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==Indian Security Forces==
==Indian Security Forces==
International NGO's as well as the US State Department have documented human rights abuses including disappearances, torture and arbitrary executions carried out during India's counter terrorism operations.<ref name=Forsythe>{{cite book|last=Forsythe|first=David P.|title=Encyclopedia of human rights, Volume 1|year=2009|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-533402-9|page=306}}</ref> Human Rights Watch has also accused the Indian security forces of using children as spies and messengers, although the Indian government denies this allegation.<ref name=Hartjen>{{cite book|last=Hartjen|first=Clayton|title=The Global Victimization of Children: Problems and Solutions|year=2011|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-1-4614-2178-8|edition=2012|coauthors=S. Priyadarsini|page=106}}</ref>
Thousands of Kashmiris have been killed by Indian security and paramillitary forces by indiscriminate use of force and torture, firing on demonstrations, custodial killings, fake encounters and unlawful detensions<ref>http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/INDIA948.PDF</ref><ref>http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA20/033/1995/en/ba90f2fe-eb2d-11dd-92ac-295bdf97101f/asa200331995en.html</ref><ref>http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,AMNESTY,,IND,,3ae6a9f20,0.html</ref><ref>http://www.hrw.org/news/2008/08/18/kashmir-tinderbox</ref><ref>http://www.hrw.org/news/2010/09/03/letter-srinagar</ref><ref>http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/kashmir/abuses.htm</ref><ref>http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/INDIA937.PDF</ref><ref>http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA20/006/1992/en/d8f411b5-edaa-11dd-9ad7-350fb2522bdb/asa200061992en.html</ref>. Kashmiris in thousands have vanished in enforced disappearances by Indian security forces <ref>http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/kashmir/abus-dis.htm</ref><ref>http://www.hrw.org/news/2009/02/09/india-hold-abusers-kashmir-accountable</ref><ref>http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2006/78871.htm</ref>.International NGO's as well as the US State Department have documented human rights abuses including disappearances, torture and arbitrary executions carried out during India's counter terrorism operations.<ref name=Forsythe>{{cite book|last=Forsythe|first=David P.|title=Encyclopedia of human rights, Volume 1|year=2009|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-533402-9|page=306}}</ref> Human Rights Watch has also accused the Indian security forces of using children as spies and messengers, although the Indian government denies this allegation.<ref name=Hartjen>{{cite book|last=Hartjen|first=Clayton|title=The Global Victimization of Children: Problems and Solutions|year=2011|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-1-4614-2178-8|edition=2012|coauthors=S. Priyadarsini|page=106}}</ref>
[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]], citing a WikiLeaks report quotes the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) that Indian security forces were physically abusing detainees by beatings, electrocutions and sexual interference. These detainees weren't Islamic insurgents or Pakistani-backed insurgents but civilians, in contrast to India's continual allegations of Pakistani involvement. The detainees were "connected to or believed to have information about the insurgents". According to ICRC, 681 of the 1296 detainees whom it interviewed claimed torture. US officials have been quoted reporting "terrorism investigations and court cases tend to rely upon confessions, many of which are obtained under duress if not beatings, threats, or in some cases torture."<ref name="Telegraph-20101217">{{cite news|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8208084/WikiLeaks-India-systematically-torturing-civilians-in-Kashmir.html|title=WikiLeaks: India 'systematically torturing civilians in Kashmir'|last=Allen|first=Nick|date=2010-12-17|work=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/|publisher=Telegraph Media Group Limited|language=English|accessdate=11 March 2012|location=London}}</ref>
[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]], citing a WikiLeaks report quotes the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) that Indian security forces were physically abusing detainees by beatings, electrocutions and sexual interference. These detainees weren't Islamic insurgents or Pakistani-backed insurgents but civilians, in contrast to India's continual allegations of Pakistani involvement. The detainees were "connected to or believed to have information about the insurgents". According to ICRC, 681 of the 1296 detainees whom it interviewed claimed torture. US officials have been quoted reporting "terrorism investigations and court cases tend to rely upon confessions, many of which are obtained under duress if not beatings, threats, or in some cases torture."<ref name="Telegraph-20101217">{{cite news|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8208084/WikiLeaks-India-systematically-torturing-civilians-in-Kashmir.html|title=WikiLeaks: India 'systematically torturing civilians in Kashmir'|last=Allen|first=Nick|date=2010-12-17|work=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/|publisher=Telegraph Media Group Limited|language=English|accessdate=11 March 2012|location=London}}</ref>
=== Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 ===
=== Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 ===

