. On December 21, India recalled its high commissioner from Pakistan, suspended air, rail and bus communications and banned air traffic with Pakistan. It put into motion a massive mobilisation of its war machinery, and moved more than half a million troops to the Pakistan border. Foreign embassies evacuated their staff and citizens, and tourists travelling to India were issued cautionary travel advisories. The world watched with bated breath as the subcontinent was taken to the brink of nuclear war. All this cost India an estimated pounds 1.1bn of public money. About 800 soldiers died in the panicky process of mobilisation alone.

The police charge sheet was filed in a special fast-track trial court designated for cases under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Some three years later, the trial court sentenced Geelani, Shaukat and Afzal to death. Afsan Guru was sentenced to five years of "rigorous imprisonment". On appeal, the high court subsequently acquitted Geelani and Afsan, but upheld Shaukat's and Afzal's death sentence. Eventually, the supreme court upheld the acquittals and reduced Shaukat's punishment to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment. However, it not just confirmed, but enhanced Mohammad Afzal's sentence. He was given three life sentences and a double death sentence.

In its judgment on August 5 2005, the supreme court admitted that the evidence against Afzal was only circumstantial, and that there was no evidence that he belonged to any terrorist group or organisation. But it went on to endorse what can only be described as lynch law. "The incident, which resulted in heavy casualties, had shaken the entire nation," it said, "and the collective conscience of the society will only be satisfied if capital punishment is awarded to the offender."

Spelling out the reasons for giving Afzal the death penalty, the judgment went on: "The appellant, who is a surrendered militant and who was bent upon repeating the acts of treason against the nation, is a menace to the society and his life should become extinct." This implies a dangerous ignorance of what it means to be a "surrendered militant" in Kashmir today.

So, should Afzal's life be extinguished? His story is fascinating because it is inextricably entwined with the story of the Kashmir Valley. It is a story that stretches far beyond the confines of courtrooms and the limited imagination of people who live in the secure heart of a self-declared "superpower". Afzal's story has its origins in a war zone whose laws are beyond the pale of the fine arguments and delicate sensibilities of normal jurisprudence.

For all these reasons it is critical that we consider carefully the strange, sad and utterly sinister story of the December 13 attack. It tells us a great deal about the way the world's largest "democracy" really works. It connects the biggest things to the smallest. It traces the pathways that connect what happens in the shadowy grottoes of our police stations to what goes on in the snowy streets of Paradise Valley, and from there to the malign furies that bring nations to the brink of nuclear war. It raises specific questions that deserve specific, and not ideological or rhetorical, answers. What hangs in the balance is far more than the fate of one man.

For the most part, the December 13 attack was an astonishingly incompetent "terrorist" strike. But consummate competence appeared to be the hallmark of everything that followed: the gathering of evidence, the speed of the investigation by the Special Cell, the arrest and charging of the accused and the three-and-a-half-year-long judicial process that began with the fast-track trial court.

The operative phrase in all of this is "appeared to be". If you follow the story carefully, you will encounter two sets of masks. First, the mask of consummate competence (accused arrested, "case cracked" in two days flat), and then, when things began to come undone, the benign mask of shambling incompetence (shoddy evidence, procedural flaws, material contradictions). But underneath all of this - as several lawyers, academics and journalists who have studied the case in detail have shown - is something more sinister, more worrying. Over the past few years the worries have grown into a mountain of misgivings, impossible to ignore.

The doubts set in as early as the day after the parliament attack, when the police arrested Geelani, a young lecturer at Delhi University. His outraged colleagues and friends, certain that he had been framed, contacted the well-known lawyer Nandita Haksar and asked her to take on his case. This marked the beginning of a campaign for the fair trial of Geelani. It flew in the face of mass hysteria and corrosive propaganda that was enthusiastically disseminated by the mass media. But despite this, the campaign was successful, and Geelani was eventually acquitted, along with Afsan Guru.

