Human Rights Report

Contents
Introduction 2 Part-1 Women in IOK between Hope & Despair 3 4 5 5 6 7 8 8 10 11 12 Background Women Under Indian Opression State Strategy for Disappearance True Story of A Half Widow Economic Hardship Social Challenges Insecure Children Legal Hardships True Story of Jana Begum Authenticity of Report Demand to UN Part-2 Reports of various organizations 13 14 15 16 17 19 19

2010 Uprising Report of Amnesty International Fake Encounters Custodial Killing of Nazim Rashid Gang Rape in Indian Occupied Kashmir Mass Graves in IOK Findings

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Introduction

ashmir dispute and freedom struggle in Kashmir is as old as independent India and Pakistan. In 1947 two new nations, Pakistan and Indian emerged in South Asia - on the basis of right to self-determination. India conspired with Hindu Maharaja (the ruler of Kashmir at that time) and laid its claim there which the International community did not ratify. India took its claim to the United Nations, where The United Nations Security Council, adopted resolutions 47/ 1948 and 80/ 1949 which provided that the final disposition of the state of Jammu and Kashmir will be made in accordance with the will of the people , expressed through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite conducted under the auspices of the United Nations . These resolutions were signed by both India and Pakistan but India has thus far failed to honor the commitments it made. An overview of Kashmir during last twenty years exposes that over one hundred thousand Kashmiris have been killed, thousands are imprisoned and the remaining are tortured either physically or mentally. Crack downs are common, torture, enforced disappearances, custodial killings and false encounters are widespread. Rape continues to be used as instrument of war and collective punishments such as putting entire markets, villages, and crops to torch have been the rewards for even a whisper of defiance. After 9/11 India tried its best to link Kashmiris freedom struggle with international terrorism but could not succeed. On the contrary, the people of Jammu and Kashmir realized what international community demanded from them and transformed their struggle into a civil, peaceful dissent. But the response from the Indian state remained irrational as these peaceful demonstrations were met with brute force, resulting in over 156 deaths in 2007, 67 in 2008, 75 in 2009 and over 122 deaths in 2010. This handout is based on the recent report released by the APDP Half Widow Half Wife, an enquiry into the 2010 uprisings, reports of Amnesty International. U.N. Special Rapporteurs, the recent custodial killings, false encounters, gang rape and investigation Report of State Human Rights Commission of Indian Occupied Kashmir about mass graves released on 21st of August.
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Part - 1 Women in IOK between hope & despair

Excerpts are taken from report released by APDP Half widow half wife

BACKGROUND
nforced or Involuntary Disappearance (EIDs) is the worst form of human rights violation. Such disappearance does not only adversely affect the life and liberty of the person disappeared but it leaves the entire concerned human circle of the victim in a limbo enveloped by inconsolable grief and prodigious pain. This is more dreadful than any of the defined crimes in the penal laws of countries because the suffering of the victim and his relatives is not of one time, rather lingers on and on due the uncertainty factor involved. No knowledge as to whether the victim is dead or alive makes the life of family members a living hell.

Parveena Ahangar, Chairperson, Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP)

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The sordid practice of Enforced or involuntary Disappearances in Kashmir started with the beginning of peoples active uprising against Indian occupation in 1989. The heavy deployment of Indian armed forces, militarily personals equipped with special laws of immunity has provided a momentum to this abhors able practice. The gravity of Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances can be realized by going through the figures and stories put up by NGOs and salutary organizations like Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir based NGO- Association for Parents of Disappeared persons (APDP). The APDP has claimed that more than 8000 people have been subjected to forced disappearances by the Indian forces in the last twenty one years. Over 1500 of them leaving behind their wives and children. Recently Association of parents of disappeared persons releases a 48 page report on an important aspect of the enforced disappearances. The report titled half widow half wives, argues that, women and children whose husbands or fathers disappear are caught in a legal conundrum that does little to compensate or protect them. This report examines the situation of women labeled half widows in Indian-occupied Jammu & Kashmir: women whose husbands have disappeared but not yet have been declared deceased.

