Abuses by Indian Army and Militants Continue, With
Perpetrators Unpunished
(Srinagar, September 12, 2006) – The Indian government’s failure to end
widespread impunity for human rights abuses committed both by its security
forces and militants is fueling the cycle of violence in Jammu and Kashmir,
Human Rights Watch said in a report
released today.
The 156-page report, “‘Everyone Lives in Fear’: Patterns of
Impunity in Jammu and Kashmir,” documents recent abuses by the Indian army and
paramilitaries, as well as by militants, many of whom are backed by Pakistan.
Indian security forces have committed torture, “disappearances” and arbitrary
detentions, and they continue to execute Kashmiris in faked “encounter
killings,” claiming that these killings take place during armed clashes with
militants. Militants have carried out bombings and grenade attacks against
civilians, targeted killings, torture and attacks upon religious and ethnic
minorities.
In the quiet of the Ramadan afternoon, as Muslim Kashmiris wait
to break their fast, the only sound is the wailing of a mother. It is a
relentless, desolate howl. People start to gather, standing around in
sullen silence. An elderly man steps forward. “Why are you here? Can
any of you bring our boy back? Can you punish his killers? So many
people are dead. Why? Can you answer that?”
Since 1989, the wails of family members mourning their dead have become ubiquitous to life in Jammu and Kashmir state.
Security force personnel continued to torture persons in custody throughout
the country. Human rights organizations reported that methods included beating;
burning with cigarettes, whipping the soles of the feet, prolonged isolation,
electric shock, denial of food or sleep, hanging upside down, and forced
spreading of the legs with bar fetters.
—U.S. State Department’s 2005
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices on Pakistan75
Human Rights Watch and others have long reported on the routine use of
torture by the authorities in Pakistan, both in common criminal cases and
against alleged political opponents. Politically motivated torture is typically
used to compel politicians, political activists and journalists critical of the
government to change their views or at least silence them.76
No person or political party in Azad Jammu and Kashmir shall be permitted to
propagate against or take part in activities prejudicial or detrimental to the
ideology of the State’s accession to Pakistan.
—Part 7(2) of the Azad Jammu
and Kashmir Interim Constitution Act, 1974
Successive Pakistani governments have asserted that Kashmir’s political
future must be determined in accordance with the wishes of its people. Yet its
own constitutional provisions preclude all political choices to Kashmiris except
to support its accession to Pakistan. Shamshad Hussain Khan, an Azad Kashmir
Supreme Court lawyer, summed up the situation arising from the constitutional
framework:
Tight controls on freedom of expression have been a hallmark of the Pakistani
government’s policy in Azad Kashmir. This control is highly selective. Militant
organizations have had free rein—particularly between 1991 and 2001—to propagate
their views and disseminate literature. However, those supportive of
independence for a united Kashmir, or otherwise critical of the Pakistani
government, have faced continual repression.
Reports 
