The report analyzes 214 cases and for the first time names 500 specific perpetrators working for India of crimes including?enforced disappearance, killings, rape, and torture.
Indian human rights activists Gautam Navlakha, left, and Kartik Murukutla display a report by two rights groups during a press conference in Srinagar, India, Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012.
Mukhtar Khan/AP
EnlargeSrinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir
Two prominent human rights groups in India-administered Kashmir Thursday accused New Delhi of institutionally blocking justice in thousands of cases of crimes like enforced disappearance, killings, rape, and torture allegedly committed by its forces in the disputed region during the past two decades.
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A report "Alleged Perpetrators: Stories of impunity in Jammu and Kashmir" released by the groups analyzes 214 cases and for the first time names 500 specific perpetrators including 469 military, paramilitary, and police officials besides 31 government-backed militants and associates.
The report, which took two years to prepare by International People?s Tribunal for Human Rights and Justice in Indian-administered Kashmir, or IPTK, and the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons, paints a grim climate of impunity under which Indian forces are operating in the territory controlled by India and also claimed by Pakistan. ?
?Beyond naming the alleged perpetrators, the report explains that the Indian state has not failed but succeeded in its policy of maintaining control [over the disputed region] through absolute impunity accorded to perpetrators of crimes,? says Kartik Murukutla, an author of the report who has worked in a UN tribunal on Rwanda for five years.
Residents of the Kashmir Valley and?resistance?leaders opposed to Indian rule of the region have long accused the Indian government of using its institutions to meet the ends of control rather than address issues of justice and political rights.?
In a shift in strategy, armed rebellion against Indian rule has been largely replaced with massive rock throwing street protests since 2008, but India has not countered with meaningful legal reforms or political initiatives.
Analysts say this latest report adds urgency to calls for an international legal intervention by bodies like the International Criminal Court (ICC) as well as movement toward a political resolution for the long-running Kashmir dispute.??This report should be sent to the prosecutor of ICC who can take suo moto cognizance on the basis of the evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity it contains and persuade the court for proceedings on the subject,? says Professor Sheikh Showkat Hussain, who teaches international law at the Central University here.
Two Major Generals, three Brigadiers, and more
The accused perpetrators include two major generals and three brigadiers of the Indian Army, besides nine colonels, three lieutenant colonels, 78 majors, and 25 captains. A recently retired director general of police and a serving inspector general are also named along with 37 senior officials of the federal paramilitary forces.
The 354-page report contains significant evidence against the government forces? personnel named but notes that any institutional or political will was absent for ?a trial where the crime and the guilt of a perpetrator can be proven beyond reasonable doubt.?
The Armed Forces Special Powers Act, an emergency military law extended to Kashmir in 1990 in the wake of a full blown armed rebellion against Indian rule, requires New Delhi?s permission for prosecuting federal armed forces personnel accused of crimes like extra-judicial murder. Not a single such sanction has been granted despite dozens of requests by the local authorities. ?
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