Release All Kashmiri Muslim Serving Life Sentences in Various Jails in the Subcontinent

No to Political Vendetta!  

Release Dr. Muhammad Qasim Faktoo immediately!

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23/04/2013
Dr. Muhammad Qasim: The Victim of Political Vendetta is a compilation of the case documents of Dr. Muhammad Qasim and articles written by various intellectuals and prominent citizens demanding an end to the 20 year long of his incarceration. At the occasion of the book release, CRPP would invite your attention to the long list of Kashmiri Muslims undergoing life imprisonment —around 45—in various jails such as Srinagar, Jammu, Udhampur, Tihar, Mumbai, Gujarat, Nagpur etc. At the outset it is a case of gross injustice reeking of political vendetta on Dr. Muhammad Qasim Faktoo who has spent twenty years of his life in prison. It is important to briefly look into the case of Dr. Muhammad Qasim to make sense of how political convictions, of being a Kashmiri Muslim sharing the political aspirations of the Kashmiri people for their right to self-determination itself is enough to earn the ire of the political establishment.
Dr. Muhammad Qasim was arrested on 5 February 1993 for his political views and to prolong his incarceration was booked under Sec.3 TADA, and Sec 302 read with 120-B CrPC. On 14 July 2001 the TADA Court in Jammu acquitted him citing that the prosecution had miserably failed to prove the case against Dr. Muhammad Qasim and the other accused. As the State of Jammu & Kashmir challenged the acquittal before the Supreme Court of India Dr. Muhammad Qasim was sentenced to life based solely on a confession statement made under section 15 of TADA. Even when the SC sentenced him to life it was mentioned that the “accused shall be given benefit of the period already undergone (undertrial period) by them”. After the completion of 14 years, the J & K High Court directed the Jail authorities to place Dr. Qasim’s case before the Review Board for consideration keeping in spirit with the observations of the SC. The Review Board recommended his premature release on 3 June 2008. Contrary to the recommendations of the Review Board the vindictive J & K government brought in the interpretation that the J & K Jail Manual Rule 54.1 debars TADA lifer convicts from release on completion of two thirds (14 years) of 20 years. (Govt. order No. Home-773(P) of 2009 dated 14.09.2009)
Amidst conflicting opinions in the High Court between a single bench judge which initially quashed the government order while a double bench upheld it taking refuge in the Rule 54.1 of the Jail Manual the long arm of political vendetta stood in between a forthright consideration of the outstanding situation and the release of Dr. Muhammad Qasim. On 31 May 2012, Dr. Muhammad Qasim completed 20 years of incarceration. It has been held unequivocally that despite the correspondence of Sec. 401 and 402 of the State Code of Criminal Procedure to Sections 432 and 433 of the Central Code the power of the executive is absolute and unfettered to remit sentence though it was willingly elusive in Dr. Muhammad Qasim’s case. As Dr. Muhammad Qasim has been sentenced to life under the J& K Manual which had made him ineligible to avail the provision of release after 14 years of imprisonment, then it logically follows that the same manual provides for putting a final end to his incarceration after the completion of 20 years. Without doubt what makes matters worse in Jammu & Kashmir is the overwhelming sense of vendetta vis-a-vis political prisoners.
The Indian State in the subcontinent and its counterpart in Jammu & Kashmir in particular have deliberately evaded the challenging question of evolving jurisprudence consistent with the question of political offences or offences the state deems are against the will of the State. The courts’ disquiet in developing jurisprudence towards dealing with political offences that are not borne out of individual interest of the alleged offender but of collective interest has resulted in adhocism and arbitrariness taking precedence over a possible judicial remedy in the ordinary law consistent with the already established precedence in international law. Perhaps for the first time the Calcutta High Court (CRR 463 of 2012 With CRR 1312 of 2012 With CRR 4000 of 211 on 8 August 2012) while recognising the right of the Maoist prisoners to be treated as Political Prisoners have brought in the question of the need to develop jurisprudence in dealing with political offences albeit the judgement confining its purview only till the rights of the political prisoner in the prison. Notwithstanding the fact that the above said judgment was based on the West Bengal Correctional Services Act 1992 and though there is yet to be a statutory recognition to political prisoners in Jammu & Kashmir, the Indian State has practically, to some extent, acknowledged the difference between political prisoners and other offenders. Since 1995 India allowed International Committee of Red Cross to visit these prisoners and ascertain their conditions within jails (though the distinction however remained confined to recognized jails and not detention centres like interrogation centres and police stations where the brutalities are perpetrated). CRPP is of the opinion that the need of the hour is to expand the ambit of the distinction of political prisoners from the domain of treatment of prisoners to the jurisprudence of conviction and penology.
