Executive Summary
Fake encounters and extrajudicial killings in Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir are
characterized as systemic, state-sanctioned violence carried out with absolute impunity under the protective umbrella of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). The report argues that local civilians—predominantly young men—have been rendered a “killable” lot, subjected to enforced disappearances, torture, and staged encounters. Security personnel allegedly utilize these killings to secure cash rewards, gallantry awards, and career advancement, while the state uses them to malign the Kashmiri resistance movement and justify heavy militarization.

The Recent Catalyst: The Rashid Mughal Case (March 31, 2026)
The recent killing of Rashid Mughal in the Ganderbal district has brought the issue back into sharp focus. The Indian Army claimed Mughal was a militant killed in a joint cordon-and-search operation, alleging the recovery of an AK-56 rifle and ammunition. However, the family
categorically rejected this, stating that he was a part-time computer operator with no militant links.

Glaring inconsistencies point to a staged encounter:

• Mughal was shot at point-blank range, damaging one side of his skull beyond
  recognition.
• Circulating photos showed him in brand-new combat gear and holding a new weapon,
  which his family states were not the clothes he was wearing when abducted.
• Although the Lieutenant Governor has ordered an inquiry, the report notes that historical
  precedent offers little hope, as past inquiries have rarely led to prosecutions.
  Timeline of Fake Encounters (2016–Present)
• July 2020 (Shopian Fake Encounter): Three Kashmiri laborers—one of whom was a
  minor—were killed by Indian military personnel in a staged encounter and subsequently
  branded as militants.
• December 2023 (Poonch Custodial Killings): Three civilians were killed while in the
  custody of the Indian Army following their detention.
• 2025 (Pahalgam Incident): Described in the report as a “false-flag operation,” this incident is cited as an example of disinformation warfare used by the Indian government to advance

domestic and foreign policy objectives, bringing India and Pakistan to the brink of
confrontation despite questions regarding the official narrative.

• March 2026 (Ganderbal): The aforementioned staging of the encounter and killing of
  Rashid Mughal.
• Pathribal fake encounter 2000: Five Kashmiri civilians were abducted and killed by Indian forces on 24 March 2000 and falsely labeled as foreign militants. Days later, eight more Kashmiris were killed in Brakpora during protests against the killings, bringing the total to 3 Kashmiri civilians massacred.

Mass Graves and Enforced Disappearances in IIoJK
The 2009 report “Buried Evidence: Unknown, Unmarked and Mass Graves in Indian
Administered Kashmir” by the International People’s Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice
in Kashmir—based on field research conducted between 2006 and 2009—documented 2,700
unknown, unmarked mass graves containing over 2,943 bodies across 55 villages in Bandipora,Baramulla, and Kupwara, with 87.9% of remains unidentified; it further highlighted the pervasive presence of approximately 667,000 military and paramilitary personnel operating with legal impunity, alongside patterns of organized deception in which Kashmiri Muslim men are framed as cross-border militant agents to justify violence, while state discourse deliberately conflates cross-border militancy with indigenous, often nonviolent, Kashmiri resistance, branding it as “terrorism”—all of which persists despite a 2017 directive by the Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission for a time-bound investigation that remains unimplemented, even as over 8,000 enforced disappearances since 1989 and the burial of at least 580 Kashmiris in unmarked graves since 2020 continue to raise serious violations of international humanitarian law regarding identification, dignified burial, and preservation of evidence.

Modus Operandi and Motivations
The report details a chilling, profit-driven motive behind many of these killings, using the
infamous 2010 Machil case as a blueprint:

• Luring Civilians: Youth from economically disadvantaged backgrounds are lured by local
  informants and Territorial Army personnel with the promise of paid labor (e.g., 2,000
  rupees/day to carry arms).
• Execution and Staging: Once in custody, the civilians are executed (often shot in the
  head), and weapons, Pakistani currency, and “infiltrator” props are planted on their
  bodies.
• Financial Incentives: The Armed Forces reportedly offer cash rewards of 50,000 to
  200,000+ rupees for killing a militant. These financial bounties and out-of-turn
  promotions act as direct incentives for murder.

