Panel discussion and press conference held at New Delhi
Abu Zafar Adil Azmi
abuzafar@journalist.com
New Delhi—At a panel discussion and press conference held on the Kashmir situation in the Press Club of India yesterday, participants expressed their sadness and anger regarding what they described as the attitude of the central and state government to the dispute which has claimed 51 lives since June. This discussion and conference was organized by ANHAD, a non-governmental organization. Academicians, human rights activists, journalists and lawyers participated.
Professor Siddiq Wahid, the vice chancellor of Islamic University of Science & Technology in Pulwama, Jammu & Kashmir said that today the population of Jammu & Kashmir is facing serious problems, particularly the youths. He also criticized the role of media on Kashmir. According to him, journalists have not seriously covered Kashmiri issues, preferring to write about the price rise and Commonwealth Games but they don’t have space to talk about Kashmir where people are being killed.
Anuradha Bhasin, the executive editor of the Kashmir Times, blamed the Indian judicial system for increasing problems in Kashmir. She said “The Indian system of justice has totally crumbled. It doesn’t exist in Kashmir. People have reposed faith in it time and again in the system and have always been let down.” She cited the Jaleel Andrabi murder and Shopian rape cases as examples. Jaleel Andarabi was allegedly killed while in the custody of the Indian Army in 1996 and two young women were allegedly gang raped and killed by central reserve police force (CEPF) in 2009, although officials have disputed those allegations.
“The gross human rights violations by the state and security agencies were never even questioned or objected to by the government of India. An entire generation has been born and brought up in the stifled environment of rapes, random arrests, blatant shoot-outs, nocturnal raids, disappearances, encounters etc, and they have always witnessed the ugly face of Indian democracy,” said Anuradha Bhasin.
Senior journalist Sayeed Malik said that the rule of law is breaking down in the valley. He said that in the past 60 days 51 civilians have been killed, mostly teenagers and youths. He also said that the people of Kashmir have constantly lived under the shadow of fear for the last 20 years, earlier it was the militancy and now Indian State responsible for that fear. He further stated that there were about 30 to 40 youths out of 51 who shot in the abdomen from the front. “If the intention was to disperse a mob, why were they shot in the abdomen?” he asked.
“In fact we are living in a ‘stone age’. There were no SMS, no prepaid phone, and no internet access. Schools and colleges are shut down. There are limitations in ATM to withdraw cash only up to 1000,” he said.
Tanveer Hussain Khan, a young activist from Kashmir, expressed the rationale behind the anger of the young Kashmiris who have been consistently denied any political dialogue and have been targeted with tear gas shelling or bullets at point blank range.
“People in the rest of India cannot imagine what it is to live in an occupied territory filled heavily with Army, Security Agencies, Paramilitary forces and so on” , said Vrinda Grover, a human rights lawyer of the Delhi High Court. She also said that the “Government of India had been bluffing with the people of Kashmir for so many years, running away from its responsibility by denying the right to Justice to the people and the civil society of India is complicit in the crimes of Indian State by keeping silence”.
The discussion and press conference was chaired by Historian Uma Chakravarty.
The participators demanded that the Government of India and the state ensure restraint by all security forces and respect for life in responding to protests. They also called for zero tolerance for any disproportionate or targeted use of force by the security forces and urged the repeal and withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and the Public Safety Act, which grant impunity to the security forces, according to them.
Other demands include:
*Immediate measures to initiate criminal prosecutions, legal proceedings, grant of sanction for prosecution against all security personnel indicted for human rights violations including enforced disappearances, extra judicial killings, and rapes.
*The government should constitute a credible commission to enquire into the complaints of human rights violations including the killing of civilians in the recent public protests.
* They called for a systematic reduction of troops from the state and a sustained and meaningful dialogue with Kashmiris.