WOMEN UNDER INDIAN OPPRESSION

ith the heavy militarization in the Kashmir Valley, women have often been the targets and survivors of violence suffering from trauma, injury, and disease. Like most conflict situations, gendered violence is typically overshadowed by attention to harder security matters. Statistics of violence against women are thus especially lacking: while taboos around sexual violence result in under-reporting, the narrow definition outside the overall context of violence against women has prevented accurate assessments of the actual harms perceived by women. Thus, the actual extent of sexual violence is unknown though various independent observers have reported its prevalence in womens everyday lives. For example, in 1991, more than forty women, aged between 13 and 80 years, were allegedly raped at gunpoint by the 4th Rajputana Rifles Unit in village Kunan Poshpora, Kupwara. A
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subsequent one-man inquiry team stated that the allegations by the village were a massive hoax. In 2009, the bodies of sisters-in-law Neelofar Jan and Asiya Jan were found in a shallow rivulet after an overnight search by their family and local villagers in Shopian. Though a postmortem declared both women had been raped and murdered, subsequent government commissions and a Central Bureau of Investigation report declared no rape or murder had been committed.

STATE STRATEGY FOR DISAPPEARANCE

he 1,417 cases of disappearances documented by APDP reveal a common pattern: The forces enter and search a house and take the eldest son, stating they need to question him. This son is never seen again. In most cases, wives and other family members who hunt for their loved one are sent from one military base to another, one jail to another, each suggesting some clue at the next. Many times, officials, perhaps to give fleeting hope to the family, even give a fixed date and time when they will allow a meeting, and ask the family to bring a fresh set of clothes for the missing person. Later, they state that they do not have the person in their custody. He has truly disappeared. As wives of men thus disappeared, half widows face various economic, social, and emotional insecurities. The absence of husbands thus renders them economically reliant, most often on their in-laws, with their property and custody rights undetermined. Government officials at times make direct demands of money or even sexual favors. Amidst this socioeconomic insecurity, women battle their emotional traumas while struggling as single mothers, many of whose children also often show manifestations of trauma. These various insecurities are compounded rather than addressed by the legal and administrative remedies currently available to half widows.

TRUE STORY OF A HALF WIDOW

ena was rendered a half widow in 2003. Her 35-year-old husband Muneer worked as a mason. On 19 July 2003, men of the 2nd Rashtriya Rifles (a paramilitary unit) knocked at their door. The male members of the family were separated from the women and children. Muneer, the eldest brother, was escorted out of the house. The family was told he would be returned the next day after some questioning. Eight years later, Muneer has still not returned. We went and asked them and they refused knowing anything about my husband, says Hena. We looked everywhere, we even rented a shikara, in case he was killed and his body thrown in the water. Hena recalls with painful anger how some of the policemen she approached had the gall to say, hes probably gone across (to Pakistan), just like that, they said
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it! My husband was taken from the family sitting room. Yet those men roam free, and I am neither a married woman nor a widow...Im just waiting. In 2003, a lawsuit around Muneers disappearance was filed by a lawyer, Parvez Imroz. The legal case has been impeded by several roadblocks and is at a complete standstill since 2009. Meanwhile, Henas economic situation has only deteriorated. She is dependent on her in-laws, with whom she has continued to live. But now the children are older, things are cramped and tense. Hena works in fields nearby and earns a little less than that per day. When Riyaz finds no work, quarrels ensue between Riyaz and Henas father-in-law. He has said he wont give these fatherless good- for-nothing boys any share of the inheritance. And when he gets really mad, he even tells me to go get remarried. 19 February 2007 brought further traumatizing news for Hena. A skeleton had been found in an abandoned building near Henas village. Since it is not uncommon that men who are picked up are tortured and killed at nearby places, the villagers alerted Henas family that the skeleton might be Muneers (but it might also be of anyone of the numerous people who have disappeared in that or neighboring villages. The exhumation, with a household rake, was conducted by Henas brother-in-law, Bilal*, while local police officers sat nearby and observed. From some clothes and a fractured bone, Bilal thought it might indeed be Muneer. But the clothes were so dirty, and it was only a heap of bones, how can I say it was my husband? No one told us they took him to an abandoned house...? I dont believe that was him, says Hena. A DNA sample was apparently taken, but the forensic reports have never been released to Hena and her family. While the Courts and government have remained non-responsive, Hena herself has been steadfast in her search for Muneer. One, I want to know what happened to him. Two, I want justice. The culprits should be held responsible, she maintains.

