(London) Members of the pro-independence Jammu Kashmir
Liberation Front (JKLF), will hold a protest demonstration at the Indian High
Commission in London against widespread human rights violations in Indian occupied
Kashmir on the occasion of World Human Rights Day on 10th
December. It is to coincide with a shutter-down call by JKLF chairman, Yasin
Malik, in Kashmir to protest against the recent cases of awarding life
sentences to several Kashmiris under the notorious TADA law which was repealed
in India as far back as 1995 but still used in Kashmir to suppress the
Kashmiri independence movement..
On 3rd December, 2012, a kangaroo
court in Jammu awarded
life sentences to two Kashmiris Sheikh Nazir Ahmed and Shoukat Ahmed, who had
both spent nearly 15 years in Indian jails without trial after being arrested
in 1990s. They were released on bail over 7 years ago but rearrested recently
and awarded life imprisonment. Two weeks ago, another Kashmiri, Dr Qasim Faktoo
was sentenced to life imprisonment under similar circumstance.
A
JKLF spokesman in London said that “these are serious and worrying cases and
point to Indian government intention to hoodwink the world opinion about what
it has been doing in J&K for last 3 decades. It makes a mockery of empty
gestures of ‘peace process’ and ‘political dialogue’.
“We
have taken serious notice of the latest developments and have approached the
Amnesty International, All Party Parliamentary Group on Kashmir and other international human rights organizations to take up the
issue with the Indian government.”
Protest Venue: Indian
High Commission, Aldych, London. WC2B
4NA
Nearest Tube Station: Holborn
(Central Line)
Date: Monday 10th
December 2012
Time: 2-4pm (A protest memorandum will be presented to the Indian
High Commission at 3 pm)
Background
Information:
On Thursday, 5th
December, 2012
the Association of Parents of
Disappeared Persons and the International Peoples’ Tribunal on Human Rights and
Justice in Kashmir published an investigatory report accusing 500 serving Army,
paramilitary and police personnel in Jammu-Kashmir of allegations of human
rights violations in Jammu
and Kashmir. The
report entitled “stories of
impunity in Jammu and Kashmir” sights 215 cases and named 235 army, 123
paramilitary, 111 police and 31 counter-insurgency personnel of rights abuses such as extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture of
prisoners and raping Kashmiri women since 1990. Among the accused, there are 2 Major
Generals and 3 Brigadiers, 9 Colonels, 3 Lieutenant Colonels, 78 Majors, 25 Captains
belonging to the Indian Army and 37 senior officials of the paramilitary forces
as well as a retired and current director general of the Jammu-Kashmir Police.
The
354-page report, which was compiled using information obtained through the
Right to Information Act, includes witness testimonies as well as court cases
and cases registered with the police, which have not been investigated. The cases documented in the report reveal
Indian government’s policy not to investigation or prosecution cases against
the armed forces in Jammu-Kashmir.
On
the other hand, Indian government has started to prosecute and punish pro-independence
activists under the ‘lawless laws’ for agitating against Indian occupation of
Jammu-Kashmir.
The Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act (TADA); which was condemned by Indian
judiciary at the highest level in 1995 and repealed, under which a person could
be detained without formal charge or trial for up to one year and which allowed
court hearings to be conducted in secret with keeping the identity of any
witness secret and where confessions by torture were permissible on simple police
assurance that it was obtained voluntarily.
In
2008, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions ruled that 10 individuals
detained under the PSA in J&K had been arbitrarily
detained in violation of articles 7, 9, 10 and 11(1) of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and Articles 9 and 14 of the ICCPR. It called on the Government of India to bring
its laws in conformity with its international human rights obligations.
‘The Working
Group is aware of the political
sensitivities regarding the state of Jammu and Kashmir and the complex
law and order situation ensuing in that part of the country. As a part of its crisis management system,
the Government is using laws of preventive detention, including the PSA …. Be
that as it may, any legal, administrative or other mechanism employed, must
conform to international human rights standards and obligations undertaken by
the Government of India.’
UN WGAD opinion on 10 PSA cases from J&K, 26 November 2008
Hundreds
of lawyers have sought to challenge these detentions under the PSA through
habeas corpus petitions. According to the High Court registry in Srinagar, 367 habeas corpus petitions were filed in 2008, 272
in 2009 and 159 up to 19 May 2010. It is estimated that about 70%
of these refer to cases of administrative detention under the PSA law.
“The PSA violates international human rights
law and standards by providing for detention without trial while denying the
possibility of judicial review and other safeguards for those in detention
required under international human rights law. It also violates the principle
of legality by defining offences so broadly as to allow security officials to
detain individuals on extremely vague grounds including for exercising their
rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression.” A ‘Lawless Law’,
Detentions under the J&K Public Safety Act
- Amnesty International, March 2011
Out
of the over 600 cases studied by AI, approximately 290 detainees were found to
be booked under the Arms Act offences. In approximately 160 cases, detainees
were alleged to be in possession of fire arms or other such weapons when
arrested but only 3 out of the 290 detainees were eventually convicted for
possession of weapons. In Jammu-Kashmir the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, facilitates impunity for abuses
and violations. It empowers Indian Security Forces to search homes and make arrests without
warrants and provides them the right to shoot-to-kill with total immunity from
prosecution. The Jammu & Kashmir
Public Safety Act (JKPSA) empowers
Indian forces to detain persons without trial for up to 4 for a broad range of
activities that would be considered political and civil rights elsewhere in the
world.
Publicity Secretary,
JKLF UK Zone
Email: Secretary@JKLF.co.uk
Mobile: (+44)
0787 748 7696
