Valley of individual trauma

The latest details can be found in the European Union parliamentary delegation’s recently released detailed report which was presented to the European Parliament, compiled on the basis of the tour and visit of a delegation of EU parliamentarians in June 2004 to the Valley. It says: ‘‘With approximately one soldier to every 10 civilians in J&K the huge military presence is never far away. The psychological pressures of ‘stop and search’ practices and the sense of being in a war zone, with violations by both militants and the security forces, are strong. The authorities in Indian-administered Kashmir admit that there are human rights violations, but they claim these are infrequent and point out that redress is possible and people are allowed to hold public demonstrations in protest against such abuses. However, they claim their own control only extends as far as the local police (of whom there are 60,000). If the abuses are committed by the security forces or the paramilitary, who are under central control, it is they who would have to take action. The result is that the aggrieved are frequently left with no avenues of redress.

‘‘According to Kashmir’s CM, Mufti Sayeed, who won the 2002 election, and part of whose campaign was based on improving human rights, the notorious SOG was disbanded by him. The Kashmir authorities told us that this has contributed to a significant decrease in the number of custodial killings (figures from 1997 suggest 17 a day; figures for today are much more vague). However, the Kashmiris we talked to said that ‘custodial catch’ whereby people were arrested, killed — and this was reported as the result of ‘an encounter’ — has been replaced by simple ‘disappearances’.

‘‘There are also regular newspaper reports of torture by the police (e.g. on July 2, 2004, the detention and alleged torture of a 17 year-old girl suspected of being actively involved in militancy), or of forced labour by local people living around the LOC or even of mine-sweeping parties with civilians used as human shields. However, it should not be forgotten that there are frequent attacks by militants (e.g. the June 26 killing of an Indian Railways engineer and his brother, the indiscriminate firing in a village in Poonch, resulting in 11 dead and 9 injured), and incidences of violence by armed opposition groups are common especially in the rural hinterland. Recent such incidences include a grenade attack in Srinagar on a bus carrying 35 soldiers and their families going on leave, hotel bombings in and around Srinagar, the shooting of the uncle of Mirwaiz, a separatist leader, and grenades lobbied at his house; on July 12, there was a grenade attack on the Deputy CM, whom we met on two occasions during our visit.’’

The common Kashmiri is still harassed and frustrated. There are few forums and he faces his alienation alone. Many dread to talk openly about the situation and the system because of fear of consequences of being rounded up.