Geelani's acquittal blew a gaping hole in the prosecution's version of the parliament attack. The linchpin of its conspiracy theory suddenly tuned out to be innocent. But in some odd way, in the public mind, the acquittal of two of the accused only confirmed the guilt of the other two. There was bloodlust that had to be satiated. When the government announced that Afzal, Accused No 1 in the case, would be hanged on October 20 2006, it seemed that most people welcomed the news not just with approval, but with morbid excitement. But then, once again, the questions resurfaced.

To see through the prosecution's case against Geelani was relatively easy. He was plucked out of thin air and transplanted into the centre of the "conspiracy" as its kingpin. Afzal was different. He had been extruded through the sewage system of the hell that Kashmir has become. He surfaced through a manhole, covered in shit (and when he emerged, policemen in the Special Cell pissed on him. Literally.) The first thing they made him do was a "media confession" in which he implicated himself completely in the attack. The speed with which this happened made many of us believe that he was indeed guilty as charged. It was only much later that the circumstances under which this "confession" was made were revealed, and even the supreme court was to set it aside, saying that the police had violated legal safeguards.

From the very beginning there was nothing pristine or simple about Afzal's case. His story gives us a glimpse into what life is really like in the Kashmir Valley. It is only in the Noddy Book version we read about in our newspapers that security forces battle militants and innocent Kashmiris are caught in the crossfire. In the adult version, Kashmir is a valley awash with militants, renegades, security forces, double-crossers, informers, spooks, blackmailers, blackmailees, extortionists, spies, both Indian and Pakistani intelligence agencies, human rights activists, NGOs and unimaginable amounts of unaccounted-for money and weapons. There are not always clear lines that demarcate the boundaries between all these things and people; it is not easy to tell who is working for whom.

Truth, in Kashmir, is probably more dangerous than anything else. The deeper you dig, the worse it gets. At the bottom of the pit are the Special Operations Group and Special Task Force (STF), the most ruthless, indisciplined and dreaded elements of the Indian security apparatus in Kashmir, which play a central role in the Afzal story. Unlike the more formal forces, they operate in a twilight zone where policemen, surrendered militants, renegades and common criminals do business. They prey upon the local population, particularly in rural Kashmir. Their primary victims are the thousands of young Kashmiri men who rose up in revolt in the anarchic uprising of the early 1990s and have since surrendered and are trying to live normal lives.

In 1989, when Afzal crossed the border to be trained as a militant, he was only 20. He returned with no training, disillusioned with his experience. He put down his gun and enrolled himself in Delhi University. In 1993, without ever having been a practising militant, he voluntarily surrendered to the Border Security Force. Illogically enough, it was at this point that his nightmares began. His surrender was treated as a crime and his life became hell. Afzal's story has enraged Kashmiris because what has happened to him could have happened, is happening and has happened to thousands of young Kashmiri men and their families. The only difference is that their stories are played out in the dingy bowels of interrogation centres, army camps and police stations where they have been burned, beaten, electrocuted, blackmailed and killed, their bodies thrown out of the backs of trucks for passers-by to find. Whereas Afzal's story is being performed like a piece of medieval theatre on the national stage, in the clear light of day, with the legal sanction of a "fair trial", the hollow benefits of a "free press" and the all pomp and ceremony of a so-called democracy.

In documents submitted to the court, Afzal describes how, in the months before the attack on parliament, he was tortured in the camps of the STF - with electrodes on his genitals and chillies and petrol in his anus. He talks of how he was a constant victim of extortion. He mentions the name of Deputy Superintendent of Police Devinder Singh, who said he needed him to do a "small job" for him in Delhi. (Singh has subsequently admitted on record to having tortured Afzal in exactly the ways Afzal has described.) Afzal has also said that from the time he was arrested up to the time he was charged (a few months), his younger brother Hilal was held in illegal confinement in a police camp in Kashmir. As ransom.

