PERILS OF IMPUNITY

Human rights violations in Indian occupied Jammu Kashmir

are systematic, deliberate, and offcially sanctioned. India has
never prosecuted even one of its 700,000 military and
paramilitary personnel there for human right abuses, and its
law grants legal immunity for any actions aimed at suppressing
Kashmiri dissent or support for self-determination. Information
compiled by various human rights organizations establishes
that a massive complain of brutal oppression has been
launched by the Indian army since January 1989. Various
estimates are given of the death toll of civilians so far. Owen
Bennett Jones Journalist associated with BBC News in his
report, titled Three Surprises from a visit to Kashmir writes,
although all the numbers relating to Kashmir are keenly
disputed it is probably fair to say that as many as 100,000
people have been killed in the struggle between Kashmiris and
the Indian state. Countless individuals have been maimed and
thousands of women molested and assaulted. Not a word of
condemnation has been uttered at the United Nations; not
even a call on India to cease and desist from committing its
atrocities. Reports on the culture of impunity in Indian
Occupied Kashmir have been released from time to time by
different human rights groups, highlighting human rights
abuses, in a such like report, US state department has
narrated volumes of human rights violations in Indian occupied
Kashmir due to the culture of impunity enjoyed by the Indian
army and paramilitary forces. This leafet covers events of last
two months that took place in Kashmir, events range from
extrajudicial killings, indiscriminate use of forces against
peaceful assemblies of people, arbitrary detentions of political
leaders and crackdown on youth of Kashmir in and outside
Kashmir.
INNOCENT KILLINGS
19 February 2014 Tauseef Ahmed Dar son of Ghulam
Hassan Dar of Prithu Pulwama was killed by the troopers of
53 Rashtriya Rifes during a peaceful protest in Pulwama.
Scores of people were injured in the indiscriminate fring.
24 February 2014 Personnel of 18 Rastriya Rifes staged a
fake encounter in Dardpora village of Kupwara District and
killed 6 people including Muhammad Sufan, Abdul
Rehman , Muhmmad Dawood , Muhmmad Kashif ,
Bashir Ahmed and Abdul Rashid. Police confrmed that all
those killed were locals and were not involved in any militant
related activity. People took to streets to protest the killings and
government in order to calm people order an inquiry into the
incident.
11 March 2014 Muhammad Arshid sheikh of Tral was
killed when troopers of 185 Battalion of Central Reserve
police Force opened indiscriminate fre on a peaceful
assembly of people in Tral township of Pulwama district , at
least six others sustained injuries.
15th March 2014 Farhat Ahmed Dar son of Ghulam Ahmed
Dar an 20 years aged youth was killed by the troopers of
Central Reserve police in Naidkhai while eight others
sustained injuries. As usual government ordered inquiry into
the incident
28 March 2014 Muneer Ahmed Minhas son of Nazir
Ahmed Minhas 30, resident of Bandi Kamalkote, Baramulla
died in police custody. Muneer was detained in police station
Ram Munshi Bagh Srinagar and was found dead in the bath
room of police stations. Family has accused that Muneer died
due to third degree torture.
7 April 2014 Farooq Ahmed Mhalla (22) of Hajjin Bandipora
was hit by pellets fred by police on the protestors. Farooq was
shot on his eyes and has lost his eye sight. On the same day,
one sajjad Ahmed of Phallan Pattan of district Barmullah died
when central reserve police force personals fred
indiscriminately on the peaceful protestors in Phallan. Sajjad
was hit in his chest and lost his life in Institute of Medical
Sciences Srinagar.
24 April 2014 Police and Para-military forces broke into
the house of Bashir Ahmed in Shopian without any
provocation. All family members including women and children
were tortured. Para-military forces fred tear smoke shells and
pepper gas inside the residential house causing injuries to
inmates.
30 April 2014 Bashir Ahmed Bhat 26 resident of Nawakadal
26 was killed and three other injured when Central Reserve
police Forces Personnels opened indiscriminate fring on
peaceful protestors at Nawakadal Srinagar. People took to
streets in Srinagar protesting the killing of youth and
government imposed curfew restrictions.
ARBITRARY DETENTIONS
Elections are considered as a defning moment and unavoidable
element of any peace building process, a core part of the
common understanding and practice of democracy. But in
Kashmir every trouble starts with elections. It is the past electoral
malpractices by the state that contributed to the alienation and
rebellion of common people in Jammu and Kashmir. Without
going into the history of betrayal done in the name of elections in
the past, it is saddening to note that the government of India has
not learnt any lesson from their past misdeeds. They continue
with the arrogance of power and use this tool of democracy to
resort all forms of oppression and repression. In the name of
maintaining peace on polling days, the state government has
declared war on
Kashmiri youth by
arresting them
indiscriminately. Details
collected from different
sources reveal that
around 5000 young
boys across valley have
been taken into custody and lodged in different police lockups
and interrogation centres. The arrests and raids follow a pattern.
