New Delhi) – Indian authorities should immediately open an independent, transparent, and credible investigation into the unmarked graves discovered in Jammu and Kashmir state, Human Rights Watch said today. An inquiry by the police investigation team of the Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has found 2,730 bodies dumped into unmarked graves in four of the state’s 14 districts. Thousands of Kashmiris have been forcibly disappeared during the last two decades of violence, their whereabouts unknown.
❱ Read more: India: Investigate Unmarked Graves in Jammu and Kashmir – Human Right Watch – 24-08-2011
The mass graves of Kashmir – Guardian – 09-07-2012
For 22 years this contested region has endured a regime of torture and disappeared civilians. Now a local laywer is discovering their unmarked graves and challenging India’s abuses
One sodden evening in April 2010, an Indian army major from the 4Â Rajputana Rifles arrived at a remote police post where the mountains gather in a half-hitch around Kashmir, India‘s northernmost state. Major Opinder Singh “seemed in a hurry”, a duty policeman recalled. Up in the heights of the Pir Panjal range, down through which the major had descended, it was snowing and his boots let in water. “The officer reported that the previous night his men had killed three Pakistani terrorists who had crossed over into our Machil sector,” the policeman recalled. “Where are the bodies?” the policeman had asked, filling in a First Information Report that started a criminal enquiry. “They were buried where they were shot,” the major retorted, before taking off in his jeep.
❱ Read more: The mass graves of Kashmir – Guardian – 09-07-2012
Indian Kashmir – Freedom House – 2012
After a surge in violence between security forces and demonstrators in 2010, Indian-controlled Kashmir experienced markedly more stable and peaceful conditions in 2011. Local council elections in the spring drew a turnout of 80 percent, as voters defied the instructions of separatist groups to boycott the state-organized polls.
When British India was partitioned into India and Pakistan in 1947, the Hindu maharajah of Jammu and Kashmir tried to maintain his principality’s independence, but he eventually ceded it to India in return for autonomy and future self-determination. Within months, India and Pakistan went to war over the territory. As part of a UN-brokered ceasefire in 1949 that established the present boundaries, Pakistan gained control of roughly one-third of Jammu and Kashmir, leaving India with the remainder. The territory received substantial autonomy under Article 370 of India’s constitution and a 1952 accord, but India annulled such guarantees in 1957 and formally annexed the portion of Jammu and Kashmir under its control. Since then, it has largely been governed as other Indian states, with an elected legislature and a chief minister. Under the 1972 Simla accord, New Delhi and Islamabad agreed to respect the Line of Control (LOC) dividing the region and to resolve Kashmir’s
❱ Read more: Indian Kashmir – Freedom House – 2012
Pakistani Kashmir – Freedom House
In Gilgit-Baltistan, nationalist groups’ demands for greater autonomy remained unfulfilled in 2011, and there was an increase in demonstrations as well as harassment and targeted killings of Shiites and political activists during the year. Meanwhile, June elections in Azad Kashmir produced a new government led by the Azad Kashmir People’s Party. As ongoing talks between India and Pakistan yielded little substantive progress on the Kashmir dispute, China expanded its military presence and involvement in development projects in the region.
❱ Read more: Pakistani Kashmir – Freedom House
Pakistan-administered Kashmir (Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan) – European Country of Origin Information Network
http://www.ecoi.net/file_upload/90_1337596756_accord-pakistan-20120507-kashmir.pdf
PAKISTAN: Another Azad Kashmiri becomes the victim of ISI butchery – Asian Human Rights Commission – 24-05-2012
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward to you the following press release from Kashmir National Party, Azad Kashmir Chapter.
Asian Human Rights Commission
Hong Kong
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FORWARDED PRESS RELEASE
AHRC-FPR-027-2011
24 May, 2011
A Press Release from Kashmir National Party, Azad Kashmir chapter forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
PAKISTAN: Another Azad Kashmiri becomes the victim of ISI butchery
London, 23 May 2011: Dr Rizwan son of Mohammed Sarwar resident of Muzaffarabad was kidnapped by officials of ISI on 7th May 2011 from his house; and today on 23 May, he was killed.
No case was registered against Dr Rizwan and he was kept in the torture cells of the ISI. The local police demanded family of the deceased to pay them 60,000 rupees and they will release him. While the family struggled to make arrangements for this money, today to their horror they discovered that they have killed innocent Dr Rizwan.
❱ Read more: PAKISTAN: Another Azad Kashmiri becomes the victim of ISI butchery – Asian Human Rights Commission – 24-05-2012
With Friends Like These – Human Rights Violations in Azad Kashmir – Human Rigths Watch – 21-09-2006
This 71-page report, based on research in Azad Kashmir, uncovers abuses by the Pakistani military, intelligence services and militant organizations. In Azad Kashmir, a region largely closed to international scrutiny until a devastating earthquake hit in 2005, the Pakistani government represses democratic freedoms, muzzles the press and practices routine torture.