Srinagar, Apr 18: The two-member Amnesty International (AI) team Wednesday called on Inspector General of Police Kashmir, S M Sahai and also met “victims of conflict” in north Kashmir’s Sopore town.
The team comprising Saptarshi Mandal and Sahana Basavapatna is on a 12-day visit to the valley to study the latest developments regarding the controversial laws –AFSPA and PSA.
The members met IGP here this morning and discussed with him the PSA cases. The meeting took place for two and a half hours from 10:30 am to 12 pm. “We had a detailed discussion with IGP and discussed at length with him the role of police in human rights scenario. We also talked about the continuing detention of youth under PSA. We collected from him the information regarding the cases,” AI member Mandal said after the meeting.
He said this time he cannot say what was the response from the officer. “All the things will be written in detail in our report which will be released after we finish the visit,” the member said.
The team, after meeting the IGP, visited some families in north Kashmir’s Sopore town including family of Sajad Ahmad Dar who died in a Kupwara jail last month. “We visited the families of youth who have been detained under the PSA. We are filing their stories and they will be included in the report,” Mandal said.
Meanwhile, chairman of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (H) Javaid Ahmad Mir also called on the AI team. “Mir apprised the team about the human rights violations taking place in Kashmir for the past 25 years. He talked about the about unnamed graves, disappeared persons, martyrdom of innocent children from 2008 to 2010 and arrests made by police and other armed forces in these years,” a statement issued by JKLF (H) said.
“He also apprised the team about the plight of detainees lodged in different jails in and outside Valley,” the statement said quoting Mir. “A large number of detainees are languishing in jails without trial. Armed forces operating in Kashmir were enjoying immunity under the black laws like AFSPA and Disturbed Area Act to commit human rights abuses,” Mir said.
The team has also called on JKLF (R) and International Forum for Justice. “We had a detailed meeting with the team and they were apprised of the present situation of Kashmir and the continuous human rights violations,” said JKLF (R) vice chairman, Tahir Ahmad. “The 2010 killings and post 2010 arrests were also brought into the notice of members,” he said.
The team has so far met separatist leaders of Hurriyat Conference, lawyers, SHRC and non governmental organizations.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 18 Apr 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 18 Apr 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:00:00 IST