Study names alleged Indian Kashmir rights abusers

[Indianboy]

SRINAGAR, India — Hundreds of Indian security officials including two generals and senior police officers have been named in a new report on human rights abuses in Indian-administered Kashmir.

The 354-page investigation by two local rights groups, which draws on state documents obtained under freedom of information laws, alleges widespread disappearances, murders and torture.

The heavily militarised Muslim-majority region bordering Pakistan has been subject to a separatist insurgency and fierce government crackdowns for the last two decades, with abuses by both sides thought to be widespread.

The study, a blow to the image of the world's biggest democracy, examined more than a hundred killings, 65 disappearances, 59 cases of torture and nine rapes allegedly committed by government forces from 1990 to 2011.

"By naming names, the report seeks to remove the veil of anonymity and secrecy that has sustained impunity," said the report, which was released in Kashmir on Thursday.

"What is striking is that the documents in possession of the state itself indict the armed forces and the police by providing reasonable, strong and convincing evidence on the role of the alleged perpetrators in specific crimes."

The Indian army still benefits from the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, a draconian piece of legislation introduced in 1990 to quell the insurgency which offers legal impunity and rights to kill suspects and seize property.

The two groups behind the report are the International People's Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Indian-Administered Kashmir (IPTK) and the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP).

Gautam Navlakha from IPTK said the study was "just a tip of ice-berg and yet a window into what took place in the last 22 years and the reign of impunity that persists."

In the cases examined, the groups name 500 alleged perpetrators, including 235 Indian army members, 123 Indian paramilitary personnel, 111 police officers and 31 government-backed militants or associates.

It also names two army generals, three brigadiers and senior serving and retired police chiefs.

The army and government declined to comment on the report.

United Nations rights officials have repeatedly raised problems in Indian Kashmir, calling on the government to repeal emergency legislation now that violence has waned and investigate alleged violations.

Militant attacks are at their lowest ebb since the start of the insurgency, but the army and defence minister are staunchly resisting any removal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act.

Last year, a local human rights group discovered mass graves of more than 2,000 unidentified bodies, alleging that many of them were people who had disappeared after being arrested by security forces.

Kashmir is carved in two by a de facto border and is jointly administered by India and Pakistan, who have fought two of their three wars over the picturesque Himalayan region.


I wonder how much truth is there in this report...

 

[Dovah]

Link to the original article dude.

 

[parijataka]

^^^
Link please

 

[blank_quest]

Its all left-wing Jhola wala's getting much of the lime-light. This investigation is itself the proof of bias when it considers of

Last year, a local human rights group discovered mass graves of more than 2,000 unidentified bodies, alleging that many of them were people who had disappeared after being arrested by security forces.

Is that not de-facto Muslim perspective of investigation? If you consider 22 years of Investigation then it should consider the "other" community too that might have got abused/killed in the gory phase of 90's.

Is it not the sunni tradition to have unmarked graves.

There must have been casualties but ruling all graves as "crime-caused" is totally absurd.

 

[blank_quest]

Aha its a Paki news source:: Study names alleged Indian Kashmir rights abusers – The Express Tribune

 

[The Messiah]

Even if one were to take it as real its not that bad. Most the killings and tortures must be of terrorists anyways.

and 9 rapes in 21 years hardly fits into the myth that woman are being gang raped. 9 are raped every 2 days in haryana. But it is condemnable, a single instance of rape is a black mark on the army. The culprits must be punished.

 

[Singh]

"Top Army, police officials involved in human rights abuse in Kashmir"
​

A human rights activists' group, International People's Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Indian Administered Kashmir (IPTK), along with Srinagar-based Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), claimed on Thursday that hundreds of Army and police officers involved in gross human rights abuse have not been prosecuted in Jammu and Kashmir. The report alleges that three brigadiers of Indian Army, besides nine colonels, three lieutenant colonels, 78 majors and 25 captains, and 37 senior officials of federal Paramilitary forces were perpetrators of various crimes and human rights violations in the state.

While releasing the report titled 'Alleged Perpetrators - Stories of Impunity in Jammu and Kashmir', IPTK investigators said at a news conference today that the government agencies had not shown any inclination to hold a fair and transparent investigation. They alleged that the human rights abuse included murder, kidnapping, rape, enforced disappearance and torture.

Activist Gautam Navlakha, who is among those not permitted into the Valley during the summer turbulence of 2010, was present at the press conference along with APDP activists and compilers of the report, Parvez Imroz, Kartik Murukutla, Khuram Parveez and Parvaiz Mata.

"There is an occasional willingness to order compensatory relief, but not to bring perpetrators to justice", they said. They claimed that the role of 500 officials and gunmen had been established, for the first time. Government's reaction to the report was not available till Thursday night.

"This report prepared over two years using information gleaned mostly from official State documents, portrays the state of impunity prevalent in J&K where identities of the individual perpetrators of crime are known", says an executive summary that was released on the occasion, four days in advance of World Human Rights Day.

Mr. Navlakha and others at the news conference claimed that the report had been forwarded to the Chief Minister and Prime Minister so that perpetrators could be punished. "The report has been prepared from police records, judicial and quasi-judicial records and Government records", they said.

"The general experience in J&K has been that judicial and quasi- judicial authorities such as the State Human Rights commission (SHRC) have allowed themselves to be conscious of the power and the will of the executive, thereby rendering them subservient to the State. The impunity fostered by the judicial process has been compounded by the existence of draconian laws such as the AFSPA", they added.

They said that IPTK and APDP cannot conclusively pronounce on the guilt of any of the alleged perpetrators, but it is clear that enough evidence exists to warrant further investigations and prosecutions. "However, in the absence of any institutional or political will to take the evidence to its natural conclusion — a trail where the crime and guilt of the perpetrators can be proven beyond reasonable doubt — the Indian State stands indicted".

"Our search for truth and justice has taken a step forward with this report," noted human rights activist, Gautam Navlakha said.



The Hindu : News / National : "Top Army, police officials involved in human rights abuse in Kashmir"

 

[Kunal Biswas]

In J&K there are majority of cases which are filed but hollow if investigation goes down..

Only 1/4 of the report are true..

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Army is more liked by people and most dislike by separatist and tangos..