While Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao had met with her Pakistani counterpart, Salman Basir, for talks last month, Kashmiris have been mourning the widespread murders of Kashmiri youth by state security forces, some 15 people this past month. The murders have sparked the largest civil protests by Kashmiris in the last two years in the Indian Administered Kashmir valley, nestled between India and Pakistan. "Everything is dead. The curfew has kept us in our homes for the last two weeks. No work, no bread, no milk, no school. More than five people have been killed in the last 24 hours," said sources speaking with me over the phone from Srinagar, Kashmir. Adding fuel to the fire, earlier this year it was revealed that Indian paramilitary forces were engaged in staging fake encounter killings by kidnapping Kashmiri civilians and reporting the murders of the civilians as armed encounters with foreign militants/terrorists. With a continuing lack of justice and accountability suffocating Kashmiri civil society, Kashmir may grow more vulnerable to falling under a resurgence of armed uprising and religious radicalization that currently plagues the region, namely in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Further instability and lawlessness in the region will marginalize the efforts of the United States and other nations who remain invested in the security and peace of the region. This article is not about religion, or politics, or who is right. This article is about the young teenagers who have been murdered this month and the 2,900 mass graves that have not been investigated or reported on. This article calls on all parties to fulfill the demands that Kashmiris themselves are making for justice and accountability.
WIDESPREAD KILLINGS OF YOUTH
Reuters/Fayaz Kabil
Several weeks ago, a 17 year old Kashmir student, Tufail Ahmad Matoo, was walking home amidst a routine and civil anti-India protest by Kashmiris in the embattled region of Indian Occupied Kashmir. He was carrying his books. Like many Kashmiri youth of today, Tufail grew up having to endure an environment of indiscriminant arrests and killings by state security forces as well as militants. Today, an entire generation of young Kashmiris like Tufail have grown up witnessing the murder of over 70,000 people and the kidnappings and disappearances of over 8,000 Kashmiris, since 1989. The actions of both Pakistani backed- militants and Indian Security Apparatuses have marginalized the rights and needs of the Kashmiri people. Yet Tufail, like most Kashmiri youth, was focusing on his studies as means of escape. Unfortunately, like thousands of young Kashmiri boys before him, Tufail's life was cut short when he was shot in the head by a rubber bullet from Indian security forces and police last month. The killing of Tufail sparked civil protests across the Kashmir valley for the last several weeks. Two more Kashmiri youth were murdered by state security forces during funeral processions and civil protests in the days following Tufail's murder last month. As recently as this week, three more innocent Kashmiris have been killed, including a 16 year old boy who was murdered when security forces opened fire on protesters at a funeral procession of a 17 year old boy murdered Tuesday.
Just days after the student, Tufail, was murdered by state security forces, Rafiq Bangroo, 25, was severely beaten by the Indian Administered Central Reserve Police Force, CRPF, during a protest against Tufail's murder. Rafiq succumbed to his injuries. One day later, during the funeral procession for Rafiq Bangroo, the deceased's neighbor, Javaid Malla, 20, was shot and killed by security forces. Once again, curfews and civil shutdowns have left schools and businesses closed and the valley at a stand still. Indian paramilitary and police forces have been opening fire on protesters and taking men and boys into custody. This past Monday, 17 year old Muzaffar Bhat disappeared after troops chased him and a group of young boys throwing stones. Muzzafar's body was found the next day and he was allegedley beaten to death. At the funeral procession for Muzaffar, a 16 year old boy, Abrar Khan, was murdered by police during mass civil protests against the alleged killings. Some 15 Kashmiri civilians have been killed by Indian security forces since June. Kashmiris are again locked down under the gun of security forces that operate brutally with impunity. The beatings and shoot-to-kill tactics of state security forces legalized under draconian security laws continue to marginalize the basic rights, (such as the to life and movement), of millions of women and children of Kashmir.
The murders of several Kashmiri youth this past month by security forces clearly exhibits the widespread and systematic practice of shoot-to-kill strategies conducted by the state security apparatuses of India. Soldiers and state security forces are able to use bullets to combat stones and slogans under the protection of Indian security legislation, such as the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, AFSPA, which grants Indian paramilitary and police forces license to detain, shoot, and torture at will with virtual protection from being prosecuted by civilian courts and international bodies.