Revision as of 10:24, 11 July 2012

Human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir
LocationJammu and Kashmir
DateOngoing
TargetCivilians and combatants
PerpetratorsIndian security forces
Kashmiri separatist groups

Human rights abuse in Jammu and Kashmir, a disputed territory administered by India is an ongoing issue. The abuses range from mass killings, forced disappearances, rape and torture to political repression and suppression of freedom of speech. The Indian central reserve police force and border security personal and various paramilitary groups have been accused and held accountable for committing severe human rights abuses.[1][2] A WikiLeaks issue accused India of systemic human rights abuses it stated that US diplomats possessed evidence of the apparent wide spread use of torture by Indian police and security forces.[3] Terrorist violence has resulted in ethnic cleansing of lakhs of Kashmiri Pandits [4] A US state government finding reports that the Indian army in Jammu and Kashmir, has carried out extrajudicial killings of innocent civilians and suspected insurgents, however the report has also mentioned killings and abuse being carried out by insurgents and separatists.[5] In 2010, for the first time since the 1980's, the number of civilian deaths attributed to the Indian forces was higher than those attributed to terrorists. [6]

Indian Security Forces

Thousands of Kashmiris have been killed by Indian security and paramillitary forces by indiscriminate use of force and torture, firing on demonstrations, custodial killings, fake encounters and unlawful detensions[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. Kashmiris in thousands have vanished in enforced disappearances by Indian security forces [15][16][17].International NGO's as well as the US State Department have documented human rights abuses including disappearances, torture and arbitrary executions carried out during India's counter terrorism operations.[4] Human Rights Watch has also accused the Indian security forces of using children as spies and messengers, although the Indian government denies this allegation.[2] The Telegraph, citing a WikiLeaks report quotes the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) that Indian security forces were physically abusing detainees by beatings, electrocutions and sexual interference. These detainees weren't Islamic insurgents or Pakistani-backed insurgents but civilians, in contrast to India's continual allegations of Pakistani involvement. The detainees were "connected to or believed to have information about the insurgents". According to ICRC, 681 of the 1296 detainees whom it interviewed claimed torture. US officials have been quoted reporting "terrorism investigations and court cases tend to rely upon confessions, many of which are obtained under duress if not beatings, threats, or in some cases torture."[18]

Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958

Indian military forces in Jammu and Kashmir operate under emergency powers granted to them by the central government. These powers have been used by the military to curtail civil liberties, prompting local support for the Kashmir independence movement and the right of Kashmiris to self-determination.[19]

In July 1990 Indian military was given special powers under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA) that gives protection to Indian Armed Forces personnel from being prosecuted. This law is widely condemned by human rights groups.[20][21] United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay has urged India to repeal AFSPA and to investigate the disappearances in Kashmir. [22]

Fake encounters

A BBC news-story reports on an interview with an anonymous security person's reaction to the 'fake encounter' of a carpenter in Ganderbal near Srinagar, for which seven Jammu and Kashmir state government policemen were charged with murder. It describes 'fake encounter' killings as those in which security personnel kill someone in cold blood while claiming that the casualty occurred in a gun battle. The interviewee remarks that the security personnel comprise Kashmiris and "even surrendered militants", and that this fratricide was most unfortunate.[23] In 2010 three men were reported missing proceeding these missing reports 3 men claimed to be militants were killed in a staged gun battle the army also claimed they had found Pakistani currency among the dead. The major was subsequently suspended and a senior soldier transferred from his post.[24] In a major embarrassment for security forces in Jammu and Kashmir, the encounter in which a top LeT militant from Pakistan was said to have been killed was allegedly fake and the victim was a civilian.[25]

