Srinagar, Dec 6: Spilling beans over human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir, the International People’s Tribunal on Human Rights in Indian Administered Kashmir (IPTK) and the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) on Thursday named over 500 forces officials including senior army, police and paramilitary for their alleged involvement in human rights violations in Kashmir since 1989.
 This is for the first time that the names of the officials and government backed gunmen allegedly involved in human rights violations have been released by an independent human rights group.
 In the 355-page report ‘Alleged Perpetrators’ - Stories of impunity in Jammu and Kashmir, the IPTK and APDP,  which was released today, the IPTK and APDP have highlighted 214 cases of human rights violations involving army, paramilitary and police and impunity enjoyed by them.
 The IPTK and APDP minced no words to accuse the Government of India and the Government of Jammu and Kashmir of giving impunity to the accused armed forces and policemen and sought intervention of international human rights organizations and bodies to impress upon India to adhere to its domestic and international obligations and punish all perpetrators of human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir.
 “This report has been prepared in past over two years using information gleaned mostly from official State documents. It portrays the state of impunity prevalent in Jammu and Kashmir,” said Kartik Murukutla, a human rights lawyer and one of the authors of the report while addressing a press conference.  
 Elaborating he said in the highly militarized space of Jammu and Kashmir, it reveals an entrenched culture of impunity. “Cases of human rights violations committed by members of various forces are analyzed within the context of an armed conflict, and a state of structural impunity. These have evolved within State institutions, including the armed forces, and traverse the application and interpretations of special laws, and finally the judicial system itself. The defining feature of human rights violations here is that in the name of countering militant violence the State authorizes armed forces to carry out every kind of operation, often without adherence to laws and norms,” he added.

Lastupdate on : Thu, 6 Dec 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 6 Dec 2012 18:30:00 GMT
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