FAKE ENCOUNTER KILLINGS AND MASS GRAVES
Kashmir's history has seen over 70,000 casualties and 8,000 + documented enforced disappearances since 1989. As is often the case, reports in the media about Kashmir often document Indian soldiers' killings of militants as advertised by the state security forces of India. Yet, the international community and media remain silent on documented civilian killings as well as fake encounter killings in which Kashmiri civilians are killed in custody and pawned to the international community as 'foreign militants/terrorists'. The practice of fake encounter killings is widespread throughout the valley as it rewards Indian forces legitimacy in the eyes of the media that India's military presence in the Kashmir valley is imperative to stopping the 'militancy'. Consequently, Kashmir remains one of the most militarized areas in the world with over 500,000 Indian paramilitary forces policing a population under draconian security laws.
Examples of fake encounter killings are as recent as April 2010. The International People's Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Indian Administered Kashmir has reported that Shahzad Ahmad (27 years old), Riyaz Ahmad (20 years old), and Mohammad Shafi (19 years old) were executed in a fake encounter in Kupwara District. The men were last seen in the custody of special-counter-insurgency personnel. The family reported the men missing after several days. At the same time, the military reported that security forces killed three foreign militants in the area. After a police investigation, the bodies of the three alleged foreign militants were found. Army personnel are reported to have pressured local police to report the bodies as those of foreign militants. Once the bodies were exhumed however, it was concluded that the bodies were Kashmiri civilians, not foreign terrorists and autopsies showed the bodies to have been shot at close range, execution style. ( It must be noted that rarely do police investigations into arbitrary arrests and kidnappings yield results.) The murders of the three Kashmiri men have since been authenticated as fake encounters. In another example on April 14, a 70 year old Kashmiri pan-handler met the same fate and he too was mislabeled by the Indian security forces as a foreign militant. The indiscriminate killing of three youth in the past eleven days is evidence enough of widespread human rights abuse in Kashmir. Yet, there are thousands of more stories of fake encounter killings in Kashmir that are evidence to crimes by state security forces. Such widespread and systematic practices constitute crimes against humanity.
Adding urgency to the conflict in Kashmir is the recent discovery of over 2,700 unmarked graves in Kashmir. The Kashmir People's Tribunal recently documented the graves in a report titled Buried Evidence, authored by the conveners of the International Kashmir People's Tribunal , Dr. Angana Cahtterji and Parvez Imroz, two leading human rights investigators in South East Asia. The Tribunal reported over 2,900 bodies across 55 villages contained in over 2,700 mass graves. Since the release of the report, Indian security forces refuse an investigation into identifying the bodies. They claim the bodies to be those of foreign terrorists. (State security forces have also made attempts on the lives of both conveners from the Tribunal.) Of the few bodies that were exhumed, it was found that the bodies of the alleged foreign terrorists in fact were authenticated fake encounters in which Kashmiri civilians, who had been reported missing by their families, were taken into custody by security forces and then executed. The slain men were not foreign terrorists, but Kashmiris. The Kashmir People's Tribunal reports " it is reasonable to contend that the 8,000 + enforced and involuntary disappearances since 1989 would correlate to the number of bodies found in unknown, unmarked, and mass graves across Kashmir." Lawyers have filed thousands of petitions and the civilian population continues to engage in civil protests for accountability, however, the calls for justice and accountability remain unanswered. Consequently, young Kashmiri boys, like 17 year-old Tufail, continue to be victims of indiscriminant killings by the state security forces.
THE RISKS AND THE NEEDS
For every boy like Tufail that is killed, there risks more youth falling vulnerable to taking up the gun as a result of legislated political and physical oppression. One loss of an innocent young life is on its own deplorable, and yet, two more Kashmiri youth had been killed by Indian security forces in that same week, last month. This week, four more innocents were murdered during funeral processions and protests, among them two more 17 and 16 year old boys. The international community must demand more accountability from the world's largest democracy, India. As long as there exists such widespread and systematic extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances, the youth of today, who have seen nothing but failed political and judicial processes, will take to the gun and we may see a resurgence of the armed militant movement that devastated Kashmir and the region in 1989.