Mass graves

According to a state human rights, commission inquiry there are thousands of bullet-ridden bodies buried in unmarked graves in Jammu and Kashmir. Of the 2730 bodies uncovered so far 574 bodies were identified as missing locals in contrast to the Indian governments insistence that all the graves belong to foreign militants[26] The British parliament commented on the recent discovery and expressed its sadness and regret of over 6,000 unmarked graves[27]

Extra Judicial killing by security personnel and terrorists

A 2010 US state department reports major human rights problems included reported extrajudicial killings of persons in custody, killings of protesters by the government. It also reports that separatist insurgents and terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir, the Northeastern States, and the Naxalite belt committed numerous serious abuses, including killing armed forces personnel, police, government officials, and civilians. Insurgents engaged in widespread torture, rape, beheadings, kidnapping, and extortion. The report quotes the Institute for Conflict Management in that 1,616 fatalities occurred as a result of arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of life, this included members of security forces, individuals classified by the government as terrorists, and civilians, these statistics represent the entire country (India), for the year 2010, up to 17 October.[5]

Separatist groups

Reports from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Commission of Jurists confirmed Indian reports of systematic human rights violations by militants which claim Jammu and Kashmir to be part of Pakistan.[4] The Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) has also been blamed of carrying out human rights violations, ranging from kidnapping to ethnic cleansing of several hundred thousand Hindu Kashmiri Pandits.[4]

In August 2000, militant groups killed 30 Hindu pilgrims in what became known as the 2000 Amarnath pilgrimage massacre.[28] The Indian government blamed the Lashkar-e-Taiba for the killings.[29][30] The BBC writes that "hundreds of Hindu labourers ha[d] been leaving the Kashmir Valley" in August 2000 due to targeted killings against Hindu workers.[28]

Ethnic cleansing of Hindus and Sikhs

Post-1989, Kashmiri Pandits and other minority groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been targets of ethnic cleansing by Jihadi elements which India alleges and blames on the Inter-Services Intelligence.[31] The Kashmiri Pandits, a community of Hindu Brahmins, then comprising 5% of the population of the state were the primary targets of Islamic militants, who also sought to also eliminate Kashmir's record of 5000 years of Hindu Sanskrit culture and scholarship as well as the tolerant indigenous multiculturalism referred to as Kashmiriat.[32] As many as 400,000 Kashmiri Pandits fled the state and ethnic violence is considered to have killed 30,000 people.[33] Muslim paramilitaries raped, tortured and killed thousands of Kashmiri Pandits, burnt their temples, idols and holy books.[32]

According to Bhatt a United Nations adviser, the houses of Kashmir Pandits have been burnt, many killed, and that there has been "an almost total ethnic cleansing of Kashmir Pandits from Kashmir by fundamentalist forces of terrorism organised and supported from Pakistan".[34]

Other minorities such as Kashmiri Sikhs were also targeted. According to Chitkara the killing of Sikhs near Anantnag in 2001, by the Jehadis was aimed at ethnic cleansing. Hindus have migrated from most of the Kashmir valley, Sikhs who form a very small percentage could be forced to migrate in the wake of such killings.[35]

Online protests

Main article: I Protest

A grass root movement of E-Protesters, I Protest, uses electronic media, blogging and social networking to protest against the alleged civilian killings by the Indian Security Forces in Indian-administered Kashmir.[36]