ECONOMIC HARDSHIP
he absence of husbands of missing persons renders women economically vulnerable. In already socioeconomically weak families such vulnerability leads to destitution. Generally, the husband is the sole breadwinner in the family and his disappearance results in an abrupt paucity of income. Further, several other potential sources of relief, such as issuance of ration cards or transfer of husbands property or bank accounts are also closed to half widows. This is because these processes either require death certificates, which the half widows do not have since their husbands are not officially recognized as deceased; or involve government verification procedures, which mostly result in the inquiring officer noting the person is missing
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The half widow is mostly not equipped, educationally or socially, to begin earning for her family. As a result she, as well as any children she has, become dependent on others. In cases where there is no family able or willing to support the half widow and her children, they are rendered homeless. The children may be put in an orphanage, for example, those run by the Jammu and Kashmir Yateem Trust. Some half widows are able to find menial work, others turn to begging, and a few have been known to resort to prostitution.

SOCIAL CHALLANGES
he prolonged and indeterminate nature of the husbands absence makes half widows vulnerable to several threats against their physical and mental well-being. While social networks have been crucial to most half widows for surviving their trauma, societal biases have at times further traumatized half widows. Half widows often suffer further loss when they are separated from their children. Given the aforementioned tense dynamics in the in-laws home, the in-laws at times choose to keep and raise their grandchildren, while turning out the half widow and providing no visitation rights. In other cases, the half widows natal family takes her in only on the condition that her children remain with the in-laws or be sent to an orphanage. In still other cases, children are divided between the half widows parents and in-laws and she may never see one/some of her children. Their forced status as single women coupled with gender biases results in half widows facing social isolation, shaming, and physical vulnerability. They are often watched with suspicion: being without a man, they are accused of trying to attract other men should they continue to dress as they did when married, or leave the house for work or everyday chores, or meet with lawyers or government officials. Some half widows have also reported becoming targets of sexual violence from those viewing them as defenseless without a partner. The various socio-economic pressures together have psychological effects on half widows that largely go unaddressed. Most half widows report anxiety, sleep disorders, and lack of interest in everyday activities. Many half widows exhibit Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD); anxiety attacks may be triggered by memories of the disappearance or the disappeared. The Government Psychiatric Diseases Hospital
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in Srinagar continues to receive 200 patients a day in its Out Patients Department. However, doctors there report not seeing half widows or other family members of the disappeared come in for treatment very often; the families continue to harbor hope without recognizing that retaining such hope has taken its toll on their own mental well-being. Half widows are known to self-medicate, consuming easily available antidepressants, resulting in further health issues. In a vicious cycle, the worsening mental and physical health has adverse effects on their economic situation, which further worsens their social standing and vulnerability.

INSECURE CHILDREN

he initial trauma of the disappearance, and the resulting economic hardships and social challenges-that combines to have lasting adverse effects on the lives of half widows-in turn deeply affects their children as well. These children either grow up in the insecurity that shrouds the lives of half widows or away from their mothers in orphanages or in their grandparents homes. They carry the social stigma of being fatherless in a society where the fathers rather than the mothers-name, status, and protection are crucial to a childs identity. Many half widows thus often lie to their children for years about their fathers fate, in an attempt to protect them from stigmatization. After the disappearance of their father, childrens education is often suspended and they become vulnerable to exploitation. Due to the abrupt paucity of funds, children of half widows are often removed from schools. Given the gender biases, young girls are the first to suffer; their education is discontinued before that of their brothers. Furthermore, the economic conditions force some of these children into child labor. Such interrupted childhoods, the social isolation of being fatherless, and the memory of the injustice against their family, result in feelings of resentment, loneliness, and anger.

LEGAL HARDSHIPS

he only other possible source for non-legal relief lies in the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC). While this body is a toothless body, its mandate includes making advisory opinions in human rights cases. From time to time it may advise relief for half widows in the form of ex gratia relief and/or the commission of an investigation into the disappearance. The law requires the state government to respond
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to the SHRCs report within four weeks from the receipt of intimation and to take the related appropriate action. However, SHRC opinions often remain unimplemented and half widows have to then resort to the courts and file writs regarding inaction by the state. The state may respond in one of three ways: by requesting additional time; by stating the SHRC opinion is excessive and needs amendment; or by rejecting the opinion (which is advisory and non-binding). Thus, half widows often do not find remedy in the SHRC even after spending years pursuing their cases. In the case of legal remedies, the hurdles begin during the initial search for the disappeared husband. When a half widow approaches the police, they often refuse to register a First Information Report (FIR) and at most file a Missing Person Report. Without an FIR, the investigation into the crime of disappearance does not commence. The very registration of an FIR, a basic task for the police, is most often not carried out without the intervention of a lawyer. The legal remedy is the half widows last option when all else has failed, and is mostly pursued only if a lawyer takes the case pro bono, essentially free of cost. If a lawyer begins working on the case, she will file habeas corpus petition in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, seeking the whereabouts of the disappeared from the State. The State almost invariably denies knowledge of the disappearance. The Court takes either of two routes. It may order an inquiry (by a District Judge or Chief Judicial Magistrate), wait to receive the findings, and then decide to either direct the police to file an FIR (if one has not been filed, which is most often the case) and conduct the investigation and/or order (in rare cases)

