Shocking Brutalities in Kashmir

By Sajjad Shaukat

The question of unmarked graves which shows shocking brutalities of Indian security forces in the Indian-Held Kashmir is appearing with more details which were concealed by New Delhi. In this respect, in its recent report which was also published by several Chinese newspapers, China’s leading News Agency Xinhua has unearthed more gruesome details on world-stunning unmarked graves in Poonch, in the Indian occupied Kashmir.

While quoting reliable local sources, the report disclosed the statement of Sofi Aziz Joo, caretaker of a graveyard as saying, “Police and Army used to bring those bodies and direct me to bury them. The bodies were usually bullet-ridden, mutilated, faces disfigured and sometimes without limbs and heads.”
Xinhua’s report said, “Burials are carried out quietly without involving the local people…burials of those killed by army and police usually stoke protests in the region against police and army with the demand of end to New Delhi’s rule.”

On September 27 this year Amnesty International said that lawmakers in Indian-held Kashmir should discuss the recent discovery of unnamed graves containing more than 2,000 bullet-riddled bodies and should demand an independent panel be set up to identify the bodies, noting the same recommendation made by the Jammu-Kashmir State Human Rights Commission which had yet to be acted upon. It repeatedly emphasised, indicating, “The state government must also ensure that all past and current allegations of enforced disappearances are promptly, thoroughly, independently and impartially investigated”, adding that anyone found responsible should be prosecuted.

It is notable that after widespread allegations of human rights abuses in the Indian occupied Kashmir by the army, paramilitary and police, a commission was set up in 1997. However, Indian Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has officially acknowledged in its report in August this year that innocent civilians killed in the two-decade conflict may have been buried in unmarked graves.

According to the report of the Indian commission, “Hundreds of unmarked graves in Kashmir hold more than 2,000 bullet-riddled bodies that may include innocent victims, despite police claims that they were militants fighting Indian rule in the disputed Himalayan territory.”

Indian Commission’s report indicated, “2,156 unidentified bodies were found in mass graves in three northern mountainous regions, while 574 other bodies were found in the graves have been identified as local residents.” The probe said it noted 851 unknown bodies in Baramulla, 14 in Bandipore, 14 in Handwara and 1277 in Kupwara. While concealing actual details, it also acknowledged that few bodies were defaced, 20 were charred, five only had skulls remaining and there were at least 18 graves with more than one body each. Before this admission, Indian high officials have been emphasising that all these bodies were of militant fighters—claimed by police when they were handed over to villages for burial.

While, rights groups have disclosed that more than 8,000 people have disappeared, accusing government forces of staging fake gunbattles to cover up killings. The groups also revealed that suspected rebels have been arrested and never heard from again.

Notably, Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), which in March 2008 released a report, titled, “Facts Underground”, had indicated the presence of unidentified graves. The APDP, which estimates around 10,000 people went missing during last two decades, claims, “many missing people may have ended up in these unmarked graves.”

In December 2009, another human rights group, the International People’s Tribunal on Human Rights had released a report claiming that unnamed graveyards “entomb bodies of those, murdered in fake encounters and arbitrary executions.”   More..