The members of the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), demand the whereabouts of their missing relatives, who have been subjected to enforced custodial disappearance allegedly by Indian forces during the past two decades of conflict.
The traumatized relatives of these missing persons lay the blame on the state and central government for their plight.
Human rights groups claim that around 8000 people have been subjected to enforced disappearance by Indian forces in this Muslim-majority region. They believe that many of the disappeared persons may have been buried in these 'unmarked' graves.
On May 6, during a debate in the European Parliament on the human rights policy, a member of the European Parliament, Sajjad Haider Karim accused the European Union of double standards over the issue of mass graves in Kashmir.
Stating that the discovery of mass graves has put India under great pressure, Karim called for an investigation on this issue in Kashmir.
According to the International People's Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Kashmir, there are more than 7000 unmarked graves dotting the lush-green landscape of this beautiful valley.
A human rights organization - Joint Voices of Victims - has discovered more than 60 unidentified mass graves in central Kashmir’s Budgam and Srinagar districts alone.
Even as authorities claim that the graves carry bodies of foreign militants killed in counter insurgency operations, the relatives of missing persons have reiterated their demand for immediate DNA profiling to identify bodies discovered in these mass graves.
International rights watchdog bodies, namely United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and Amnesty International have repeatedly criticized India for its poor human rights record in this region.
Political observers believe the excessive powers given to soldiers under draconian laws like Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) are the cause of the human rights abuses happening there with a sense of impunity.
Kashmir is a subject of dispute between India and Pakistan and the two countries have fought three wars over this disputed region. India blames Pakistan for supporting separatist rebellion in the Muslim majority territory. According to human right groups more than 70,000 people have lost their lives in conflict in Kashmir since late 1980s.
The distraught relatives of missing persons in Kashmir have appealed to the UN to set up a monitoring group in the region. The move, observers believe, can go a long way in addressing the issue of grave human rights abuses in the region but could be a positive step in keeping unruly soldiers under control.
Friday 10 May 2013
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/05/09/302681/new-mass-grave-haunts-kashmiris/
No comments:
Post a Comment