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the State to pay ex gratia relief to the petitioner. The second route is that the Court order the furtherance of an investigation into the disappearance in cases where the FIR was filed, but the alleged perpetrators failed to cooperate with the police. However, even completed police investigations do not ensure that the case will move forward swiftly. For example, under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act armed forces have immunity and cannot be tried in civilian court unless formal permission, sanction, is granted by the central government to authorize a particular prosecution. Thus, if the police investigation does find the forces guilty of the crime, the sanction process begins. The case file then goes to the Home Department in Jammu and Kashmir, which passes it on to the Home Department in New Delhi, which in turn sends it to the Defense Secretary (when the perpetrator indicted by the police belongs to the army) or the Home Secretary (when the perpetrator belongs to the paramilitary forces). This extra ordinary lengthy legal process thus often results in the half widows tiredness and inability to closely pursue the case, which may lead to her lawyers laxity or even abandonment of the entire case. There is a bias against a woman seeking ex gratia relief for the disappeared; it is equated to her selling her husband. Also, half widows who pursue remedies have to necessarily meet with police and government officials, and are thus at times suspected by their community of having become informers for the government, military, and or of paramilitary. In sum, pursuing remedies is tiring process and the problems faced by Half Widows are compounded rather than addressed . even for the few half widows who persevere the process, justice remain elusive. Jana begums Case illustrates;

True Story of Jana Begum

18-19 January 2002: Janas husband, Manzoor Ahmed, is picked up by the Army from their family home, never to return. 20 January- 31 January 2002: Jana and other family members go to the Police and search in the Rashtriya Rifles Regimental Center in ChaarChinar, Srinagar. Police refuse to lodge a First Information Report (FIR). Jana, her daughters, and neighbors begin public protests. 1 February 2002: Police finally lodge the FIR but take no action. Jana Begum 16 February 2002: Colonel Kishore Malhotra (who had led the raid on house on the night of 18 January) visits Janas home, reiterating that he had committed no wrong10

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doing, while assuring the family that Ahmed would return home soon. 24 June 2002: Janas lawyer files a writ petition before High Court, after inaction by the police. 17 March 2003: High Court holds that an inquiry must be held by the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM). 10 October 2003: CJM conducts inquiry (calling witnesses to the disappearance) and files his report with the High Court. 24 July 2004: High Court orders that since the FIR had been filed, the police must carry out an expeditious investigation. 19 April 2005: Since the ordered investigation had not commenced, Janas lawyer filed a contempt petition in the High Court. 16 April 2007: High Court orders that the investigation must be completed within two months and instructs the Director General of Police (DGP) to personally monitor the investigation. 24 April 2007: DGP files compliance report stating that the relevant Army commanders had been asked to provide the whereabouts of Col. Malhotra. 24 May 2007: High Court orders that Col. Malhotra be presented before the Court within ten days. 31 May 2007: High Court passes another order with the same instructions. 11 October 2007: High Court repeats its order. 15 November 2007: Direct communique sent to Col. Malhotra. 12 December 2007, 19 February 2008, 7 April 2008, 13 May 2008, 10 July 2008: Court serves further notices to Col. Malhotra and Army. 10 July 2008: Army submits that due to Col. Malhotras sensitive nature of duty at the Line of Control, the Special Investigation Team should come and meet with him in the Army Head Quarters. The High Court rejects this prayer.August 2009: Indian Supreme Court dismisses a Special Leave Petition filed by the Army claiming that Col. Malhotras appearing would be tantamount to prosecution, which was barred in case of Army personnel unless sanction was obtained from the Central Government (Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1990). As of this report, 2011: Case is ongoing in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court. Years since Jana Begums husbands disappearance: 9.

