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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 21 May 2019

Kashmir group seeks UN probe into torture by India troops

By AIJAZ HUSSAIN 1989 for a united Kashmir,
Associated Press either under Pakistan rule
SRINAGAR, India (AP) — A or independent of both.
prominent rights group in Since then, about 70,000
Indian-controlled Kash- people have been killed in
mir is advocating for the the conflict.
United Nations to establish Most Kashmiris resent the
a commission of inquiry to Indian troop presence and
investigate what it calls the back rebel demands.
endemic use of torture by India has long seen the
government forces who Kashmiri struggle for self-
have faced a decades- determination as Islam-
long anti-India uprising in abad's proxy war against
the disputed region. New Delhi. Rights groups
The Jammu-Kashmir Co- have also criticized the
alition of Civil Society on conduct of militant groups,
Monday released a de- accusing them of carrying
tailed report saying India is out human rights violations
using torture as a "matter of against civilians.
policy" and "instrument of Kashmir is patrolled by
control" in Kashmir, where In this Aug. 18, 2016 file photo, Sameer Ahmed, a Kashmiri man allegedly beaten up by Indian military, paramilitary and
rebels have fought Indian soldiers at Khrew village, recovers at a local hospital in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir. armed police and remains
rule since 1989. Associated Press one of the most militarized
"Torture is the most under- regions in the world.
reported human rights vio- report on Kashmir called record. how they were killed. Coils of barbed wire and
lation perpetrated by the for an independent inter- "For the worldwide struggle Monday's report said the security checkpoints are
state," the report noted. national investigation into against torture, this report institutions of the state like common, and emergency
"Due to legal, political and reports of rights violations will constitute a landmark," legislature, executive, judi- laws grant government
moral impunity extended like rape, torture and extra- Mendz, who teaches hu- ciary and armed forces use forces sweeping powers to
to the armed forces, not a judicial killings in the region. man rights law at American torture "in a systematic and search homes and make
single prosecution has tak- The report, which JKCCS University in Washington, institutional manner." arrests without warrants
en place in any case of hu- helped with field research, wrote in the prologue of India's clampdown has a and to shoot suspects on
man rights violations" in the particularly criticized Indian the report. "I am convinced long history in Kashmir and sight without fear of pros-
region, the report said. troops for firing shotgun that a report, when it is as the conflict has existed ecution.
Indian authorities said they pellets against protesters, rigorous, evidence-based since the late 1940s, when In the past, the govern-
would study the report be- blinding and maiming hun- and persuasive as this India and Pakistan won in- ment has said the allega-
fore commenting on it. In dreds of people, including one is, constitutes a build- dependence from the Brit- tions are mostly separatist
the past, officials have ac- children. ing block towards public ish empire and began fight- propaganda meant to de-
knowledged torture exists India rejected the U.N. re- awareness of the tragedy ing over rival claims to the monize troops. The Indian
in Kashmir but have denied port as "fallacious." of torture." Muslim-majority territory. army previously said it has
that Indian forces strategi- The new report includes 432 JKCCS has written scathing The two rivals have fought punished 59 soldiers in 25
cally use sexual and other case studies involving tor- reports in the past about two of their three subse- proven abuse cases, out
abuses to control the pop- ture and maps trends and the brutality by some of the quent wars over Kashmir, of 995 complaints it has re-
ulation. patterns, targets, perpetra- hundreds of thousands of and each administers a ceived.
The 560-page report, re- tors, locations and other Indian troops stationed in portion of the region. According to the report,
searched for a decade, details. The cases include the region and highlighted New Delhi initially grap- the methods of torture after
recommends an investiga- 293 civilians and 119 mili- the widespread of powers pled with largely peaceful the eruption of armed re-
tion be led by the U.N. Of- tants, among others, and granted to them, which anti-India movements in its bellion include stripping the
fice of the High Commis- 27 were minors when they has led to culture of impu- controlled portion of Kash- detainees naked, rolling a
sioner for Human Rights. It were tortured. nity and rights abuses. They mir. However, a series of heavy log on the legs, wa-
also urges India to ratify the Juan E. Mendz, former U.N. were first to publicize thou- political blunders, broken terboarding, electrocution
U.N. Convention against special rapporteur on tor- sands of unmarked graves promises and a crackdown including of genitals, burn-
torture and also allow glob- ture, said the report would in remote parts of Kashmir against the dissent esca- ing of the body with hot
al rights groups "unhindered help draw attention to the and demand that they be lated the conflict into a objects, sleep deprivation,
access" to Kashmir. need to express concern investigated to determine full-blown armed rebellion and sexual torture, includ-
Last year, the U.N. in its first about India's human rights who the dead were and against Indian control in ing rape and sodomy.q