12/13/2016

Kashmir:Humanrightsobservedinbreach

Kashmir: Human rights

observed in breach
Published: 21:35, Dec 12,2016 | Updated: 11:28, Dec 12,2016

Kashmiri members of the Association of Parents of the Disappeared take part in a protest on the
international Human Rights Day in Srinagar on December 10. Indian forces in Kashmir are often
blamed for grave rights abuses like widespread torture, rape, custodial murder and enforced
disappearances in the Muslim-majority region which is divided and administered separately by
India and Pakistan but claimed in full by both. Agence France-Presse/Tauseef Mustafa

If the humanity has to survive in a civilised order, an entirely new structure for
enforcing human rights is necessary because the institutions that were created
long ago have miserably failed, writesAbdul Majid Zargar

PHYSICIANS for Human rights is a New-York based, Nobel peace prize winner,
international organisation which attempts to use science and medicine to prevent
human rights violations around the world. In its report of December
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2016, Kashmir has found a special mention with respect to latest intifada post
killing of Burhan Wani in July 2016. The relevant extracts of the report are
reproduced hereunder:
In July 2016, the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir erupted in protests against
the killing of prominent militant leader Burhan Wani by security forces. In the
violent clashes that ensued between Indian authorities and protesters, at least 87
people were killed and thousands injured. The state used excessive and
indiscriminate use of force against protesters by Indian state police and Central
Reserve Police Forces with weapons misleadingly represented as less than lethal.
These included tear gas grenades, pepper gas shells, live ammunition, and 12-gauge
shotguns loaded with metal pellets, which account for the majority of injuries.
While Indian authorities claimed that the use of these weapons was meant to
reduce the potential for injuries or fatalities, PHR researchers found that their use
had in fact caused serious injury and death.
PHR also found that authorities actively impeded protesters access to urgent
medical care, both by harassing medical workers attempting to treat protesters and
by preventing doctors from reaching the hospitals where they work. PHR
documented several instances where the police were present at hospitals and
monitored protesters being admitted for treatment. They were reported to have
asked for the names and medical information of patients admitted at the end of
the day in order to later arrest them for unlawful assemblies.
The excessive use of force and the intimidation tactics employed by authorities
against medical workers attempting to treat the injured violate Indias obligation to
protect the rights to life, health, and freedom of expression and assembly. The
police response to these protests shows complete indifference to the international
standards and principles guiding the use of force, and a lack of accountability
leaves security forces free rein to further abuse their power.
Human rights structure was erected in 1940s and 1950s after two brutal world wars
and the failure of international community to prevent Nazi Germanys Holocaust
against Jews which gave birth to the International Declaration of Human Rights
and the Genocide Convention. The United Nations was made custodian of these
rights and tasked with the primary objective of ensuring international enforcement
of these rights. It was also authorised to take appropriate action, including use of
force, against erring member states.
But the UN and its accredited agencies have miserably failed to restrain India from
committing grave human rights violations amounting to war crimes and crimes
against humanity in Kashmir. Name any crime which has not been committed by
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rogue state and its security apparatus in Kashmir. It has killed unarmed people by
firing on peaceful protesters. It has killed intellectuals and human rights defenders
of Kashmir through covert operations (Dr Guru, Jaleel Andrabi for instance). It has
committed individual and mass rape of women, rape of daughters in front of
mothers and rape of newly-wed brides (Kunanposhpura, Budsgam incidents). It has
burnt people alive in live infernos (Sopore incident of January 1993). It has
indulged in involuntary and enforced disappearances and created a long trail of
half-widows and half-orphans, making Kashmir a unique place in the world to
contribute new words to human right lexicons. It has buried thousands in
unmarked graves and has the audacity to deny identification of such graves. It has
destroyed and damaged property on a large scale. It has blinded, fully or partially,
hundreds of youth through use of deadly pellets It has denied medical aid to
wailing injured. Even human rights defender Khurram Parvez was recently
imprisoned under the draconian Public Safety Act, a lawless law, to prevent him
from reporting to the world the Indian atrocities inKashmir. These grave crimes
should have, in the normal course, seen India in the international dock long ago
but the inertia of the United Nations Human Rights Council has not only enabled
India to escape a serious trial but allowed it to continue with its nefarious pogrom.
There are strong reasons to believe that the UN general secretary Ban Ki-moon has
allowed his personal relations with India to act as a shield to its wrongdoings.
Bans daughter is married to an Indian and by his own admission he has a special
affinity towards India.
Organisations affiliated with the United Nations such as Human Rights Watch and
Amnesty International mandated with reporting and organising campaigns in
response to the crimes of states have also failed in respect of India. They were
accorded special status in the United Nations to promote moral agendas such as
human rights and international law. The purpose was that they give testimony,
submit reports, and make recommendations in order to improve human rights
practice, while naming and shaming those governments with the worst records.
Their record vis--vis Kashmir is for everybody to see. The Indian chapter of the
Amnesty International has been fully Indianised and has become an integral part of
the Indian political theatre of the absurd.
The overall failure of the United Nations in upholding human rights structure can
be explained in part to the failure of these so-called human-rights organisations. If
the humanity has to survive in a civilised order, an entirely new structure for
enforcing human rights is necessary because the institutions, processes and
systems that were created long ago have miserably failed.
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Countercurrents.org, December 10. Abdul Majid Zargar is a practising chartered

accountant.

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