Wikileaks : India accused of torture and HR violations in Kashmir

[EjazR]

The argument that the US/West looked the other way in the case of Pakistan, during the East Pakistan crises or at any other time, is not completely accurate.

Pakistan was in fact under US sanctions from 1965 through 1975, despite ostensibly being a 'cold war ally'. The Western media did not fail to highlight the alleged atrocities by Pakistani forces in East Pakistan, and Pakistan came in for criticism from the US Congress and the West in general over HR abuses in EP. It was in fact a unilateral decision by Nixon to try and covertly support Pakistan, and given the rather short timeline of events from March 1971 to December 1971, and the lack of any independent and thorough analysis of events during the conflict, Nixon can't be blamed for not raising the issue.

The 65-71 period was because Pakistani generals indulged in an unauthorised use of weapons and a war. That did'nt stop Nixon nuding Iran to provide Fighter jets to Pakistan or sending an Aircraft carrier group to Bay of Bengal. And ofcourse the western media did highlight the situation in East Pakistan, but the same media highlighted and continues to highlight the situation in Kashmir as well. And just like individual Congressmen raised the East Pakistan issue, there were and are Congressmen who raised Kashmir and wanted to pass resolutions on demanding India to conduct a plebescite. The USG on the other hand refrained from raising the issue.

Even in SWAT, the US administration, Congress and Western media in general highlighted the issue of extrajudicial killings several times, within weeks of the reports being made public. There was talk of ending military relations with Pakistan because of that alleged abuse, within weeks, to put pressure on Pakistan, again, despite Pakistan ostensibly being an 'indispensable ally in the WoT'.

I have not seen any official govt. pronoucenments from the USG about Swat HR situation. All of them were media reports,"leaked" reports and so on. And it started mainly AFTER the mobile videos starting circulating. Otherwise it were mainly media reports and HR groups

Compare this to the situation with India, where a thorough investigation by the ICRC (and various other groups over the years) clearly establishes systematic atrocities by Indian security forces, conveyed it to the US, and the US just sat on it and said not a word. Even now that the information is public, there is largely silence in the West and from the US Congress and Administration. That is in stark contrast to how the West has dealt with Pakistan, whether Pakistan was an ally or not.

I think you might not be aware the situation in the 1990s. There were rabit anti-India tirades from the secretary of state. Bill Clinton use to mention the Kashmir issue in UN GA sessions and Congressmen were raising and proposing resolutions censuring Kashmir. Its only post 2001 that US has quieted down. Its just a matter of perception on how you take it. But if you go through news reports, UN sessions and western government pronoucenments they were quite virulent.

Afterall, after the fall of the soviet, Yugoslavia and India were the only USSR allies left. China was considered alright as it had started working with the USG. So Yugoslavia is no more and India was to be "managed" as well. Its just deft diplomacy that India managed to turn around the tables andget close to the US after 40 years of acrimonius relationship.

I am also not aware of any US plan to vote on any UNSC resolutions that would have sanctioned India for its HR abuses, and AFAIK, Iran allegedly blocked a vote on a resolution tabled in the OIC, not the UN.

The OIC supported and many western countries were passing a resolutiong on the UN Human Rights commision resolution condemning India on HR abuses. The resolution has to pass unanimously. All members were either OIC members or Wester governments. Iran was the lone no vote that blocked the resolution.

The resolution I am talking about was tabled at the UNCHR and once that passes, it goes on to the UN Security Council were punitive measures are passed. OIC ofcourse passes a number of resolutions but they dont actually matter.

 

[EjazR]

Here is our fundamental disagreement, and in my opinion a grave mistake by the Indians. You guys believe or seem to want to believe that Kashmir crisis began exclusively after 1989, which to put it very mildly is parochial. Kashmir became an issue, the moment the Kashmiris were deprived of their fundamental right to self determination. No nation has the right to impose itself on anyone else without their will, and that’s precisely why the plebiscite was suggested to give the people of Kashmir a conscious chance to carve their own future.

See my friend, here is where you are mistaken as well. Right after the first war in Kashmir, there were elections held and all people on the Indian side of the J&K state had the right to participate in that election.

The ELECTED officials passed the resolution CONFIRMING the acession to GoI. This was the will of the people. These are facts that can't be denied

Before 1989, there was no army, no bloodshed or violence in Kashmir valley. This is a valid point that why is it that only AFTER 1989 did violence start and there are many factors including mistaked made by GoI that come into this not just militancy.