AUTHENTICITY OF REPORT
esponding to the report Govind Acharya from Amnesty International, in an interview to Al Jazeera said that the most important aspect of the report is noting the sheer volume of hardship that the half-widows face above and beyond having to deal with the disappearance of their spouse. The report is incredibly useful in linking the past with the present and future. In other words, its not just about the mourning of a lost loved one, but its about the deprivation that resulted from that loss. Khurram Parvez, the programme co-coordinator from the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), says that the most surprising finding of the report was the inaction of the state to the crisis. The state authorities have not moved, even years after the tragedies, which have ruined the past, present and future of so many families. The daily struggles of existence and seeking justice unabated by these women have created examples of unflinching courage.
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UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances on the occasion of the International Day of the Disappeared reminded the states, in its statement on 29 August 2007 of their obligations under the Declaration for the Protection of all persons against enforced disappearances and to conduct effective investigations regarding all cases. This Report will not bring the dead home; but it has brought to light Indias violations of United Nations Charter and Conventions in the hope that the world community will be moved to action. The signing of International Convention for the Protection of All persons from Enforced Disappearance by India along with 60 other countries have instilled a novel optimism and rekindled the dwindling ray of hope. The convention was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 20, 2006. Unlike the 1992 Declaration on the Protection from Enforced Disappearances, the present treaty is of legally binding nature, which enhances its significance manifold. The Article 1 emphatically declares that No one should be subjected to Enforced disappearances and no exceptional circumstance whatsoever may be invoked as a justification Article 5 declares Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances to be a crime against humanity and thus would attract the consequences provided for under such applicable law.

DEMAND TO UN

hairperson of the APDP, Parveena Ahanger says: Our demand is that the Indian government should first stop subjecting people to enforced disappearances and should secondly investigate all these cases. We protest to tell them we are fighting for our children. We dont need any compensation or ex-gratia relief.

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Part - 2 Reports of various organizations

Excerpts are taken from reports of Amnesty International (a lawless law), an Inquiry into to the mass uprising of 2010 by The Fact Finding Team of other media New Dehli and other media communication Banglore, report of the investigative unit of the State Human Rights Commission of IOK and reports presented by UN Special Rapporteurs on Extra-Judicial, Summary and Arbitrary execution and Freedom of Opinion and Expression.

2010 UPRISING
he mass uprising of mid-2010 in Indian Occupied Kashmir sent shock waves across all of India. There are different opinions about when the 2010 civil disturbances in Kashmir, locally called the uprising or Intifada, began. The killing of Zahid Farooq in the Nishat Brane neighbourhood of Srinagar in February has been identified in some narratives as the point at which public rage erupted. Others have noted on the cold-blooded murder of three i.e., Shahzad Ahmad, Riyaz Ahmad, and Mohammad Shafi, who were shot down in a village near Kupwara in an alleged armed encounter on 30 April 2010. It took furious reaction of the local people for an official commitment to fix responsibility for the atrocity. But maybe these protests would not have gathered the dimensions of a full-fledged rebellion, had it not been for the killing of 17-year old Tufail Ahmad Mattoo in Srinagar on 11 June. Different interpretations are possible, but it remains a fact that official response to each of these incidents has fuelled public fury. Protests and demonstrations through the Summer of 2010 had an intensity never seen since the first eruption of the Azaadi (freedom) movement, but there was perhaps warning signals available from the two earlier years. A rising level of public anger was evident in Kashmir in both 2008 and 2009. Within Kashmiri civil society, there is a perception that much of their most valued territory is being encroached upon by Indian security camps/training areas. A seemingly exaggerated figure is often heard in the valley that no less than 1.5 million acres (about 600,000 hectares or 6,000 square kilometers) of its land is under the occupation of the security forces.
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Irrespective of the figures, the indubitable reality is that Kashmiris see the presence of the military; and the occupation of parts of their land as abiding proof that they live in a state of un freedom. The substantive content of Azaadi cannot be very easily described, but the absence of freedom is a very visible reality in Kashmir. 117 people were estimated to have died in crowd control actions by the security forces in Kashmir, and hundreds that have been injured have all been victims of a highly unequal street contest that went on for four months in the valley. It cannot, by any stretch of imagination, be said that the security forces who inflicted such damage were acting in self-defense. All through the four-month long killing, questions were raised by various groups and opposition parties. People in Kashmir are accustomed to seeing the police go wild in face of rising protests. What sets the events of 2010 apart from the past is the absolute freehand that the police and security forces assumed in dealing with the demonstrations which resulted in worst human rights violations in Kashmir. This is amply evident in the incidents at Pattan and Palhallan where particular individuals were picked out for acts of targeted retribution. Kashmiris are certainly right in questioning why similar protests across India are treated differently. It is becoming an irrefutable case, an indubitable consequence of the culture of impunity that has flourished over the decades that special security laws such as Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) have been in force.

