The Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) on Saturday staged a protest in press colony here to demand whereabouts of their disappeared family members.
Holding banner and placards the protestors including elderly men and women assembled in the colony and asked the government to give whereabouts of their kith and kin who were subjected to alleged enforced disappearances since 90s.
Some of these protestors were wearing white headbands with slogans and names of disappeared people written on them.
In a statement, APDP spokesperson said “we would like to bring the attention of global civil society to the Indian State’s systematic violence and continued refusal to investigate enforced disappearances of more than 8000 Kashmiris since the inception of armed conflict in1989 in Jammu and Kashmir.”
“Nearly three decades, the government of India is yet to acknowledge the crime of enforced disappearances in Jammu & Kashmir. The Indian state continues to be reluctant to investigate the fate of more than 8000 disappeared Kashmiris. Despite the SHRC orders in 2011 and 2017 to conduct forensic examination including DNA testing of more than 7000 unmarked and mass graves so far investigated in five districts across Jammu & Kashmir, the government has refused to allow any investigation. The Indian State on the pretext of requirement of massive technical and monetary resources and the investigation will create a social upheaval refused to conduct comprehensive forensic examination into all the unmarked and mass graves,” the statement added.
“APDP appeals to international community to urge the Government of India to conduct investigations into the cases of enforced disappearances in Jammu & Kashmir, on similar lines as conducted for the search of 39 missing persons in Mosul. The investigations must include a comprehensive forensic examination into the 7000 plus unknown, unmarked and mass graves and ensure that the families of the disappeared in Jammu and Kashmir receive truth, justice and reparations. Further, the Indian state must prosecute the perpetrators of human rights abuses including perpetrators of enforced disappearances in order ensure respect for rule of law,” the statement added.