NEW York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), an internationally known impartial NGO, has submitted a written testimony on 27 September 2023 “to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, (USCIRF): Hearing on Advancing Religious Freedom within the US-India Bilateral Relationship.” The testimony contains graphic documentation of human rights violations being committed by the BJP-led government and its affiliates in India as well as in Kashmir. This is a significant step towards greater international recognition of the serious abuses committed against Indian minorities, particularly Muslim community at the hands of BJP supporters. This report takes the veil of secrecy off of India’s crimes against humanity. Perhaps now the global community in general and the Biden Administration in particular can share the outrage felt by the minorities in India and civilian population of Kashmir.
The HRW testimony cites specific incidents where the Indian Government violated the very principles of human decency and democratic freedom against the Indian minorities and the people of Kashmir. The HRW testimony reads in part, “actions and omissions I have outlined here are violations of India’s obligations under international human rights law, in particular, provisions prohibiting discrimination based on race, ethnicity, or religion and requiring equal protection under law. They also violate corresponding provisions of Indian domestic law. The Indian government is also obligated to protect religious and other minority populations and to fully and fairly prosecute those responsible for discrimination and violence against them.”
HRW reminds the USCIRF that “BJP leaders and affiliated groups across India have a long track record of stigmatizing religious minority communities, making divisive, hate-filled remarks against Muslims around state and national elections and insinuating that non-Hindu Indians are a threat to national security and to the ‘Hindu way of life.’ Divisive political discourse by the BJP has increased since 2014 and served to further normalize violence against minorities, especially Muslims.” Regarding the situation in Kashmir, HRW tells the USCIRF that “The authorities have invoked the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, as well as terrorism allegations, to conduct raids and arbitrarily detain journalists, activists and political leaders without evidence and meaningful judicial review. The authorities have also barred several prominent Kashmiris from travelling abroad without providing reasons. Since August 2019, militants have killed at least 118 civilians in the state, including 21 people from minority Hindu and Sikh communities.”
As we know that the United States-based ‘Time’ magazine wrote, Khurram Parvez is among 100 topmost influential people. Time magazine added Khurram Parvez is ‘modern day David’ who ‘had to be silenced.’ Mary Lawlor, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders said, “Khurram Parvez is not a terrorist. He is a human rights defender.” HRW in its testimony could not ignore to mention Khurram Parvez. It says, “In November 2021, the authorities arrested a prominent Kashmiri human rights activist, Khurram Parvez, on politically-motivated charges under the abusive counterterrorism law, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Parvez, 45, is the program coordinator of the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society and the chair of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances. He has documented cases of enforced disappearances and investigated unmarked graves in Kashmir and as a result, Indian authorities have repeatedly targeted him. United Nations human rights experts, calling for his immediate release, expressed “regret that the Government continues to use the UAPA as a means of coercion to restrict civil society’s, the media’s and human rights defenders’ fundamental freedoms.”
As we know that freedom of press is muzzled in Kashmir. New York-based ‘Committee to Protect Journalist’ says that news media in Kashmir is at the brink of extinction. And HRW in its testimony endorses these reports by saying, “Journalists in Kashmir face increasing harassment by security forces, including raids and arbitrary arrests on terrorism charges. Authorities in India have shut down the internet more often than anywhere else in the world. A majority of those shutdowns have been in Kashmir, where they are used to silence protests and curb access to information.”
HRW added, “Since August 2019, at least 35 journalists in Kashmir have faced police interrogation, raids, threats, physical assault, restrictions on freedom of movement, or fabricated criminal cases for their reporting. In June 2020, the government announced a new media policy that made it easier for the authorities to censor news in the region. In 2022, the authorities rearrested Fahad Shah, Aasif Sultan and Sajad Gul under the Public Safety Act after they had been granted bail separately in other cases filed against them in retaliation for their journalism work.”
The testimony details many instances where the use of draconian laws has given sense of total impunity to the Indian Army in many areas as well as in Kashmir. It states, “There has been no accountability for these recent alleged extrajudicial killings or past killings and abuses by security forces in part because of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), which gives members of the armed forces effective immunity from prosecution. 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. Rights groups have long documented that 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 UN human rights bodies have also criticized the law.”
HRW recommends to the US Government and the Members of Congress to call on Government of India to “End politically motivated investigations and harassment of civil society groups under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and other laws used to intimidate or censor civil society. Stop targeting civil society groups by censoring online free speech content and requesting or ordering social media take downs.”Lastly, HRW has recommended to the US Government and members of Congress to, “Publicly speak out about the Indian Government’s abusive and discriminatory policies and practices against religious minorities and publicly raise concerns over the increasing attacks on religious minorities and incitement and hate speech by government officials. Private diplomatic communications are insufficient and will not impact the actions of the Indian government.”
—The writer is the Secretary General, Washington-based World Kashmir Awareness Forum.
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