REPORT OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

n 21-March-2011, Amnesty International, in its report A Lawless Law termed the Public Safety Act (PSA) a lawless law and asked the State government to repeal it. Amnesty International criticized the authorities for using administrative detention as a tool to hold hundreds of people each year without charge or trial in order to keep them out of circulation. Amnesty International further says that many of the people detained under the PSA may have committed no recognizably criminal offence at all. Under the PSA, detention can be justified for undefined acts prejudicial to the security of the State or prejudicial to the maintenance of public order. The possibility of detention on such vague and broadly defined allegations violates the principle of legality required by Article 9(1) of the International Covenant on civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which India is a party. On 22 October, the Special Rapporteur on Promotion and Protection of the Right to
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Freedom of Opinion and Expression, jointly with the Special Rapporteur on Extra judicial killings, sent an allegation letter concerning the killings of civilians by Forces in Jammu and Kashmir and raised the issue that journalists and human rights defenders are being targeted by the authorities. According to reliable sources, encounter killings are used by the security forces to create the impression of national threat and the extension of cross broader terrorism. On April 30 2010, for example, Indian armed forces claimed that three foreign militants namely Shahzad Ahmed Khan , Riyaz Ahmed , and Mohammad Shafi were killed in an encounter in Machil sector of Kupwara district. Later, on 28th May, 2010 it was reported as fake encounter killings. In addition, state authorities have reportedly been targeting journalists and human rights defenders as a means of preventing them from discharging their functions.

FAKE ENCOUNTERS
8th of August 2011 brought awful embarrassment for Indian army when 12 hours long encounter in which a top militant from Pakistan was said to have been killed proved fake and the victim turned out to be a mentally challenged Hindu beggar. Slain person was identified as Ashok Kumar Son of Chait Singh Reasi. Earlier army claimed the deceased to have been divisional commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) abu Usman . The event unfolded when police handed over the body to local Muslims for the last rites and during last bath he was found to be a non-Muslim. So, people refused to bury his body, saying his last rites should be done in accordance to his religion. Following the controversy, senior police officers took the body to the hospital to find out his religion. Immediately thereafter, S P O Noor Hussain was taken into custody who exposed the entire story being fake and admitted involvement of him and a Territory Army jawan Abdul Majeed. Later, SSP Ashkoor Wani told reporters that SPO Noor Hussain and the jawan Abdul Majeed were arrested for carrying out the fake encounter by murdering a civilian and calling him divisional commander of LeT. According to the SSP, the duo managed the encounter for getting reward for killing a top militant. With the enforcement of AFSPA, Fake encounter killing of innocent people at the hands of armed forces has become customary. Rarely do such incidents come to light except when some individual members of the armed forces expose it. In 2010 April Abbas Hussain Shah of 161 Battalion of the Territorial Army in Gauntmullah, Baramullah, who himself was involved in the conspiracy, confirmed the killing of three youths on April 30 at Machil sector along the LoC in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir. The Army officers claimed that they were Pakistani terrorists and were
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killed during an encounter while infiltrating into the country, inquiries later revealed that they were residents of Nadihal in Baramullah district. In March 2010, in a similar incident the Army claimed killing a 70-year-old militant in a gunfight inside Rainawari forests of Handwara. However, the deceased later on turned out to be beggar and the Police registered a murder case against the Indian Army in that case also. In another incident two young men from the valley were fitted with spiked boots and jackets and taken to the LOC with the help of a local SPO to be killed in a fake encounter. Fortunately, the plot became known and the victims were saved from sure death for them and ignominy for their families. According to some reports during the last 21 years, since 1989, 1,00,000 people have been killed and about 10,000 incidents of rape took place in the hands of Armed Forces. According to International Peoples Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice more than eight thousand people have been reported missing during these years which is a direct consequence of AFSPA which gives unfettered powers to armed forces in the areas declared as disturbed. Another dilemma is that the citizens are wholly dependent upon subjective satisfaction of a warrant officer who becomes the ultimate authority to define order and determines the steps to be taken to maintain it. Section 4 (a) of the Act (AFSPA) empowers him to fire upon, or use such force, even to the causing of death, and under sub-section (C) he can arrest any person without warrant who has, or is likely to commit offence; and under sub-section (d) he can enter, and search without warrant any premises to make such arrest. And the worst part of it all is that to take such action the officer needs no permission from a superior and is not answerable to anyone. Furthermore, Under Section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr.P.C.) no court can take cognizance of an offence alleged to have been committed by a public servant or member of the Armed Forces while acting or purporting to act in the discharge of his official duty except with the previous sanction of the central or state government whereas the permission of the central government has to be obtained to prosecute a military officer under Section 7 of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), which practically means that people have no right to approach the court and launch prosecution for atrocities committed by any such officer which resulted only in an increased violation of human rights.