Even today, Afzal does not claim complete innocence. It is the nature of his involvement that is being contested. For instance, was he coerced, tortured and blackmailed into playing even the peripheral part he played? In a gross violation of his constitutional rights, from the time he was arrested and right through the crucial phase of the trial when the real work of building up a case is done, Afzal did not have a lawyer. He had nobody to put out his version of the story, or help him or anyone else sift through the tangle of lies and fabrications and propaganda put out by the police. Various individuals worked it out for themselves. Today, five years later, a group of lawyers, academics, journalists and writers has published a reader (December 13th: The Strange Case of the Parliament Attack, published by Penguin India). It is this body of work that has fractured what, only recently, appeared to be a national consensus interwoven with mass hysteria.

Through the fissures, those who have come under scrutiny - shadowy individuals, counter-intelligence and security agencies, political parties - are beginning to surface. They wave flags, hurl abuse, issue hot denials and cover their tracks with more and more untruths. Thus they reveal themselves.

The essays in the Penguin book raise questions about how Afzal, who never had proper legal representation, can be sentenced to death without having had an opportunity to be heard, without a fair trial. They raise questions about fabricated arrest memos, falsified seizure and recovery memos, procedural flaws, vital evidence that has been tampered with, false telephone records, false testimonies, legal lacunae, material contradictions in the testimonies of police and prosecution witnesses, and the outright lies that were presented in court and published in newspapers. They show how there is hardly a single piece of evidence that stands up to scrutiny.

And then there are even more disturbing questions that have been raised, which range beyond the fate of Afzal. Some of these are critical for a country that is claiming to be a responsible nuclear power. Here are 13 questions for December 13:

Question 1: For months before the attack on parliament, both the government and the police had been saying that parliament could be attacked. On December 12 2001, the then prime minister, AB Vajpayee, warned of an imminent attack. On December 13 it happened. Given that there was an "improved security drill", how did a car bomb packed with explosives enter the parliament complex?

Question 2: Within days of the attack, the Special Cell of the Delhi police said it was a meticulously planned joint operation of Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba. They said the attack was led by a man called "Mohammad" who was also involved in the hijacking of flight IC-814 in 1998. (This was later refuted by the Central Bureau of Investigation.) None of this was ever proved in court. What evidence did the Special Cell have for its claim?

Question 3: The entire attack was recorded live on CCTV. Two Congress party MPs, Kapil Sibal and Najma Heptullah, demanded in parliament that the CCTV recording be shown to the members. They said that there was confusion about the details of the event. The chief whip of the Congress party, Priyaranjan Dasmunshi, said, "I counted six men getting out of the car. But only five were killed. The closed circuit TV camera recording clearly showed the six men." If Dasmunshi was right, why did the police say that there were only five people in the car? Who was the sixth person? Where is he now? Why was the CCTV recording not produced by the prosecution as evidence in the trial? Why was it not released for public viewing?

Question 4: Why was parliament adjourned after some of these questions were raised?

Question 5: A few days after December 13, the government declared that it had "incontrovertible evidence" of Pakistan's involvement in the attack, and announced a massive mobilisation of almost half a million soldiers to the Indo-Pakistan border. The subcontinent was pushed to the brink of nuclear war. Apart from Afzal's "confession", extracted under torture (and later set aside by the supreme court), what was the "incontrovertible evidence"?

Question 6: Is it true that the military mobilisation to the Pakistan border had begun long before the December 13 attack?

Question 7: How much did this military standoff, which lasted for nearly a year, cost? How many soldiers died in the process? How many soldiers and civilians died because of mishandled landmines, and how many peasants lost their homes and land because trucks and tanks were rolling through their villages and landmines were being planted in their fields?

Question 8: In a criminal investigation, it is vital for the police to show how the evidence gathered at the scene of the attack led them to the accused. The police have not managed to show how they connected Geelani to the attack. And how did the police reach Afzal? The Special Cell says Geelani led them to Afzal. But the message to look out for Afzal was actually flashed to the Srinagar police before Geelani was arrested. So how did the Special Cell connect Afzal to the December 13 attack?

