Army used citizens in J&K operations,says state police

J-K Government has admitted that the Army camps based in North Kashmirs Handwara had been taking residents for forced labour,night patrolling and other operations,without paying wages to them.

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For the first time ever since the Army initiated counter insurgent operations in Kashmir,J-K Government has admitted that the Army camps based in North Kashmirs Handwara had been taking residents for forced labour,night patrolling and other operations,without paying wages to them.

The people taken for forced labour included Engineer Rashid,currently an MLA,who was then an assistant engineer with the state Government. He approached the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC),who,in turn,asked the state police to submit a report.

I,along with the entire male population of 24 villages from Kargam to Nowgam in Mawar area (Langate constituency),were taken by the Army for a humiliating and terrifying forced labour for 13 years. We have been agitating for justice and now the Jammu and Kashmir Police has confirmed that we were being taken for forced labour by the Army, said Rashid,who won the 2008 Assembly polls from Langate as an Independent candidate.

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We have suffered a lot. Each village had to send a group of men for forced labour on a rotation basis and my turn would come after every 18 days. I was an engineer working for the government,but this could not bail me out of the forced labour. We would have to report to the gate of the Army camp at 3 am carrying lanterns and the armymen would first ask us to jump several times to ensure that we were not carrying bombs. Then they would ensure that we are not carrying weapons by checking our clothes with long sticks. Then the guards would body search us, Rashid said.

I was forced to work as a porter,walk ahead of patrol parties scanning the roads for IEDs. I have also acted as a human shield several times, he said.

After being elected as an MLA,I knocked the door of the SHRC in December last year. The Commission issued instructions to the authorities to verify my complaint. I pleaded that if we are not second class citizens and have the similar rights that people in Delhi and Mumbai have,then Prime Minister must at least apologise because the state has put a large number of its citizens through forced labour,endangered their lives and not paid them any wages ever, he said.

He added that if he gets a chance to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his forthcoming visit to Kashmir,he will personally raise the issue with him.

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The SHRC had sought a report from the government. Subsequently,a report was submitted by the J-K Polices CID wing. It read: As per verification,the Army camped in Handwara used to take along residents of Mawar for forced labour,night patrolling and other operations without paying any wages to them. This exercise remained enforced from 1990 to 2002. Since then no such complaint has been received from any area of Handwara.

When contacted,Defense spokesman,Lt Col J S Brar said he wasnt aware of any such incident. We do employ people,but we do not get any forced labour done, Brar said.

The next hearing of the complaint is scheduled for June. The SHRC has a limited mandate and can only recommend corrective measures and compensation for a victim of human rights violations.