It was frst tried in 2008 summer uprising and repeated again in
2010 summer revolt to quell the rage in the streets. In 2010 over
5000 persons majority of them boys were arrested from different
parts of the valley. Many of them including under-age boys of
14-17 years were detained
under infamous Public Safety
Act. Many were lodged in
police stations and
interrogation centres during
which they were subjected to
third degree torture. The
torture stories were
disturbing. Boys were
tortured to force them into
working as police informers.
On occasions their parents
were humiliated and even
beaten up to pressurize the
detained boys. Some of them were freed against heavy bribes.
With no accountability from the government, the state was
virtually turned into a huge police camp. Along with detention of
thousands of youth leadership of political dissent is either
detained in police stations or Placed under House Arrest.
TORTURE
Torture in Indian occupied Kashmir is not new. Indian army and
Para-military forces continue to employ third degree torture on
the Kashmiris. According to Julia Meszaros Doctoral candidate
at Florida International University in the Global Sociocultural
Studies Department, The Indian army has tortured one out of
every six people living in the occupied State of Jammu &
Kashmir. Torture continues with impunity on 12th of May
people of Pazlipora village alleged that the 22 Rashtriya Rifes
camp located in Pazlipora area of North Kashmirs Sopore
town has allegedly become a continuous source of nuisance
for the locals. According to the locals Major Abishiek has let
loose a reign of terror in the area as he directing the youth to
report on the camp where they are being interrogated and
tortured. Locals alleged During the late night hours, our
houses are raided and the inhabitants harassed and tortured,
They alleged that forces detained the youth and beat them to
pulp in custody. During late night raid Mudasir Ahmad Reshi,
Irshad Ahmad Rather, Sajjad Rather, Zahid, MudasirNajjar,
Waseem Ahmad Reshi besides several others were taken into
custody and tortured and some of them are battling for life in
different hospitals while some remain in custody of Army.
PELLET GUNS PROVING DEADLY
IN KASHMIR
The deadly Pump Action Shotgun or Pellet Gun is nowadays
again in news as four youth have got injured in south Kashmirs
Shopian town, with two of them even losing vision. A preferred
weapon against the street protesters in Kashmir, Pellet guns
were as a non-lethal alternative to bullets against protesters
after nearly Hundreds unarmed demonstrators were killed in
fring by the police and paramilitary forces during 2008, 2009
and 2010 peaceful protests. Kashmir has become a laboratory
for Indian establishment to hone and improvise its Arsenals
when unarmed Kashmiries surge on roads demanding nothing
but their inalienable right to self determination. A recent study
conducted at the Sheri Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences
(SKIMS) has revealed that pellet guns caused death of at least
six persons and injuries to 198 others. Five persons, according
to it, also lost their eyesight. The study says the weapon is a
pump action shotgun or pellet gun and its single shot fres
numerous pellets that can hit multiple targets at once. Despite
the repeated demands by human rights organizations to
discontinue the use of pellet guns to deal with mobs, law
enforcing agencies in the valley continue to use the same with
impunity. Government is duty bound under law to protect the
lives of people and in no case they can approve such
measures which would jeopardize the live of common people
in the name of maintaining law and order. So law enforcement
agencies should stop using this highly damage causing
weapon.
DISCRIMINATION AGAINST
KASHMIRI STUDENTS
Three Kashmiri students from a private university in Greater
Noida have alleged that fellow
students misbehaved with
them and forced them to
shout anti-Pakistan slogans.
Now the matter is not only
that they forced them to shout
anti-Pakistan slogans. But
certainly they were accused
of being terrorists.
The incident is reported
almost after two months
when 67 Kashmiri students
were expelled from a Meerut
university after cheering for
Pakistan cricket team
during an Asia Cup match against India. Was that fair?
CONCLUSION
Innocent killings and other such incidents reinforce the already
present political alienation among people of Indian occupied
Jammu Kashmir. Continued human rights violations, as always
witnessed, plunge the Kashmir in further political and economic
turmoil- the following curfews, protests and spate of disturbance
do not help in confict resolution. The economic impact of this
culture of impunity is tremendous - denting economic activities,
stalling development works and aggravating poverty. Even as
the government has talked about a probe on each incident, it is
now well known that these probes do precious little in fxing
responsibility and taking corrective measures. Armed Forces
Special Powers Act (AFSPA) leaves no room for fxing
accountability in such acts. The cycle of killings, impunity,
destabilization and further killings has to stop somewhere.
Failure to appreciate the perils of impunity could throw the state
back to a kind of situation that would not help durable peace
and stability in the region.