See also

References

  1. ^ Hindwan, Sudhir (1998). Verma, Bharat (ed.). "Policing the police". Indian Defence Review. 13 (2). Lancer: 95. ISSN 0970-2512.
  2. ^ a b Hartjen, Clayton (2011). The Global Victimization of Children: Problems and Solutions (2012 ed.). Springer. p. 106. ISBN 978-1-4614-2178-8. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ Burke, Jason (16 December 2010). "WikiLeaks cables: India accused of systematic use of torture in Kashmir". The Guardian. London.
  4. ^ a b c d Forsythe, David P. (2009). Encyclopedia of human rights, Volume 1. Oxford University Press. p. 306. ISBN 978-0-19-533402-9.
  5. ^ a b "2010 Human Rights Reports: India". State.gov. Retrieved 2012-03-10.
  6. ^ "For the first time, securitymen kill more civilians than terrorists in J&K". Times of India. 7 September 2010. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
  7. ^ http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/INDIA948.PDF
  8. ^ http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA20/033/1995/en/ba90f2fe-eb2d-11dd-92ac-295bdf97101f/asa200331995en.html
  9. ^ http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,AMNESTY,,IND,,3ae6a9f20,0.html
  10. ^ http://www.hrw.org/news/2008/08/18/kashmir-tinderbox
  11. ^ http://www.hrw.org/news/2010/09/03/letter-srinagar
  12. ^ http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/kashmir/abuses.htm
  13. ^ http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/INDIA937.PDF
  14. ^ http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA20/006/1992/en/d8f411b5-edaa-11dd-9ad7-350fb2522bdb/asa200061992en.html
  15. ^ http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/kashmir/abus-dis.htm
  16. ^ http://www.hrw.org/news/2009/02/09/india-hold-abusers-kashmir-accountable
  17. ^ http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2006/78871.htm
  18. ^ Allen, Nick (2010-12-17). "WikiLeaks: India 'systematically torturing civilians in Kashmir'". http://www.telegraph.co.uk/. London: Telegraph Media Group Limited. Retrieved 11 March 2012. {{cite news}}: External link in |work= (help)
  19. ^ Yardley, Jim (27 September 2010). "India Reopens Kashmir's Schools, but Many Stay Away". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
  20. ^ "INDIA: SECURITY FORCES CANNOT CLAIM IMMUNITY UNDER AFSPA, MUST FACE TRIAL FOR VIOLATIONS". Amnesty International. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
  21. ^ "Mass Rape Survivors Still Wait for Justice in Kashmir". Thomson Reuters Foundation. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
  22. ^ "India has duty to use global influence to speak out on human rights". United Nations News Service. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
  23. ^ "South Asia | Kashmir's extra-judicial killings". BBC News. 2007-03-08. Retrieved 2012-03-10.
  24. ^ Hussain, Altaf (2010-06-28). "BBC News - 'Fake killings' return to Kashmir". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-03-10.
  25. ^ http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/nation/north/spo-jawan-arrested-fake-encounter-kashmir-victim-civilian-287
  26. ^ LYDIA POLGREEN (August 22, 2011). "Mass Graves Hold Thousands, Kashmir Inquiry Finds". NYTimes.
  27. ^ "Early day motion 2607 - KASHMIR GRAVES - UK Parliament". Parliament.uk. Retrieved 2012-03-10.
  28. ^ a b Amarnath pilgrimage resumes, BBC, 2000-08-04
  29. ^ "Steve Coll: "Zawahiri's record suggests he will struggle" | FRONTLINE". PBS. 2011-05-02. Retrieved 2011-12-17.
  30. ^ Prime Minister Vajpayee's statement in Parliament regarding the recent massacre in Jammu & Kashmir
  31. ^ B. Raman (19 January 2012). "Future Of Kashmiri Pandits". Outlook. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
  32. ^ a b Knuth, Rebecca (2006). Burning books and leveling libraries: extremist violence and cultural destruction. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 77–79. ISBN 978-0-275-99007-7. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
  33. ^ Leather, Kaia (2004). "Kashmiri Separatists : Origins, Competing Ideologies and Prospects for Resolution of the Conflict". In Columbus, Frank (ed.). Asian economic and political issues, Volume 10. Nova Publishers. p. 156. ISBN 978-1-59454-089-9. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
  34. ^ M. K. Kaw; Kashmir Education, Culture, and Science Society (2001). Kashmiri Pandits: looking to the future. APH Publishing. pp. 3–. ISBN 978-81-7648-236-3. Retrieved 11 March 2012.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  35. ^ M. G. Chitkara (2002). Kashmir Shaivism: under siege. APH Publishing. p. 172. ISBN 978-81-7648-360-5. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
  36. ^ "Kashmir protest reaches social networks". Times of India. Aug 6 2010. Retrieved 6 August 2010. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help) [dead link]
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