CUSTODIAL KILLING OF NAZIM RASHID

azim Rashid (28 years) died in police custody in Baramulla districts Sopore on 31 July, 2011 a day after his arrest. The family members of Nazim family said that he was picked up by the Special Operations Group (SOG) of Police and army on
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30th July afternoon for questioning in connection with the killing of a civilian in the area. According to his father, When my son did not return home till late evening, I contacted Army officer who informed me that Nazim had been handed over to Special Operations Group (SOG). All efforts to contact Nazim went in vain and the next morning we came to know about his death in custody. Due to the public pressure government has registered a case but looking at the history of inquires there is hardly any room for justice. One hundred seventy three cases of custodial killings and fake encounters have been reported in the state from November 2002 till date. The victims include young boys as well. Parvez Ahmad Dar, student of 9th class of Kangan, Pulwama was allegedly shot dead by paNazim Rashid trolling party of 55RR on July 21, 2005. As per the family version, stated in the report, he was killed without any provocation and early warning.Army, refuting the familys allegation, claimed that he was killed when caught in an encounter between them and militants in the area. On July 23, 2005, three boys were allegedly shot dead by security forces. The boys named Bilal Ahamd Sheikh,Wasim Ahmad Wani, Shabir Ahmad Shah hailed from padergund, Vilgam, Kupwara. On the fateful day, a marriage ceremony was taking place in the area. Public claims that army was aware of the marriage ceremony, as they had been informed days ago that a marriage ceremony is going on in the area and till late evening there might be possibility of public movement. But even then the boys were shot.

GANG RAPE IN INDIAN OCCUPIED KASHMIR

n July 18, 2011, Raquya Bano 30, a young married women was brutally gang raped consecutively for two days by the men in uniform in Manzgam area of Kulgam District. An FIR was registered by the victim in police station but no arrested have been made so far. And while the protests against Raquya Bano case were in progress, there came another molestation attempt by an Indian soldier in Hyderbeg area of Pattan in North of Held Kashmir. Rape in Held Kashmir is not merely a matter of chance nor is it a question of sex. It
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is also not a casual act by some erring soldier. It is rather a question of power and control which is `structured by male soldiers. Being cheaper, more destructive and easier to get away with than other methods of warfare, it has been assumed an instrument of State policy to punish, humiliate and degrade the local population with the sole purpose of forcing them into submission. Dr Maiti, a Professor of Political Science at Rurdwa University, Bengal, explains, Rape continues to be a major instrument of Indian oppression against the Kashmiri people while the majority of victims are civilians. This concept stands fortified by a report of International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) dated March 6, 2001, where it has been mentioned that women are raped in order to humiliate, frighten and defeat the enemy group to which they belong. While addressing a seminar at the UN in Geneva, entitled, Defending the Democratic Processes, British parliamentarian, George Galloway, has also confirmed that India is using rape as a weapon of occupation in Kashmir. A report by Doctors without Borders reveals that Kashmiri women are among the worst sufferers of sexual violence in the world. It further mentions 11.6 per cent of respondents saying they were victims of sexual abuse. Interestingly but unfortunately, the figure is much higher than that of Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka and Chechnya. In other words around three rapes of Kashmiri women are committed after every two days. This serves as a telling comment on the plight of women and on the indifferent attitude of the State towards addressing the issue. Many cases go unreported because of the fear of social stigma, and of reprisal by state agencies. This has even been admitted by UN Special Representative Margot Wallstrom when she said recently. It has become such a way of life in some conflict zones like Held Kashmir that many victims are simply too afraid to report it and you can understand that, And even victims manage to report the matter to police, they achieve little or no justice. It seems that adopting such tactics, the local authorities want to coerce the victims to revise their version. Kunanposhpora, Pazipora, Budsgam, Bandipora & Shopion incidents are well ingrained in public memories. The scene of present crime, Manzgam has been virtually made Out-Of- Bounds for everyone, except security forces & persons belonging to administration. No protests are allowed even in adjoining areas. Even Women Parliamentary delegation from Mainland India has not been allowed to step in the area. Thus the State has to be held accountable for breach of its obligations under various relevant treaties and customary international law. The prosecution of individuals alleged to have committed rape should be done by the international criminal tribunal on the precedent of Nuremberg as the domestic courts and military court-martials have failed to deliver justice in these matters and are motivated by a state centric approach.
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Human Rights Report

