SRINAGAR, IndiaIndia and its courts have prevented fair investigations and prosecutions of security officials accused of human rights violations in Kashmir, ignoring its own laws in the restive Himalayan region, two rights groups said Thursday.
The report by two local groups names, for the first time, specific paramilitary soldiers and police suspected of crimes, which include rape, murder and kidnapping. Despite the evidence contained in government documents, India has not shown "any institutional or political will" to prosecute those responsible, the groups said.
The government would not comment. "We will have first to go through the contents of the report and then we will respond," Ali Mohammed Sagar, the law minister of Indian-held Kashmir, told the Associated Press.
The report dismissed India's past claims that acts of brutality by security personnel were aberrations. "Volumes of evidence exist of crimes committed by specific perpetrators, assisted by a system where impunity is available right from the commission of the crime to the ultimate coverup," the report said.
India Accused of Ignoring Kashmir Abuses - WSJ.com
The report by two local groups names, for the first time, specific paramilitary soldiers and police suspected of crimes, which include rape, murder and kidnapping. Despite the evidence contained in government documents, India has not shown "any institutional or political will" to prosecute those responsible, the groups said.
The government would not comment. "We will have first to go through the contents of the report and then we will respond," Ali Mohammed Sagar, the law minister of Indian-held Kashmir, told the Associated Press.
The report dismissed India's past claims that acts of brutality by security personnel were aberrations. "Volumes of evidence exist of crimes committed by specific perpetrators, assisted by a system where impunity is available right from the commission of the crime to the ultimate coverup," the report said.
India Accused of Ignoring Kashmir Abuses - WSJ.com
