Channel 4 Turns Spotlight on Kashmir
A trailer for a new Channel 4 documentary that will air tonight in the United Kingdom claims: “Now from Kashmir, more dark secrets are emerging.”
Channel 4 says it’s turning its attention on Kashmir, where separatists and Indian forces have battled for almost a quarter century, because the issue is in danger of becoming a “forgotten conflict,” overshadowed by Syria and the euro-zone debt crisis.
It appears the dark secrets in the documentary are the unmarked graves of thousands of Kashmiri civilians that were unearthed by local human rights activists in 2008 and acknowledged in a report last year by the official State Human Rights Commission. A story Monday in The Guardian, a U.K. newspaper, which linked to the Channel 4 documentary, also focused on the mass graves.
The graves are evidence of the brutal crackdown by India’s armed forces after thousands of young Kashmiris, backed by Pakistan’s government, launched a separatist struggle against New Delhi in the late 1980s. By some estimates, over 50,000 people died in the conflict, most of them civilians.
India continues to maintain over 500,000 security personnel in Kashmir, giving it the feel of an occupied territory.
Some inside India’s government back demilitarization and want to strip India’s armed forces of special laws which shield them, while serving in Kashmir, from prosecution for human rights abuses. The army has successfully parried these moves, claiming Pakistan-backed militants remain a threat to stability in Kashmir.
In fact, Kashmiri police officers say infiltrations from Pakistan are down significantly and only a small number of Pakistan-trained militants remain in the region.
Violence has dropped greatly in Jammu and Kashmir state, with eight civilian deaths so far this year, the lowest level in over two decades, according to these statistics from the South Asia Terrorism Portal, a New Delhi-based group.
It seems strange at this time to emphasize – as Channel 4 does – that Kashmir is becoming a “forgotten conflict.”
Abuses still continue, such as the killings of Kashmiri men from Nadihal village in 2010, allegedly by army officers. Two years ago, scores of Kashmiri protesters died in clashes with police, following anger at the Nadihal killings. The military has failed time and again to court-martial men for abuses and needs to be held to account.
One could also argue, though, that such abuses are getting an intense amount of scrutiny from people outside and inside India.
The Central Bureau of Investigation, India’s FBI, has been pushing ahead with a case against five army officers accused of killing five innocent Kashmiris in 2000 and later pretending they were foreign militants.
The army blocked the case, citing its immunity laws. But in May, India’s Supreme Court, which was hearing the CBI’s appeal, ordered the army to either allow the case to go ahead or court-martial the men.
Last month, the army said it was finally moving ahead with court-martial proceedings.
The army’s slow response is inadequate and speaks to a culture of covering up rights abuses in Kashmir. But the issues facing Kashmir are no longer being brushed under the carpet.
Channel 4 Turns Spotlight on Kashmir - India Real Time - WSJ