Question 9: The courts acknowledge that Afzal was a surrendered militant who was in regular contact with the security forces, particularly the STF of Jammu and Kashmir police. How do the security forces explain the fact that a person under their surveillance was able to conspire in a major militant operation?

Question 10: Is it plausible that organisations such as Lashkar-e-Taiba or Jaish-e-Mohammad would rely on a person who had been in and out of STF torture chambers, and was under constant police surveillance, as the principal link for a major operation?

Question 11: In his statement before the court, Afzal says that he was introduced to "Mohammed" and instructed to take him to Delhi by a man called Tariq, who was working with the STF. Tariq was named in the police charge sheet. Who is Tariq and where is he now?

Question 12: On December 19 2001, six days after the parliament attack, police commissioner SM Shangari identified one of the attackers who was killed as Mohammad Yasin Fateh Mohammed (alias Abu Hamza) of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, who had been arrested in Mumbai in November 2000 and immediately handed over to the Jammu and Kashmir police. He gave detailed descriptions to support his statement. If police commissioner Shangari was right, how did Yasin, a man in the custody of the Jammu and Kashmir police, end up participating in the parliament attack? If he was wrong, where is Yasin now?

Question 13: Why is it that we still do not know who the five "terrorists" killed in the parliament attack are?

These questions, examined cumulatively, point to something far more serious than incompetence. The words that come to mind are complicity, collusion, involvement. There is no need for us to feign shock or shrink from thinking these thoughts and saying them out loud. Governments and their intelligence agencies have a hoary tradition of using strategies such as this to further their own ends. (Look up the burning of the Reichstag and the rise of Nazi power in Germany in 1933; or Operation Gladio, in which European intelligence agencies created acts of terrorism, especially in Italy, in order to discredit militant groups such as the Red Brigades.)

The official response to all of these questions has been dead silence. As things stand, Afzal's execution has been postponed while the president considers his clemency petition. Meanwhile, the Bhartiya Janata party (now in the opposition) announced that it would turn "Hang Afzal" into a national campaign. But it does not seem to have taken off. Now other avenues are being explored. The main strategy seems to be to create confusion and polarise the debate on communal lines. In the business of spreading confusion, the media, particularly television journalists, can be counted on to be perfect collaborators. On discussions, chat shows and "special reports", we have television anchors playing around with crucial facts, like young children in a sandpit. Torturers, estranged brothers, senior police officers and politicians are emerging from the woodwork and talking. The more they talk, the more interesting it all becomes.

One character who is rapidly emerging from the shadowy periphery and wading on to centre-stage is deputy superintendent Devinder Singh. He was showcased on the national news (CNN-IBN), in what was presented as a "sting" operation with a hidden camera. It all seemed a bit unnecessary, however, because Singh has been talking a lot these days. He has done recorded interviews, on the phone as well as face to face, saying exactly the same shocking things. Weeks before the sting operation, in a recorded interview with Parvaiz Bukhari, a freelance journalist, he said, "I did interrogate and torture him [Afzal] at my camp for several days. And we never recorded his arrest in the books anywhere. His description of torture at my camp is true. That was the procedure those days and we did pour petrol in his ass and gave him electric shocks. But I could not break him. He did not reveal anything to me despite our hardest possible interrogation ... He looked like a 'bhondu' [fool] those days, what you call a 'chootya' [idiot] type. And I had a reputation for torture, interrogation and breaking suspects. If anybody came out of my interrogation clean, nobody would ever touch him again. He would be considered clean for good by the whole department."

This is not an empty boast. Singh has a formidable reputation for torture in the Kashmir Valley. On TV, his boasting spiralled into policy-making. "Torture is the only deterrent for terrorism," he said. "I do it for the nation." He did not bother to explain why or how the "bhondu" that he tortured and subsequently released allegedly went on to become the diabolical mastermind of the parliament attack. Singh then said that Afzal was a Jaish militant. If this is true, why was the evidence not placed before the courts? And why on earth was Afzal released? Why was he not watched? There is a definite attempt to try to dismiss this as incompetence. But given everything we know now, it would take all of Singh's delicate professional skills to make some of us believe that.

