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The Indian government's failure to end human rights abuses committed by its security forces is both the cause and consequence of insurgency in the state, says a report that is equally critical of Pakistan's role in backing militants who have perpetrated rights abuses on civilians
Indian security forces and Pakistani-backed militants have both come under fire for widespread human rights abuses in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, in a new report by the US-based rights watchdog Human Rights Watch.
The report says the Indian government's failure to end the impunity with which army and paramilitary forces and armed militants are committing acts of torture and killing innocent civilians is fuelling the cycle of violence in the troubled state.
While conceding that instances of human rights abuse had declined since 2002, the 156-page report, 'Everyone Lives in Fear: Patterns of Impunity in Jammu and Kashmir', says Indian security forces have committed torture, "disappearances" and arbitrary detentions. They also continue to execute Kashmiris in fake "encounter killings," claiming that these killings take place during armed clashes with militants.
Indian security forces say they are fighting to protect Kashmiris from militants and Islamic extremists, while the militants claim they are fighting for Kashmiri independence and to defend Muslim Kashmiris from an abusive Indian army. In reality, both sides have committed widespread and numerous human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law (or the laws of war), says the report.
These abuses have taken place against the backdrop of almost two decades of the failure of political and legal systems in India and Pakistan to end abuses or punish perpetrators. "Human rights abuses have been a cause as well as a consequence of the insurgency in Kashmir," says Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Kashmiris continue to live in constant fear because perpetrators of abuse are not punished. Unless the Indian authorities address the human rights crisis in Jammu and Kashmir, a political settlement of the conflict will remain illusory."
Adams also condemned the largely Pakistan-backed militant groups, saying any attack on civilians, irrespective of the cause or intention, was not acceptable. "No cause can justify attacks on civilians. The attacks on civilians has alienated the people of Jammu and Kashmir and instilled a sense of fear among them."
Extra-judicial executions by Indian security forces are common. Police and army officials have told Human Rights Watch that security forces often execute alleged militants instead of bringing them to trial, in the belief that keeping hardcore militants in detention is a security risk. Most of those summarily executed are falsely reported to have died during armed clashes between the army and militants in "encounter killings".
The Indian government has effectively given its forces free rein, while Pakistan and armed militant groups have failed to hold militants accountable for the atrocities they commit. Through documentation of the failure to prosecute key cases, the report shows how impunity has fuelled the insurgency.
If the Indian authorities had addressed these abuses seriously when they took place, public confidence in the authorities would have increased and future abuses may have been substantially reduced. Instead, India failed to prosecute or discipline the perpetrators, says the report.
Impunity has been enabled by Indian law -- the report documents cases where Indian security forces have shot civilians under the authority of laws such as the Jammu and Kashmir Disturbed Areas Act and the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act. These laws, enacted during the beginning of the conflict, allow lethal force to be used "against any person who is acting in contravention of any law or order for the time being in force in the disturbed area."
Other laws offer state agents effective immunity from criminal prosecution.
"It's absurd that the world's largest democracy, with a well-developed legal system and internationally recognised judiciary, has laws on its books that prevent members of its security forces from being prosecuted for human rights abuses," says Adams. "It's time for the Indian government to repeal these laws and re-commit itself to justice for victims of all abuses, whoever the perpetrator may be."
The new report, based on research from 2004 to 2006, documents abuses that have occurred since the election in 2002 of a Jammu and Kashmir state government with an avowed human rights agenda and the resumption of peace talks between India and Pakistan in 2004.
Since 1989, the armed secessionist struggle against Indian rule in Jammu and Kashmir has claimed more than 50,000 lives. Despite a fall in levels of violence over the past two years, almost half-a-dozen people die every day in gun battles, shootings and occasional bomb blasts in the region. Protests also erupt regularly over alleged abuses by Indian troops.
This is the first report on human rights abuses in the region in which both the security forces and militants have come in for equal criticism. According to Adams, Human Rights Watch is to release a similar report on the human rights situation in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, on September 21.
Source: The Hindu, September 13, 2006
www.hrw.org, September 12, 2006
Reuters, September 12, 2006
www.bbcnews,com, September 12, 2006
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