Report highlights human rights abuses in Kashmir

A new report on the human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir has named nearly 500 serving army, paramilitary and police personnel allegedly involved in killing, enforced disappearance, torture and rape since 1990.

Out of 214 cases examined, the report brings out a list of 500 individual perpetrators, which include 235 army personnel, 123 paramilitary personnel, 111 Jammu and Kashmir Police personnel and 31 government-backed militants/associates.

The 354-page report was prepared over a span of two years using information from the official documents and witness testimonies.

The report, titled 'Alleged perpetrators, stories of impunity in Jammu and Kashmir', was released by the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons and the International Peoples' Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Kashmir.

Among the alleged perpetrators are two major generals and three brigadiers of the army, nine colonels, three lieutenant colonels, 78 majors and 25 captains.

Thirty seven senior officials of the paramilitary forces, a recently retired director general of the Jammu and Kashmir Police and a serving inspector general were also accused of being involved in rights violations.

"By naming names the report seeks to remove the veil of anonymity and secrecy that has sustained impunity. Only when the specificity of each act of violation is uncovered can institutions be stopped from providing the violators a cover of impunity," states the executive summary of the report.

It alleged that the culture of moral, political and juridical impunity has resulted in enforced and involuntary disappearance of an estimated 8000 persons , besides more than 70,000 deaths, and disclosures of more than 6000 unknown, unmarked and mass graves.

"Cases presented in this report reveal that there is an overwhelming reluctance to genuinely investigate or prosecute the armed forces for human rights violations. There is an occasional willingness to order compensatory relief, but not to bring the perpetrators to justice," said Khurram Parvez, a rights activist and one of the authors of the report.

"Without adequate prosecution, and fixing of individual criminal responsibility, monetary compensation is at best a weak palliative measure, and at worst a bribe to buy the silence of the victims," he opined.

The report also have hit out at the judiciary saying despite the occasional passing of strong orders, there were numerous examples of the High Court effectively condoning the continuation of violations.

"The general experience in Jammu and Kashmir has been that judicial and quasi-judicial authorities such as the State Human Rights Commission [SHRC] have allowed themselves to be conscious of the power and will of the executive, thereby rendering themselves subservient to the State," the report said.

The allegations in the report are based on the information obtained from police records, judicial and quasi- judicial records, government documents and witness testimonies.