Making matters more fragile is the growing instability and armed radicalization in Taliban controlled areas throughout neighboring Afghanistan and Pakistan. Over two decades ago, U.S-backed Islamic militants, or, mujahideen, led an uprising against Soviet-controlled Afghanistan in the 1980s. The mujahideen's fight against abuses and crimes sparked the armed movement of youth in Kashmir in 1989 against Indian occupation and human rights abuse. Upon their victory in Afghanistan, the mujahideen fighters grew alienated and radicalized, eventually forming what we today identify as the Taliban. Today we see a resurgence of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This regional trend, coupled with the deteriorating human rights situation in Kashmir, may once again make Kashmir a potential time bomb for further instability in the region. The international community must not let its efforts for regional security be sabotaged by growing lawlessness and instability in Indian Occupied Kashmir. In Kashmir, everyone is guilty. Pakistan is to blame for decades of funding and training the militancy; Kashmiri militant groups are to blame for rash and inhumane killings of the civilians (including pandits); however, India and the India military are to blame for the failed security of the people of Kashmir which has resulted in crimes against humanity perpetrated by the India's security apparatuses. And while every party is guilty in some way, the source of the instability today, (as dictated by Kashmiri civil society and UN and international rights reports), stems from the indiscriminant killing of civilians by Indian paramilitary forces and the extra-judicial killings that continue unabated. Today, as has been the case for over two decades, it is the innocent Kashmiri women and children who are the greatest victims of Pakistan and India's policies and the international community's indifference.
Kashmiri civil society needs something to hold onto as they find themselves locked in an increasingly fragile environment: prospects for political or judicial resolution seem dim while desperate violent strategies may be gaining ground as they are in neighboring Afghanistan and Pakistan. Therefore, it is imperative for India's ally, the United States and members U.N Security Council, to ensure that India commits to transparent, independent, and robust investigations of extrajudicial killings and indiscriminant attacks on civil society in Kashmir. International rights bodies must be allowed access by India to perform independent investigations into mass graves documented in the Kashmir Tribunal's report. Additionally, draconian state-security legislation must be challenged by the international community because such laws allow for indiscriminant arrests, torture, and murder of civilians. Security legislation, such as the Disturbed Areas Act and the Armed forces Special Powers Act, must be repealed for they are in direct contravention of the basic tenants within the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, particularly the right to life. Any amended piece of security legislation must incorporate the UN Declaration on Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
CONCLUSION
Kashmiri civilians are repeatedly murdered by Indian forces and then pawned to the international community as foreign terrorists. This should no longer be a tolerated enterprise for India's militarization of Kashmir. Kashmiri mothers, fathers, and the youth are against terrorism being that Kashmiris are themselves the main victims of grenade attacks by Pakistani-backed militants, as well as, the bullets and mortars of Indian state security forces. The Kashmiri people remain strong and they hold on to a hope that the Obama Administration and UN bodies will pressure India to: demilitarize the valley; repeal repressive security legislation; and account for human rights violations committed over the last 20 years. However, as Kashmiri youth continue to be murdered by state security forces this week, the avenues for legal and political resolution seem less attainable for the everyday Kashmiri. Should the world not come to the aid of the people of Kashmir, who for over two decades have had to endure the absence of justice and accountability, then the valley may forever fall in the spiraling gyre of lawlessness and violence that will stifle security in South Asia, and thus threaten the security of other nations.
Kashmiris believe in democracy and civil society and that is why they continue to carry out civil protests amidst the bullets and batons of brutal of state security apparatuses. Yet, they are human and they desperately hold on to the fragile hope for justice and accountability. It is time the world stands with them and not let more 17 year-old boys be slain in vain.
(Photo Tufail Ahmad Matoo/ image from Greater Kashmir)
(To learn more about the mass graves or to support the International Kashmir People's Tribunal in Indian Administered Kashmir, visit: www.kashmirprocess.org)
Follow Mohsin Mohi-Ud Din on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mohsindin
UPSC Topper 2010
http://www.iupsc.com/upsc-toppers-interview/
Shah Faisal (26), a doctor from Srinagar and son of a school teacher killed by militants, became the first Kashmiri to top the civil services exam. The results were announced on Thursday. “I have no words to describe my happiness,” Faisal, a 2008 batch graduate of the Jhelum Valley Medical College, said in Delhi on Thursday.
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making all Indians, including Hindus, proud, while around the same time, the Pakistani terrorist Faisal Shahzad attempted to bomb the Times Square and kill people, putting Pakistan to shame.
Just like the other strife-torn areas in the world, Kashmiris are being instigated by a few people with vested interests (are you one of them?) against the law and order machinery, which in reality is a soft target because they have to play by rules. They now have to now focus on managing civilian unrest instead tackling the extremists. I am sure that these people with malicious intent will not think twice before killing an innocent civilian. The law and order breaks down resulting in more innocent deaths and greater unrest serves their purpose.