PERILS OF IMPUNITY
Human rights violations in Indian occupied Jammu Kashmir
are systematic, deliberate, and offcially sanctioned. India has
never prosecuted even one of its 700,000 military and
paramilitary personnel there for human right abuses, and its
law grants legal immunity for any actions aimed at suppressing
Kashmiri dissent or support for self-determination. Information
compiled by various human rights organizations establishes
that a massive complain of brutal oppression has been
launched by the Indian army since January 1989. Various
estimates are given of the death toll of civilians so far. Owen
Bennett Jones Journalist associated with BBC News in his
report, titled Three Surprises from a visit to Kashmir writes,
although all the numbers relating to Kashmir are keenly
disputed it is probably fair to say that as many as 100,000
people have been killed in the struggle between Kashmiris and
the Indian state. Countless individuals have been maimed and
thousands of women molested and assaulted. Not a word of
condemnation has been uttered at the United Nations; not
even a call on India to cease and desist from committing its
atrocities. Reports on the culture of impunity in Indian
Occupied Kashmir have been released from time to time by
different human rights groups, highlighting human rights
abuses, in a such like report, US state department has
narrated volumes of human rights violations in Indian occupied
Kashmir due to the culture of impunity enjoyed by the Indian
army and paramilitary forces. This leafet covers events of last
two months that took place in Kashmir, events range from
extrajudicial killings, indiscriminate use of forces against
peaceful assemblies of people, arbitrary detentions of political
leaders and crackdown on youth of Kashmir in and outside
Kashmir.
INNOCENT KILLINGS
19 February 2014 Tauseef Ahmed Dar son of Ghulam
Hassan Dar of Prithu Pulwama was killed by the troopers of
53 Rashtriya Rifes during a peaceful protest in Pulwama.
Scores of people were injured in the indiscriminate fring.
24 February 2014 Personnel of 18 Rastriya Rifes staged a
fake encounter in Dardpora village of Kupwara District and
killed 6 people including Muhammad Sufan, Abdul
Rehman , Muhmmad Dawood , Muhmmad Kashif ,
Bashir Ahmed and Abdul Rashid. Police confrmed that all
those killed were locals and were not involved in any militant
related activity. People took to streets to protest the killings and
government in order to calm people order an inquiry into the
incident.
11 March 2014 Muhammad Arshid sheikh of Tral was
killed when troopers of 185 Battalion of Central Reserve
police Force opened indiscriminate fre on a peaceful
assembly of people in Tral township of Pulwama district , at
least six others sustained injuries.
15th March 2014 Farhat Ahmed Dar son of Ghulam Ahmed
Dar an 20 years aged youth was killed by the troopers of
Central Reserve police in Naidkhai while eight others
sustained injuries. As usual government ordered inquiry into
the incident
28 March 2014 Muneer Ahmed Minhas son of Nazir
Ahmed Minhas 30, resident of Bandi Kamalkote, Baramulla
died in police custody. Muneer was detained in police station
Ram Munshi Bagh Srinagar and was found dead in the bath
room of police stations. Family has accused that Muneer died
due to third degree torture.
7 April 2014 Farooq Ahmed Mhalla (22) of Hajjin Bandipora
was hit by pellets fred by police on the protestors. Farooq was
shot on his eyes and has lost his eye sight. On the same day,
one sajjad Ahmed of Phallan Pattan of district Barmullah died
when central reserve police force personals fred
indiscriminately on the peaceful protestors in Phallan. Sajjad
was hit in his chest and lost his life in Institute of Medical
Sciences Srinagar.
24 April 2014 Police and Para-military forces broke into
the house of Bashir Ahmed in Shopian without any
provocation. All family members including women and children
were tortured. Para-military forces fred tear smoke shells and
pepper gas inside the residential house causing injuries to
inmates.
30 April 2014 Bashir Ahmed Bhat 26 resident of Nawakadal
26 was killed and three other injured when Central Reserve
police Forces Personnels opened indiscriminate fring on
peaceful protestors at Nawakadal Srinagar. People took to
streets in Srinagar protesting the killing of youth and
government imposed curfew restrictions.
ARBITRARY DETENTIONS
Elections are considered as a defning moment and unavoidable
element of any peace building process, a core part of the
common understanding and practice of democracy. But in
Kashmir every trouble starts with elections. It is the past electoral
malpractices by the state that contributed to the alienation and
rebellion of common people in Jammu and Kashmir. Without
going into the history of betrayal done in the name of elections in
the past, it is saddening to note that the government of India has
not learnt any lesson from their past misdeeds. They continue
with the arrogance of power and use this tool of democracy to
resort all forms of oppression and repression. In the name of
maintaining peace on polling days, the state government has
declared war on
Kashmiri youth by
arresting them
indiscriminately. Details
collected from different
sources reveal that
around 5000 young
boys across valley have
been taken into custody and lodged in different police lockups
and interrogation centres. The arrests and raids follow a pattern.
