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https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...utonomy-torture-claims-planning-a9086611.html
................An angry backlash was expected. But visiting the most restive districts of southern Kashmir, The Independent heard allegations from residents that security forces resorted to extreme brutality and public humiliation in order to snuff out any unrest at source.
People in Nadapora Parigam, an area of the Pulwama district where a deadly suicide bombing killed 40 paramilitary officers in February, said that local boys were tortured by the security forces on the night of 5 August, hours after the Article 370 announcement was made.
Mohammad Yasin Bhat, 22, said he was dragged out of his bed at midnight by soldiers and brought out of his home to the main road, where he was made to stand naked in line with 11 other civilians.
It became apparent that security forces passing through the neighbourhood had been pelted with stones earlier in the day, and the troops were rounding up youths – seemingly at random – to find the culprits.
The officer in charge began by asking Yasin about his views of the Article 370 decision, he said. “I could sense the tension around, so, for my own safety, I said ‘we are happy – it is a good decision’. But I knew he didn’t trust my words,” said Yasin.
Yasin said he and the others were asked to remove their clothes, and then beaten with canes, gun butts and kicks. He says there was no one to help them – the whole village was cordoned off, and troops were at every corner.
During the beating, “many of us fainted”, Yasin said. “They would give electric shocks in our private parts, and start the torture again.”
The family showed pictures of severe bruising on Yasin’s backside and thighs, while other families provided images of other youths who had suffered injuries.
During the beating, one man who asked for water was made to drink muddy drain water from the side of the road, Yasin said. And the final indignity came when, at the end of the beating, the naked men were made to “lie face-down on top of each other in a pile”. “It was harassment, making us feel violated,” he said.
Neighbours gave similar accounts of the incident. One man in his eighties, who asked not to be named, said he watched the beatings from beginning to end and, when the security forces left, came out onto the street to help “rescue all of the victims”.
Yasin’s is not the only allegation of torture by the security forces to have emerged since the current crisis in Kashmir began, and representatives for the Indian army have strongly denied the claims.
In a statement to the BBC, which reported on alleged beatings in Pulwama on Friday, a spokesperson said the Indian army was “a professional organisation that understands and respects human rights” and that all allegations “are investigated expeditiously”.
On the same night of 5 August, at around 2am, armed forces arrived at the residence of Mohammad Maqbool Khan in the New Colony area of south Kashmir’s Shopian district.
Soldiers started banging on the door. Maqbool’s daughter in-law, Shazada Bano, said she rushed to open it in a panic.
“They ordered all of us to come in the courtyard. All of us gathered and they started asking our names,” she said. As soon as they heard the name of Amir Khan, a 27-year-old man who runs an electronics shop, they dragged him outside.
“We tried to stop them, but they said they want him to guide them in locating a few houses for searches, and we believed them. But that wasn’t true at all,” said Shazada.
The next morning when they reached the nearest police station, they found Amir in lockup. Maqbool asked officials the reason for his detention and they replied simply that he “will be released after 15 August” (India’s Independence Day, when a spike in unrest was expected).
That never happened, and on 18 August when Maqbool went to see Amir, the commanding officer told him he had been moved to the central jail in Srinagar.
The family travelled to the city and asked after Amir. They were told he and three other men from their village had been booked under the Public Safety Act – an emergency law that allows the authorities to imprison a person for up to two years without charge or trial.
One of the other youths detained was Shahid Ahmad Bhat, a 25-year-old boy whose father Mushtaq Ahmad Bhat is a pharmacist who lives a few metres away from Maqbool.
But unlike Maqbool, Mushtaq doesn’t even know where his son is being held. “For some time he was in the police station, later they said he has been shifted to Srinagar. At central jail, officials said he is not there. I have no idea where my son is, or if he is dead or alive,” Mushtaq said.
Government officials would not comment on specific cases, but they were not shy about the scale of the arrests carried out since 5 August decision. An official told The Independent that more than 4,000 people have been detained since the announcement, though they could not give an exact number. Many, like Shahid and Amir, face the prospect of potentially years in jail without any recourse to justice.
