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Independent commission should probe the allegations of human rights violations in Kashmir

by Kashmir Times, 4 September 2009

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Editorial, Kashmir Times, 2 September 2009

Justice must not be denied

Where existing institutions collapse, peoples’ faith can be restored by independent commissions

There is nothing misplaced in the demand, now raised by the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons, for an independent commission to probe the allegations of human rights violations. Infact, setting up an independent commission is something that can act as a gateway for introduction of genuine confidence building measures, other than those in place to bridge the gap between the two sides of Jammu and Kashmir across the Line of Control. The trauma and victimisation of the people, both at the hands of the militants and the security forces, in the last two decades is already a well known fact. While the counter insurgency operations and existing deal with the non-state gunmen let loose to perpetrate violence and often also terror, there is nothing that has been done to make the unbridled security personnel accountable for their acts. While laws like Disturbed Areas Act and Armed Forces Special Powers Act ensure a culture of impunity, virtually forbidding security personnel from being prosecuted even for cold blooded murders, a dangerous mindset in the political and bureaucratic circles which treats the security agencies as a holy cow that cannot be questioned and must at all times be protected, ensures patronisation and shielding of all errant security personnel including the Jammu and Kashmir police. The latter is not even covered by extra special draconian laws like the AFSPA, but are shielded and patronized nonetheless. This unjustified and undemocratic impunity enjoyed by the men in uniform has only encouraged a vicious cycle of violence, harassment, torture, rapes, disappearances and killings of the innocent persons. In pursuit of protecting the men in uniform, the successive governments in Jammu and Kashmir and the centre have gone to the extent of negating the allegations and wishing them away through botched up statistics or deeming them as isolated incidents or part of propaganda propelled by the separatists. This is not just a figment of the imagination but also sheer escapism.

The fact remains that it doesn’t take long for any layman to gauge the level of human rights abuse in Kashmir Valley and other militancy infested parts of the state. Yet, the government is in no mood to acknowledge this ugly reality, demonstrating how distanced the ruling elite can be from the ruled and their grievances. By absolutely turning a blind eye, the government would only exacerbate the growing alienation, accelerate the impatience of the people and demolish their faith in a democratic system and also the peace process. It is lucidly clear that the spiralling graph of human rights abuse is a crippling liability in the way of wooing people and minimising their alienation. Besides, granting extra-judicial powers to the men in uniform with absolute impunity from prosecution and punishment has encouraged greater indiscipline within their rank and file not only in Jammu and Kashmir but also throughout the country. The only way to begin a reversal of the process is by scrapping the draconian laws and disallowing people at the helm of affairs from going out of their way to protect the men in uniform. There is a direct correlation also between the extreme militarisation of civilian spaces and the hike in human rights violations, a fact that has been amply and scientifically proven across the world. However, the government, for reasons that simply stem from misplaced sense of security and national interest has always dragged its feet over both scrapping laws like AFSPA and the question of withdrawal of forces.

Unfortunately, lack of serious political initiative has also forbidden successive regimes from going ahead with independent probes. Till date, there is not a single case of human rights abuse that would qualify as being probed fairly. The so called judicial probes end up in a farce and the legal process fails to take its own course because of unlimited authority that is vested in the men in uniform. Every year statistics are quoted to counter the claims of human rights organizations about the cases of abuse. But even these statistics, alongwith the piles of cases that have been acknowledged by the State Human Rights Commission, while dismissing off most allegations, do admit the genuineness of atleast a substantial number of human rights violation cases. Then why has prosecution not taken places even in these? The central government has also given sanction for prosecution against some of the central security forces in a fraction of the cases. Yet, nothing has been done to bring the culprits to book. A case in point is the Jalil Andrabi murder case. Normal legal procedures simply become dysfunctional when it comes to Kashmir. This all the more reinforces the need for independent commissions to probe cases, provided that these commissions have enough powers and that their decisions are binding on the law enforcing agencies, rather than the latter taking the commission for a ride. There is after all nothing blasphemous about that. Core groups from both the side of the government and the victims, minus hawks from either side, need to sit together and agree on choosing persons of credibility and competence for the independent commission. At least this needs to be tried on an experimental basis by investigating at least some cases. The best place to begin would be the Shopian case, which has so badly revealed the crumbling democratic institutions, besides straining the government’s credibility and causing irreparable alienation.