The official version of the story of the parliament attack is very quickly coming apart at the seams. Even the supreme court judgment, with all its flaws of logic and leaps of faith, does not accuse Afzal of being the mastermind of the attack. So who was the mastermind? If Afzal is hanged, we may never know. But LK Advani, the leader of the opposition, wants him hanged at once. Even a day's delay, he says, is against the national interest. Why? What is the hurry? The man is locked up in a high-security cell on death row. He is not allowed out of his cell for even five minutes a day. What harm can he do? Talk? Write, perhaps? Surely, even in Advani's own narrow interpretation of the term, it is in the national interest not to hang Afzal? At least not until there is an inquiry that reveals what the real story is and who actually attacked parliament?

A genuine inquiry would have to mean far more than just a political witch-hunt. It would have to look into the part played by intelligence, counter-insurgency and security agencies as well. Offences such as the fabrication of evidence and the blatant violation of procedural norms have already become established in the courts, but they look very much like just the tip of the iceberg. We now have a police officer admitting - boasting - on record that he was involved in the illegal detention and torture of a fellow citizen. Is all of this acceptable to the people, the government and the courts of India?

Given the track record of Indian governments (past and present, right, left and centre) it is naive - perhaps utopian is a better word - to hope that today's politicians will ever have the courage to institute an inquiry that will, once and for all, uncover the real story. A maintenance dose of pusillanimity is probably encrypted in all governments. But hope has little to do with reason.

(C) Arundhati Roy 2006

India says Kashmir toll over 41,000, others differ

2006-12-07T19:21:00.000-08:00

India says Kashmir toll over 41,000, others differ
07 Dec 2006 09:00:47 GMT
Source: Reuters
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/B777945.htm
SRINAGAR, India, Dec 7 (Reuters) - The death toll from 17 years of separatist insurgency in Indian Kashmir stands at more than 41,000 people, Indian authorities said on Thursday, but separatists and human rights groups said the figure was higher.

According to police records 16,231 civilians, 4,984 members of Indian security forces and 19,966 militants have died since the insurgency began in 1989 in disputed Kashmir, the root of more than a half century of animosity between India and Pakistan.

A senior police officer, who did not want to be identified said the toll of 41,181 had been tallied up to Oct. 31.

"The figure does not include those who died on inaccessible snow-clad mountains while crossing over to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir or while returning after receiving arms training," he told Reuters.

The figure also does not include missing people, but in 2004 then Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Syed said more than 3,700 people had disappeared as a result of the conflict.

India has consistently accused Pakistan of training, arming and sending separatist militants into Kashmir.

A human rights group, the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Societies (JKCCS), estimates that more than 50,000 people have died and more than 10,000 gone missing since the armed rebellion began against Indian rule.

"These figures are based on daily newspaper reports -- we completely disagree with the government figures," said Khuram Parvez, the coordinator of JKCCS.

"We have already started a door-to-door survey in Kashmir to compile the list of total deaths. Thousands of Kashmiris remain unaccounted for," Parvez added.

Kashmir's leading separatist group, the All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference, says more than 100,000 people have died in insurgency-related violence.

"When one of our study groups started work to compile the death toll, they were jailed," said Syed Ali Shah Geelani, a hardline separatist leader and former chairman of the Hurriyat.

"Kashmir's death toll will remain a big unanswered question as long as India does not allow our workers, human rights groups to work freely."

International human rights groups have accused the Indian army of systematic abuses in Kashmir over the years, but the military says it punishes anyone found guilty of abuse.

Officials say violence involving Indian security forces and separatist militants has been falling since India and Pakistan launched a peace process in 2004.

But an average of between four and six people a day are still being killed in regular gun battles and occasional bomb blasts across the mountainous region.