MASS GRAVES IN IOK:

n occupied Kashmir, for the first time an official inquiry has said that it is beyond doubt that there are as many as 2156 unidentified bodies buried in unmarked graves at 38 sites in the Kashmir Valley since 1990. The report said all these bodies with bullet injuries were handed over by the police to the local population for burial and were classified as unidentified militants (Mujahideen). The report while strongly contesting this in the absence of any profiling done by the police, called for a thorough investigation across the territory, FIRs, exhumation and prompt DNA profiling of the bodies and comparison of samples with those taken from residents who had been campaigning against the disappearance of their relatives. The report came after a three-year-long inquiry by an 11-member team led by Bashir Ahmad Yatoo, the Senior Superintendent of Police of the investigative wing of the Commission. The team scoured police records to count the number of unidentified bodies sent for burial, cross-checked this against testimonies from police officials, eyewitnesses, village committees, village heads, elders, mosque committees, grave diggers and records prepared by caretakers of the graveyards. Many witnesses spoke on the condition of anonymity and the testimonies of 62 of them had been made part of the report. In fact, the Commission probe was the response to a campaign by the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), which in March 2008, released a report, Facts Underground and pointed out the presence of unmarked graves. In December 2009, another human rights group, the International Peoples Tribunal on Human Rights, (IPTK) released a report Buried Evidences claiming that unmarked graveyards entomb bodies of those murdered in encounter, fake encounters and extra-judicial, summary, and arbitrary executions. BURIED EVIDENCE documents 2,700 unknown, unmarked, and mass graves, containing 2,943+ bodies, across 55 villages in Bandipora, Baramulla, and Kupwara districts of Kashmir, based on applied research conducted between November 2006-November 2009.
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FINDINGS:

he graveyards investigated by IPTK entomb bodies of those murdered in encounter and fake encounter killings between 1990-2009. These graves include bodies of extra judicial, and arbitrary executions, as well as massacres committed by the Indian military/ paramilitary forces. A mass grave may be identified as containing more than one, and usually unidentified, human cadaver. Scholars refer to mass graves as resulting from crimes against humanity, war crimes, or genocide. Post-death, the bodies of the victims were routinely handled by military and paramilitary personnel, including the local police. The bodies were then brought to the secret graveyards primarily by personnel of the Jammu and Kashmir Police. Violence against civilian men has expanded spaces for enacting violence against women. Women have been forced to disproportionately assume the task of care giving to disintegrated families and undertake the work of seeking justice following disappearances and deaths. These graveyards have been placed next to fields, schools, and homes, largely on community land, and their affect on the local community is daunting. The Indian Armed Forces and the Jammu and Kashmir Police routinely claim the dead buried in unknown and unmarked graves to be foreign militants/terrorists. Official state discourse conflicts cross-border militancy with present non-violent struggles by local Kashmiri groups for political and territorial self-determination, portraying local resistance as terrorist activity. The report also examines 50 alleged encounter killings by Indian security forces in numerous districts in Kashmir. Of these persons, 39 were of Muslim descent; 4 were of Hindu descent; 7 were not determined. Of these cases, 49 were labeled militants/ foreign insurgents by security forces and one body that was drowned. Of these, following investigations, 47 were found killed in fake encounters and one was identifiable as a local militant. IPTK has been able to study only partial areas within 3 of 10 districts in Kashmir, and our findings and very preliminary evidence point to the severity of existing conditions. If independent investigations were to be undertaken in all 10 districts, it is reasonable to assume that the 8,000+ enforced disappearances since 1989 would correlate with the number of bodies in unknown, unmarked, and mass graves.
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