There is just a passing reference in your blog - "Kashmiris are themselves the main victims of grenade attacks by Pakistani-backed militants" and you have shown a tendency to underplay it in your comments..but it is the crux of the issue.
I just hope that someday the Kashmiris will also stone extremists (instead of just the police) and protest - we do not need you. We are resourceful hardworking and peaceful people and when you leave, the security forces have no excuse for their atrocities either. We want a future for our children. We want Srinagar to be the next Chandigarh or Bengaluru
If you read my past articles from Jan and before, you will see I call out the extremists and militants as well, in fact on a regular basis. My own relatives have been victims of militant attacks. What people seem to make a mistake on is this time however is that this article is about the mass graves found in December, the fake encounter killings that killed 3 innocent men in April, and the 6 teenagers who were killed by state security forces in recent weeks. month, People keep bringing up politics of India or Pakistan, or people keep bringing saying why dont you blame the militants or support the pandits, (which I already do). But this time, this article is about the loss of innocent lives in recent weeks. And those lives were taken by the state security forces. This article calls on a country to exert justice and accountability. This article is not about religion or extremism. And yet I state in my article, if innocent lives continue to be killed in Kashmir and no one is held accountable, then the youth will be more vulnerable to taking up the gun of extremism and militancy. As a Muslim community, indeed we must stand unequivocally against extremism. This article is not about extremists. Because extremists didnt kill 17 year old Tufail last month, or 16 year old Abrar. This article is for those children and the thousands like them.
The Muslims in Kashmir are the most gentle people in the world
The half a million hindus who who fled Kashmir left by their own accord and were not forced out by anyone,
If any Hindus were massacred by Muslims in Kashmir (like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_Wandhama_massacre) that was merely by accident.
Islam is the most peaceful religion in the world.
The reality of how most Kashmiris feel is what makes the situation what it is today and what it has been in the past. Otherwise the average Kashmiri (unpaid) would gladly help the Indian army against 'foreign terrorists'.
If all we knew of instability in Kashmir was violence, then maybe some could argue what they do. What makes them seem disingenuous is their refusal to recognize the suppression of legitimate protest. India knows hartaals aren't covered by international media, but mass protest is.
To reduce the yearning of a people to terrorism and rock throwing is nonsense.
Omar Abdullah pleads with Kashmiris to cooperate with authorities. He wouldn’t have to if the authorities had any legitimacy.
There is more information about this at http://www.kashmiri-pandit.org/sundry/genocide.html
However, the young generation of Indians who grew up under constant propaganda of Hindu nationalist party in power and off power and the allied media will continue to raise the bogey of Pakistan and its terrorism. I agree, as does the writer, that has been a problem and Pakistan has learnt its lesson the hard way. But then what do these Indians (hate-Pakistan breed) think of Mao rebellion in the northeastern India. Will they blame it on Pakistan too? Interestingly, writes Indian journalist Jawed Naqvi, Indian security agencies and media have started calling the districts controlled by Maos as "Pakistan' just to re-anchor Indian minds on a concocted enemy. Closing the eyes won't help these Indians. It may be noted that as of 2009, Maos were active across approximately 220 districts in twenty states of India accounting for about 40 percent of India's geographical area. Their growing influence prompted Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to declare them to be the most serious internal threat to India's national security.
Moderate Pakistanis and Indians need to wake up and join forces against extremists in all shapes and sizes.
Very touching article. Reading your article the first thing that came to my mind is that you're focusing on the atrocities of the indian security forces but completely missing the atrocities that pakistan and their sponsored terrorists have caused in kashmir. Then I read your comments that your story was about these protests and recent killings...and I appreciate that.
Linked is an articles in the times of india about how the Hizbul Mujahideen is acting behind the scenes influencing these so-called protests. Yes, before you complain, this is in an indian newspaper, so you can choose not to beleive it.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Transcripts-show-Hizb-activist-seeking-Kashmir-details/articleshow/6148678.cms
My point is, there is no way you can justify killing of even a single innocent life, be it Hindu, Muslim, Indian or Pakistani. But if you are writing a story criticizing the actions of the Indian security forces, you also need to point out that the other side isnt as squeaky clean as you may be making it out to be..