• Narrative Building: The killings are used to fabricate a narrative of “cross-border
  terrorism,” exaggerating militant infiltration to justify the presence of nearly 667,000
  military and paramilitary personnel in the region.
  The Architecture of Impunity
  The legal and institutional framework in Kashmir is structured to protect perpetrators rather than victims:
• AFSPA and National Security Laws: Laws such as AFSPA (1990), the Disturbed Areas
  Act (1976), and the Public Safety Act (1978) provide broad protections to security forces, allowing them to operate with minimal oversight, arrest individuals without warrants, and use lethal force based on mere suspicion.
• Requirement of Prior Sanction: Section 7 of AFSPA mandates that the central government must grant prior permission to prosecute any member of the armed forces. The report highlights that this sanction is almost systematically denied, acting as an absolute legal shield against criminal prosecution.
• Military Justice vs. Civilian Courts: Even in rare instances where internal military inquiries find personnel guilty of wrongdoing, trials are typically conducted behind closed doors in court-martials rather than transparent civilian criminal courts. This severely limits public scrutiny, victim participation, and the likelihood of genuine justice.
• Intimidation of Victims’ Families: Families seeking accountability are routinely subjected
  to systematic harassment, surveillance, and intimidation. Authorities often file counter
  FIRs (First Information Reports) against the victims’ relatives, accusing them of aiding
  militants or harboring terrorists to deter them from pursuing legal action.
  

Societal and Psychological Impact

The continuum of extrajudicial killings has inflicted deep, generational trauma on Kashmiri society:

• Culture of Fear and Silence: Absolute impunity has created a pervasive “chilling effect,”
  deterring civilians from speaking out or protesting due to the legitimate fear of being
  targeted, disappeared, or falsely implicated.
• The Crisis of “Half-Widows”: The practice of enforced disappearances—often a
  precursor to staged encounters—has left thousands of women as “half-widows,” unable
  to remarry or claim inheritance without proof of their husbands’ deaths, enduring
  immense socio-economic marginalization.
• Erosion of Institutional Trust: The repeated staging of encounters and subsequent state
  cover-ups have completely eroded public trust in local police, the judiciary, and
  democratic institutions, which are increasingly viewed as subservient to the military
  apparatus.

International Law and Global Response
The report frames these practices as gross violations of International Human Rights Law (IHRL) and International Humanitarian Law (IHL), specifically citing the right to life (Article 6 of the ICCPR), to which India is a signatory.

• UN Condemnation: Multiple United Nations Special Rapporteurs and the UN Office of
  the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) have repeatedly called for the
  repeal of AFSPA, citing its incompatibility with international human rights standards and
  overriding the right to life.
• Denial of Access: The Indian government has consistently refused to grant unrestricted
  access to UN investigators and international human rights organizations to independently assess the ground situation in Kashmir, thereby obstructing international oversight.

Conclusion

• The summary report concludes that fake encounters in Indian-occupied Kashmir are not isolated aberrations or “rogue” actions by individual soldiers, but rather a structured, institutionalized mechanism of state violence. Driven by financial incentives, career advancement, and a geopolitical agenda to justify heavy militarization, these killings are sustained by a legal architecture (AFSPA) designed to guarantee impunity. Until the legal shields protecting armed forces are dismantled and independent, transparent investigations are mandated, the report warns that Kashmiri civilians will continue to be treated as collateral damage in a militarized conflict where the rule of law is effectively suspended.

Key Recommendations (as derived from the report’s context):

1. Repeal AFSPA: The immediate revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and
   the Disturbed Areas Act.
2. Independent Investigations: The establishment of transparent, civilian-led judicial
   commissions (rather than military inquiries) to investigate all suspicious encounter
   killings.
3. Grant Sanctions for Prosecution: An end to the systematic denial of prosecution sanctions
   by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
4. Reparations: Comprehensive compensation, psychological support, and societal
   rehabilitation for the families of victims of fake encounters and enforced disappearances.
5. International Oversight: Unrestricted access for UN Special Rapporteurs and
   international human rights NGOs to the region.