It was frst tried in 2008 summer uprising and repeated again in
2010 summer revolt to quell the rage in the streets. In 2010 over
5000 persons majority of them boys were arrested from different
parts of the valley. Many of them including under-age boys of
14-17 years were detained
under infamous Public Safety
Act. Many were lodged in
police stations and
interrogation centres during
which they were subjected to
third degree torture. The
torture stories were
disturbing. Boys were
tortured to force them into
working as police informers.
On occasions their parents
were humiliated and even
beaten up to pressurize the
detained boys. Some of them were freed against heavy bribes.
With no accountability from the government, the state was
virtually turned into a huge police camp. Along with detention of
thousands of youth leadership of political dissent is either
detained in police stations or Placed under House Arrest.
TORTURE
Torture in Indian occupied Kashmir is not new. Indian army and
Para-military forces continue to employ third degree torture on
the Kashmiris. According to Julia Meszaros Doctoral candidate
at Florida International University in the Global Sociocultural
Studies Department, The Indian army has tortured one out of
every six people living in the occupied State of Jammu &
Kashmir. Torture continues with impunity on 12th of May
people of Pazlipora village alleged that the 22 Rashtriya Rifes
camp located in Pazlipora area of North Kashmirs Sopore
town has allegedly become a continuous source of nuisance
for the locals. According to the locals Major Abishiek has let
loose a reign of terror in the area as he directing the youth to
report on the camp where they are being interrogated and
tortured. Locals alleged During the late night hours, our
houses are raided and the inhabitants harassed and tortured,
They alleged that forces detained the youth and beat them to
pulp in custody. During late night raid Mudasir Ahmad Reshi,
Irshad Ahmad Rather, Sajjad Rather, Zahid, MudasirNajjar,
Waseem Ahmad Reshi besides several others were taken into
custody and tortured and some of them are battling for life in
different hospitals while some remain in custody of Army.
PELLET GUNS PROVING DEADLY
IN KASHMIR
The deadly Pump Action Shotgun or Pellet Gun is nowadays
again in news as four youth have got injured in south Kashmirs
Shopian town, with two of them even losing vision. A preferred
weapon against the street protesters in Kashmir, Pellet guns
were as a non-lethal alternative to bullets against protesters
after nearly Hundreds unarmed demonstrators were killed in
fring by the police and paramilitary forces during 2008, 2009
and 2010 peaceful protests. Kashmir has become a laboratory
for Indian establishment to hone and improvise its Arsenals
when unarmed Kashmiries surge on roads demanding nothing
but their inalienable right to self determination. A recent study
conducted at the Sheri Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences
(SKIMS) has revealed that pellet guns caused death of at least
six persons and injuries to 198 others. Five persons, according
to it, also lost their eyesight. The study says the weapon is a
pump action shotgun or pellet gun and its single shot fres
numerous pellets that can hit multiple targets at once. Despite
the repeated demands by human rights organizations to
discontinue the use of pellet guns to deal with mobs, law
enforcing agencies in the valley continue to use the same with
impunity. Government is duty bound under law to protect the
lives of people and in no case they can approve such
measures which would jeopardize the live of common people
in the name of maintaining law and order. So law enforcement
agencies should stop using this highly damage causing
weapon.
DISCRIMINATION AGAINST
KASHMIRI STUDENTS
Three Kashmiri students from a private university in Greater
Noida have alleged that fellow
students misbehaved with
them and forced them to
shout anti-Pakistan slogans.
Now the matter is not only
that they forced them to shout
anti-Pakistan slogans. But
certainly they were accused
of being terrorists.
The incident is reported
almost after two months
when 67 Kashmiri students
were expelled from a Meerut
university after cheering for
Pakistan cricket team
during an Asia Cup match against India. Was that fair?
CONCLUSION
Innocent killings and other such incidents reinforce the already
present political alienation among people of Indian occupied
Jammu Kashmir. Continued human rights violations, as always
witnessed, plunge the Kashmir in further political and economic
turmoil- the following curfews, protests and spate of disturbance
do not help in confict resolution. The economic impact of this
culture of impunity is tremendous - denting economic activities,
stalling development works and aggravating poverty. Even as
the government has talked about a probe on each incident, it is
now well known that these probes do precious little in fxing
responsibility and taking corrective measures. Armed Forces
Special Powers Act (AFSPA) leaves no room for fxing
accountability in such acts. The cycle of killings, impunity,
destabilization and further killings has to stop somewhere.
Failure to appreciate the perils of impunity could throw the state
back to a kind of situation that would not help durable peace
and stability in the region.
11, 2nd Floor, Victory Tower,
F-8 Markaz, Islamabad Pakistan
Tel: +92 51 2287288-9
Fax: +92 51 2287290
e-mail: kiir@kiir.org.pk
w w w . k i i r . o r g . p k
Perils of
Impunit
in Indian Occupied Kashmir