Report
By Md. Zeyaul Haque, IOL’s Correspondent in India.
NEW
DELHI, Aug. 31 (IslamOnline)- Continuing cases of torture in police and
security forces custody, “disappearance” of victims from such
custody, and extra-judicial executions in Kashmir are a constant source
of worry for human right groups.
Government
sources say 3,185 people have disappeared since 1990, while rights
groups put the figure at around 5000. Most people reported
"missing" after police or security forces took them under
their custody. Victims’ families did not get any concrete answer from
the agencies which picked them up about their whereabouts.
Every
year members of Kashmir's Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons
(APDP) gather to mark the disappearance of their children and loved ones
on the International Day of the Disappeared, August 30, in Srinagar,
state capital of Jammu and Kashmir.
This
year they got a long letter from Amnesty International affirming
solidarity with people whose basic human rights have been violated by
the state. The APDP, like yesteryears, demanded on the occasion that the
fate of the missing persons be made public.
Close
relatives of the disappeared persons pledged to continue their search
till they either returned or were declared dead by the state. The
impunity of police and denial of due process of law to victims is
disturbing to rights activists. The disappeared people were from all
ages - as young as eight years and as old as 70- and from a diversity of
professions.
In
its communication to former state chief secretary Ashok Jaitley, Amnesty
International expressed concern over the “high level of disappearances
and impunity that continues in Kashmir.” Amnesty called on “the
government of Jammu and Kashmir to put an end to the disappearance, to
ensure that all cases of disappearances are impartially investigated,
that those found responsible for the crimes are brought to justice, and
that adequate compensation is paid to the families of the disappeared
persons”.
Hundreds
of habeas corpus petitions have been filed by victims’ families with
the courts in Jammu and Kashmir, but hardly any of them has been
resolved. Amnesty said in 2000 “the National Human Rights Commission
requested from the APDP a list of all the disappearance cases known to
the organization. The APDP duly submitted this information, but to date
has heard nothing in response”.
The
human rights situation in Kashmir shows no signs of improving.
“Despite both state and Union authorities being obligated under
international law to undertake independent and impartial investigations
into human rights abuses, no official enquiry has been ordered by the
authorities into the role of security and police in disappearances. The
whereabouts of those who disappeared have not been established and none
of those who perpetrated these crimes have been brought to justice,”
the Amnesty letter said.
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Family
of a disappeared person holding placard in Srinagar Friday
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The
International Day of the Disappeared is an occasion for the affected
families to come together in a gesture of solidarity. The day is marked
by moving scenes of orphaned children and young widows carrying placards
and asking for justice from a state that has virtually been numbed. The
bereaved often break down narrating their woes to media, rights people
and sympathizers.
The
affected families say they would reconcile to their loss once the
government tells them what happened to their kin taken in custody by
police or security forces. Mothers, wives and children of the
disappeared have been waiting for their dear ones for as long as ten
years. “The suspense is devastating,” says a human rights activist.
Marking
the occasion last year, a Kashmiri journalist Zahiruddin had released a
book in Srinagar, Did They Vanish In Thin Air? The book carried details
of 140 cases of custodial disappearances in the Valley of Kashmir. As
such disappearances have become routine in Kashmir, the book made no
impact on the authorities' behavior.
Both
disappearances and the official silence and apathy continue. The deep
wounds that these disappearance symbolize may never heal in the
lifetimes of the mothers, wives and children who have lost their sons,
husbands and fathers at the hands of an uncaring system.