................An angry backlash was expected. But visiting the most restive districts of southern Kashmir, The Independent heard allegations from residents that security forces resorted to extreme brutality and public humiliation in order to snuff out any unrest at source.
People in Nadapora Parigam, an area of the Pulwama district where a deadly suicide bombing killed 40 paramilitary officers in February, said that local boys were tortured by the security forces on the night of 5 August, hours after the Article 370 announcement was made.
Mohammad Yasin Bhat, 22, said he was dragged out of his bed at midnight by soldiers and brought out of his home to the main road, where he was made to stand naked in line with 11 other civilians.
It became apparent that security forces passing through the neighbourhood had been pelted with stones earlier in the day, and the troops were rounding up youths – seemingly at random – to find the culprits.
The officer in charge began by asking Yasin about his views of the Article 370 decision, he said. “I could sense the tension around, so, for my own safety, I said ‘we are happy – it is a good decision’. But I knew he didn’t trust my words,” said Yasin.
Yasin said he and the others were asked to remove their clothes, and then beaten with canes, gun butts and kicks. He says there was no one to help them – the whole village was cordoned off, and troops were at every corner.
During the beating, “many of us fainted”, Yasin said. “They would give electric shocks in our private parts, and start the torture again.”
The family showed pictures of severe bruising on Yasin’s backside and thighs, while other families provided images of other youths who had suffered injuries.
During the beating, one man who asked for water was made to drink muddy drain water from the side of the road, Yasin said. And the final indignity came when, at the end of the beating, the naked men were made to “lie face-down on top of each other in a pile”. “It was harassment, making us feel violated,” he said.
Neighbours gave similar accounts of the incident. One man in his eighties, who asked not to be named, said he watched the beatings from beginning to end and, when the security forces left, came out onto the street to help “rescue all of the victims”.
Yasin’s is not the only allegation of torture by the security forces to have emerged since the current crisis in Kashmir began, and representatives for the Indian army have strongly denied the claims.
In a statement to the BBC, which reported on alleged beatings in Pulwama on Friday, a spokesperson said the Indian army was “a professional organisation that understands and respects human rights” and that all allegations “are investigated expeditiously”.
On the same night of 5 August, at around 2am, armed forces arrived at the residence of Mohammad Maqbool Khan in the New Colony area of south Kashmir’s Shopian district.
Soldiers started banging on the door. Maqbool’s daughter in-law, Shazada Bano, said she rushed to open it in a panic.
“They ordered all of us to come in the courtyard. All of us gathered and they started asking our names,” she said. As soon as they heard the name of Amir Khan, a 27-year-old man who runs an electronics shop, they dragged him outside.
“We tried to stop them, but they said they want him to guide them in locating a few houses for searches, and we believed them. But that wasn’t true at all,” said Shazada.
The next morning when they reached the nearest police station, they found Amir in lockup. Maqbool asked officials the reason for his detention and they replied simply that he “will be released after 15 August” (India’s Independence Day, when a spike in unrest was expected).
That never happened, and on 18 August when Maqbool went to see Amir, the commanding officer told him he had been moved to the central jail in Srinagar.
The family travelled to the city and asked after Amir. They were told he and three other men from their village had been booked under the Public Safety Act – an emergency law that allows the authorities to imprison a person for up to two years without charge or trial.
One of the other youths detained was Shahid Ahmad Bhat, a 25-year-old boy whose father Mushtaq Ahmad Bhat is a pharmacist who lives a few metres away from Maqbool.
But unlike Maqbool, Mushtaq doesn’t even know where his son is being held. “For some time he was in the police station, later they said he has been shifted to Srinagar. At central jail, officials said he is not there. I have no idea where my son is, or if he is dead or alive,” Mushtaq said.
Government officials would not comment on specific cases, but they were not shy about the scale of the arrests carried out since 5 August decision. An official told The Independent that more than 4,000 people have been detained since the announcement, though they could not give an exact number. Many, like Shahid and Amir, face the prospect of potentially years in jail without any recourse to justice.
