Iqbal Khan
ACCORDING to Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Indian occupation forces have repeatedly “failed the people of Jammu and Kashmir and have long denied them justice for decades through abuses by security forces, leading to a cycle of unending violence”. On 29 Aug, Indian forces opened fire with shotgun pellets and tear gas on a Muharram procession by Muslims in Illegally India-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&K), injuring dozens of people who had ignored a ban on religious gatherings. According to witnesses, at least 40 people were injured. About 25 people were taken to a nearby clinic with pellet wounds, some with their faces and bodies covered in pellet marks, a doctor said on condition of anonymity.
Al Jazeera reported “Dozens injured as Indian occupation forces attacked Ashura mourners “with pellet guns and tear gas in Muslim-majority region”. Pakistan has condemned the use of tear gas and pellet guns by Indian authorities on Muslims taking part in a Muharram procession in occupied Kashmir on August 30. Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), a local human rights group, has reported that there were “mass arrests, torture, killings, use of excessive force, harassment, and intimidation” after the abrogation of Article 370.”The year witnessed at least 366 killings in different incidents of violence,” said the report. There were “extrajudicial executions of at least 80 civilians, besides killings of 159 militants and 129 armed forces personnel” in 2019.Among the 80 civilians killed in 2019, 69 were killed after August 5. Twelve of those killed in 2019 were women and eight were children. Besides becoming victims of extrajudicial executions, children also faced illegal and unjust detentions, ill-treatment, including torture, at the hands of armed forces during detention,” the JKCCS report stated.
Pakistan’s, Foreign Office Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri stated that due to the illegal and indiscriminate use of pellets, dozens of Kashmiris were wounded and some had sustained eye injuries causing permanent blindness. “Indian occupation forces in occupied Kashmir have been using pellet guns and their lethal cartridges since 2010, resulting in a large number of deaths and grievous injuries to thousands of Kashmiris, including women and children. Kashmiri youth has been systemically targeted in this deadly campaign. Pakistan has urged the international community to remain cognizant of human rights violations in occupied Kashmir and “use all tools at its disposal to hold India accountable”. “India must be made to comply fully with its international legal obligations,” statement concluded.
In an August 14 article “India: New Reports of Extrajudicial Killings in Kashmir” Human Rights Watch has disclosed new cases of extrajudicial killings in IIOJ& K. “The Indian authorities should immediately order an independent, impartial investigation into the killings by security forces of three people in July 2020 in Jammu and Kashmir”, HRW said. “Security forces have long operated with impunity in Kashmir, and in the past army’s departmental investigations have been more focused on shielding those responsible for abuse than providing justice,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia Director at Human Rights Watch. “There can be no end to the cycle of violence in Kashmir if security forces are not held accountable for their past and current abuses.” Any army investigation into the recent killings will be meaningless, Human Rights Watch said, because the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) gives the security forces effective immunity from prosecution for serious human rights abuses. It grants the military wide powers to arrest, shoot to kill and occupy or destroy property in counterinsurgency operations.
Since the law came into force in Jammu and Kashmir in 1990, the Indian government has not granted permission to prosecute any security force personnel in civilian courts. Human Rights Watch and others have long documented how the law has become a tool of state abuse, oppression, and discrimination, and called for its repeal. Affected residents, activists, government-appointed committees, politicians and United Nations human rights bodies have criticized the law. Indian officials claim that troops need such powers because the army is only deployed when national security is at serious risk from armed groups. Indian Supreme Court has said that all killings by security forces should be investigated and that use of such force was not permissible “even in an area declared as a disturbed area under AFSPA and against militants, insurgents and terrorists.” “The government should repeal AFSPA, ensure a civilian and independent investigation into the latest killings, and reverse its ongoing restrains on basic rights”, Ganguly said. Nearly three hundred innocent Kashmiris, including women and children, have been martyred by the Indian occupation forces in fake encounters, so-called “cordon and search” operations, and other instances of use of brutal force. The BJP leadership must realize that it is directly responsible for these illegal actions
The international community must take urgent cognizance of these egregious human rights violations in IIOJK and use all tools at its disposal to hold India accountable for its illegal actions. India must be made to comply fully with its international legal obligations. India’s inhuman methods to subjugate the Kashmiri people through killings, torture, forced disappearances and incarcerations have failed in the past and will not succeed in the future. The long communications blockade and Indian attempts to muzzle the media, including targeted campaigns against Kashmiri male and female journalists, are further illustration of how the brutalization of Kashmiris continues to accentuate under the RSS-BJP regime.
The perpetuation of India’s state terrorism cannot break the will of the Kashmiris or quell their efforts to secure their inalienable right to self-determination as enshrined in the relevant United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolutions. India must be made to comply with its international legal obligations and respect fundamental rights of the Kashmiri people, including the foremost right to life. It is also the collective responsibility of the world community, including the United Nations, to work for peaceful and permanent resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the relevant Security Council Resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiris. Pakistan continues to expose India for its illegal and unacceptable actions in IIOJK and extend its full support to the Kashmiris in their just struggle for the inalienable right to self-determination.
—The writer is a freelance columnist based in Islamabad.