Pakistan is to blame for decades of militancy; Kashmiri militant groups are to blame for rash and inhumane killings of the civilians (including pandits); and lastly, and most importantly, India and the India military are to blame for the failed security of the people of Kashmir which has resulted in crimes against humanity perpetrated by the India's security apparatuses, resulting in: continued widespread killing of over 70,000 people.
I have only been there once -a long time ago-very beautiful place. But been to Ladakh a few times. I remember being there when the clashes happened-scary, I always avoid conflict zones in my travels-vacations are for relaxing, not worrying if you will get shot !
Killing is bad, but it goes both ways. All those security folks killed have families and children too and many are very young too. I don't see anyone crying for them, or all those Hindu folks who were kicked out and forced to live in refugee camps in their own country. You have to look at both sides -the truth usually lays somewhere in the middle.
i absolutely agree with you. tens of thousands of Indian soldiers, men and women have lost thier lives to the conflict in Kashmir.
However, this article is not about them. This article is about the innocent young teenagers who have been killed by state security forces this month. That is this article is about. This article is also about the grievances of the children and women living on the ground under military occupation.
everyone is to blame, Muslim, Hindu, Pakistani, Kashmiri. But this article is not about that.
This is a place where almost 60% people voted freely ( according to international observer institutions a free and fair election) in the last election.
The military is there as a result of terrorism and not the other-way around. There was hardly any military presence in Jammu and Kashmir before all the violence was drummed up by Pakistan's ISI using Laskar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad...
The death of a child, woman or a man is regrettable but when you have terrorists attacking regularly in Srinagar with grenades and AK47 and the military or the police retaliate ... there are bound to be collateral damages, sometimes excesses. Are the desirable? ABSOLUTELY NO. Are the avoidable? RARELY. Will they stop happening? NO, not until the suppy of arms, guns, grenades go away.
With Pakistan's military and ISI controlling that country and funding the "GOOD terrorists" this is going to be that way, for a long time to come.
But with the sad sad result that at the end of the day its the common people who pay with their lives and livelihood.
As we have seen from the last several years, Pakistan is good at playing a double game and will keep on doing - to the detriment of the people of Kashmir - until we force this country off this "terrorism as as tool of statecraft"
The Indian Occupation in Kashmir is mercilessly butchering human rights. These killings have stated a clear cut statement of these political shenanigans. Kashmir presently is far from what the Pseudo Democrats state rather it has become more of a military junta. The future, the youth, the society , the culture everything is at a capital stake. I am flabbergasted at seeing the U.N do nothing about it.Killings everyday, it has become more of a barbaric battle ground. Now they have ordered "SHOOT AT SIGHT".
Peace
Aamir.
At the moment, Pakistan appears to be upping cross-border activity, apparently taking advantage of India pulling some of its troops from the border (which India did at President Obama's request), i.e. Pak is sending in fresh batches of Islamic militants to, as they did before, stir up trouble in J&K.
If there are no Pakistan-controlled militants running around and creating havoc, there won't be violence in Kashmir. It's as simple as that.
What needs to be done is for the US and the world community to firmly demand Pakistan to stop using terrorism as a weapon, close down the terrorist camps that the ISI runs, and return the portions of the princely state of Kashmir that Pak is currently illegally occupying ("Azad" kashmir, Gilgit and Baltistan) back to India.
You're obviously pitching anti-India propaganda in the name of human rights, as witnessed in your phrase "India occupied Kashmir" (India is a secular democratic union of states, and Kashmir became one of its states when Kashmir's princely state ruler King Hari Singh signed the instrument of accession to that effect; it's Pakistan which is illegally occupying PoK, i.e. Pakistan-occupied Kashmir areas of Kashmir), and the loaded phrase "crimes against humanity" you keep throwing against India, when none of this human cost would be incurred if Pakistan didn't and doesn't keep sending in trained terrorists to fuel militancy in Kashmir.
The fact is, it is Pakistan that is conducting "crimes against humanity," not unlike its 1971 genocide of Bangladesh where its forces and militias slaughtered 3 million people and raped 200,000 women.
I have repeatedly given the break-down of the 70,000 tally: roughly half of them are 20K militants killed and 10K Indian security officers killed. The tally itself is far smaller, for a 20 year militancy/insurgency war, imposed on India by Pakistan, than that in other militancy situations such as Iraq.
And this goes for both India as well as Pakistan
thanks for your support and for reading the article.
your right about the number of active militants stated by the Indian Home Ministry. Your point is a great one.
I hope your well. And please keep spreading good word,
M