But post 1989 is the time when there was spurt in violence by militant groups and a counter violence by IA and other state security forces.

more than anyone else, as we struggled for 90 years (1857-1947) to gain our freedom from the British. Alas, we did not learn anything from it, and turned Kashmir into a colony of our own. We achieved our independence but the colonial mindset still prevails.

I will only speak on the Indian side of J&K but the colonial comparison just does not apply.

Britian did not give citizenship to Indians, they did not give equal rights to Indians, An Indian could not become the PM of Britain, and India was economically drained as long as it remained a colony of the British.

Kashmiris are citizens of India and enjoy the same rights as all Indians. A Kashmir can and has become PM of India (Nehru). J&K as a state gets more money from the GoI than what it gives in taxes or otherwise. So the colonial comparison does not apply.

About your second point my friend, yes when there is war, there is collateral damage and mind you, I am giving leeway when I term the Kashmir struggle as a war because it is NOT. Albeit, we take it as a war for the sake of discussion, does that justify the INTENTIONAL torture being inflicted upon the masses? Collateral damage is unintended damage that occurs during a conflict. Taking people to designated underground chambers and subjecting them to inhumane treatment is plain atrocious and amounts to gross violations of Human rights.

Agreed, there is no justifcation on HR violations. My blood boils when I hear people justifying torture. Torture hasnever been proven to be an effective form of information gathering technique. But I concede that our ill iquipped police force does indulge in this. Not just in Kashmir but all over India. Not just muslims but non-muslims also.

I can only hope that anti-torture bill is passed and then implemented effectively.

But I also ask you to look at the HR abuses comitted by militant groups operating in Kashmir. The killings of those who seem to be pro-India, or local police or those who do not agree with their ideology. The kidnapping of children and brainwashing them to do suicide ops. The throwing of acid on faces of women and so on.
These are UnIslamic and they do it in the name of Islam first of all and secondly these are blatant HR violations as well.

 

[pakdefender]

You need to be able to find the message from video.
The soldier abused the girl, proves bad boys are everywhere.
The soldier did not replied, to the girl, proves he will lose the job if he if caught. This just shows how Army and government takes these issue.

The soldier did not reply as a crowd had gathered that was telling the girl to beat him with slippers , when the soldiers tried to push away the girl or take away the camera they were shouted down by the crowd and at the end of the report it says that the indian army issued a statement that it was a 'minor' incident and too much was made out it , this just blow in the face of your cliam that the indian army takes it seriously

you are just lying through your teeth even when the evidence is overwhelimg.

 

[WAQAS119]

1224 ‘fake encounters’ in India in 15 years: Amnesty


Human Rights watch, the Amnesty International has said that over thousand people were killed in 'faked encounters' in India between 1993 and 2008.
According AI's Annual Report 2011, "Recent data disclosed by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on people killed in clashes with the police between 1993 and 2008, showed that of the 2,560 deaths reported."
"1,224 (deaths) occurred in “faked encounters” implying they were extra-judicial executions," adding, "By the end of the year, the NHRC had awarded compensation to the relatives of 16 victims," the report mentioned.
"Convictions of those responsible for extra-judicial executions were exceptionally rare and proceedings in such cases remained slow," AI said.
The Amnesty said, "Impunity for past violations in Kashmir, including the disappearance of thousands of people since 1989 during the armed conflict in Kashmir, continued."
Official inquiries into some of the violations made slow or little progress, the report reads.
"Between June and September, the police and security forces fired at protesters during pro-Independence protests demanding accountability for past violations in the Kashmir valley. More than 100 people, mostly youths, were killed and 800 others, including media workers, were injured," the report reads further.
According to the report, "An inquiry, instituted by the state authorities, covered 17 of the 100 deaths, despite demands by Amnesty International and other organizations for an independent, impartial and thorough investigation into all the deaths. The inquiry made little progress."
The authorities made widespread use of administrative detentions, detaining 322 people between January and September, the report concluded.

 

[WAQAS119]

Related Quotes

"An inquiry, instituted by the state authorities, covered 17 of the 100 deaths, despite demands by Amnesty International and other organizations for an independent, impartial and thorough investigation into all the deaths. The inquiry made little progress."

"Between June and September, the police and security forces fired at protesters during pro-Independence protests demanding accountability for past violations in the Kashmir valley. More than 100 people, mostly youths, were killed and 800 others, including media workers, were injured"

"Impunity for past violations in Kashmir, including the disappearance of thousands of people since 1989 during the armed conflict in Kashmir, continued."

"Convictions of those responsible for extra-judicial executions were exceptionally rare and proceedings in such cases remained slow"