Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai
Chairman
World Forum for Peace & Justice
November 11, 2024
“Only on paper has humanity yet achieved glory, beauty, truth, knowledge, virtue, and abiding love.” George Bernard Shaw
Amnesty International issued a report November 15, 2023, entitled, ‘NOBODY KNOWS WHAT’S HAPPENING IN KASHMIR.’
It is tragic that civilized nations have fallen from their lofty calling: namely, human rights for all mankind. There is a sad commentary on the state of human rights all over the globe. It seems to me that until there evolves a generally accepted moral duty among peoples and nations to assist all victims of widespread human rights violations by force or other stiff retaliation, human rights enforcement mechanisms will operate haphazardly and whimsically for reasons unrelated to the harm to the victims or the villainy of the perpetrators. It is the job of the members of civilized society and all human rights defenders to jump-start that moral evolution.
It is worth mentioning here that India presents a wholly false picture of the situation in Kashmir. The agenda of the Indian government and its various mouthpieces to mislead the public about the conflict in and about Kashmir continues on unimpeded. At the same time the people of Kashmir face the kind and extent of suffering that has not been inflicted on any other people in that part of the world. This is a direct result both of Indian sadism and international apathy. It is sad indeed that despite the fact that the entire world is fully aware of the magnitude of the tragedy in Kashmir, no power or group of powers have uttered a word, nor have they come forward to stop this modern-day holocaust in Kashmir.
Article 9 of the International Covenant of Civil, Political Rights (ICCPR), which India has ratified, states that no one shall be arbitrarily arrested or detained without trial. The Indian security forces are obligated to inform detained individuals of the reason for their arrest and to allow them access to a trial in a timely manner. If the detention appears to be unlawful, detainees are entitled to take proceedings to court and be fairly compensated, according to ICCPR Article 9(4) and (5).
The people of Kashmir disappear into a dark Gulag as regularly as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. According to the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons, since 1989, approximately 8,000-10,000 Kashmiris have disappeared into a black hole.
Even the United States, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: India, issued on April 22, 2024, states, “According to human rights organizations, approximately 8,000-10,000 persons disappeared in the J&K region between 1989-2006, allegedly attributed to government forces, paramilitary forces, and terrorists. Data documenting disappearances in J&K since 2006 were limited.”
Arbitrary detention and disappearances are taking place in Kashmir because India has authorized a police state reminiscent of the Gestapo in Kashmir. The Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act (PSA), the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) are illustrative. Generally speaking, the law empowers the military and police in Kashmir to arrest, detain, search, wiretap, try, and punish without material restraints. By way of illustration, I refer to the case of Mohammad Yasin Malik, Shabir Ahmed Shah, Masarat Aaalam, Aaasiya Andrabi, Sofi Fehmeeda, Naheeda Nasreen, Khurram Parvez and many more.
Under the AFSPA, the central government could designate a state or union territory or a part of any region as a disturbed area, authorizing security forces in the state to use deadly force to maintain law and order and to arrest any person against whom reasonable suspicion existed, without informing the detainee of the grounds for arrest. The law also provided security forces immunity from civilian prosecution for acts committed in regions under the AFSPA.
Maya Rose Martin of American University wrote about Arbitrary Detention in Jammu and Kashmir. “Early in August 2019, the Indian government stripped Jammu and Kashmir of their special status under the Indian constitution. Since then, nearly 4,000 residents of Jammu and Kashmir were arrested and detained without trial. These arrests were justified by the Public Safety Act (PSA), which allows arrests to ensure public order. However, these detentions violate the Indian Constitution and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). India is not fulfilling its obligations to ensure of the right to freedom from arbitrary detention and the right to a fair trial.”
It is well publicized that children as young as 9 years old have been detained in Kashmir. This is the violation of Article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Article 37 protects children from arrest and detention except as a measure of last resort.
Harvard Law Review, Volume 134, Issue 7, dated May 2021 wrote that “The PSA has not only depicted the Kashmiri as dangerous but also, in collaboration with AFSPA, established a legal “death zone []” critical to the operation of the settler regime. It is in this zone — where impunity and detention run rampant — that Kashmiris are caged “as existential and demographic threats.”
Amnesty International in its report issued on September 18, 2024, states that “The Indian authorities must stop using restrictive travel bans and arbitrary detentions under the country’s stringent anti-terror laws to intimidate critical dissenting voices from speaking out on Jammu and Kashmir.”
It is important to note that today 101st session of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) began today (November 11, 2024) in Geneva. Dr. Matthew Gillett of New Zealand is the Chair of the group. The mandate of WGAD is to investigate cases of deprivation of liberty imposed arbitrarily or inconsistently with the international standards set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, or the international legal instruments accepted by the States concerned. WGAD also conducts country visits to assess the situation of deprivation of liberty in the country.
However, the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances has submitted to the Government of India to visit Kashmir but has not received permission as of now. In 2014, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women expressed deep concern about the reported high level of violence, including enforced disappearance, against women in conflict-affected regions, including Kashmir.
US State Department, Country report further said, “On March 24, the UN’s Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance and UN Special Rapporteurs on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders expressed concern regarding the government’s treatment of Kashmiri human rights defenders and called for the closing of investigations against them and for their release. Rapporteurs noted continued allegations of lack of identification, protection, and preservation of large numbers of unmarked single and mass burial sites in Kashmir, including the failure to conduct proper forensic investigations, efforts to search for the forcibly disappeared, and the lack of progress in identifying the remains of individuals buried therein in accordance with international standards. The rapporteurs stated they were concerned by reports of intimidation and harassment against individuals and civil society organizations, including human rights defenders and journalists who called for investigation and accountability.”
The global community has a long and proud tradition of upholding the causes of human freedom and dignity. Kashmir calls urgently for initiatives in accordance with that tradition. We urge the community of nations to seize this opportunity to promote an initiative towards bringing about conditions necessary for the settlement of the Kashmir dispute.
Dr. Fai is also the Secretary General, World Kashmir Awareness Forum.
He can be reached at: 1-202-607-6435. Or. [email protected]
WWW.kashmirawareness.org