Only in such a scenario can there be some safeguards, if not all, given the nature of the Indian State, to deal with such prolonged incarceration of prisoners for their political beliefs. Dr. Muhammad Qasim has undergone twenty years of incarceration. There are many more who might face the same fate if the democratic and freedom loving people of the subcontinent raise their voice against such inhuman and beastly face of the so-called democracy of the Indian State and its judiciary and executive. As in the case of Dr. Muhammad Qasim we need to demand the release of many of the 45 odd political prisoners serving life sentence in various prisons in the subcontinent. The list of the names many of these prisoners are provided as annexe though it is not an exhaustive one.
Putting Dr. Muhammad Qasim further behind bars goes against the very grain of all civil and political rights and freedoms assured by the Constitution of India as well as the International Law. The prolonged incarceration of Dr. Muhammad Qasim is testimony to the continuing repression and trampling of all freedoms of the people of Jammu & Kashmir for their political aspirations. As the State use every draconian law within its reach to the maximum (in Dr. Muhammad Qasim’s case the J & K Jail Manual, read with TADA) thousands of Kashmiri Muslims are kept behind bars in various prisons while hundreds languish in undisclosed torture and detention centres. CRPP appeals to every democratic and progressive sections in the subcontinent to raise their voice for the immediate release of Dr. Muhammad Qasim and his co-accused irrespective of his political convictions/beliefs as well as all the lifers most of whom have already finished ten years or more of the sentence.
Brief report about the proceedings of the Book Release Function: The book on Dr. Muhammad Qasmi was released at the Deputy Chairman Hall, Constitution Club, New Delhi jointly by Prof Jagmohan ( nephew of Shaheed Bhagat Singh) and Jeetan Marandi (people’s balladeer who got acquitted by the HC of Jharkhand from death sentence in a framed up case). Prof. Jagmohan in his address after the book release talked about the spirit that Jeetan had given to all of us after a prolonged people’s movement all over the subcontinent for his release. Both the speakers said it is a great victory for the people. Prof. Jagmohan pointed out that Bhagat Singh’s well known slogan of anti imperialism and revolution that he framed in 1917 correctly captured the dialectical relation between the two. Only the correct synthesis of this understanding can save us from these trying times of the growing fangs of fascist assault on the people on all fronts—socio-cultural, politico-economic. Besides he also talked about the need to take cue from the arduous struggle for the release of Jeetan Marandi that gives us strength and hope towards making it possible the release of all political prisoners including Dr. Muhammad Qasim. Thus while referring to the case of more than 40 odd lifers in J&K Prof. Jagmohan stressed the fact that when it comes to a political prisoner the system would always look for the convenient option ensuring that the notion of life imprisonment be for the entire natural life of the political prisoner and hence it becomes important that we demand for the release of all Kashmiri Muslim lifers lodged in different jails and have served around ten years in prison lest they be targets of political vendetta. It is important such books documenting the case and struggle for the release of political prisoners like Dr. Muhammad Qasim be taken to the wider sections of the people. This book release is a welcome step in that direction.
Jeetan Marandi while talking about his torturous experience on death row reminisced how his life from childhood facing abject poverty and forced to discontinue his school after 3rd division had to fight every moment to make his life worth living as a human being. The discerning mind of young Jeetan soon got attracted to the cultural group which used to visit villages and sing songs and act plays that depicted the everyday life of the villagers and the problems they faced. Soon Jeetan’s worldview transforms as he finds purpose in being part of the group and thus also being part of people’s initiatives to do away with their miseries. Sooner than later had he started singing for the people and their rights than he naturally became the target of state repression. In that context he identifies himself with the incarceration of Dr. Muhammad Qasim. The emotional and moving narrative of Jeetan proved beyond doubt how the struggle to keep one alive in the dungeons is as well the larger struggle to do away with all forms of oppression. He spoke about the need to dream even in adverse times and talk to oneself about the need to not give up hope even for a moment. To fight every minute, moment to keep the star beneath ones breast alive. The prisoner defines himself as well as the world around him in these moments of struggle to stay alive and that is what makes him and his convictions a cherishable dream. A dream worth dreaming in the isolated cell. In a dark cell (anda cell) where there is only some semblance of light at 12 noon every mosquito that sucks your blood, every lizard that creeps across, the spider and its cobweb, everything becomes your friend, as you struggle to make sense out such senseless creatures, meaning out of the life in isolation as you keep watching the lizard eat the insect for hours together. It is the desire to live even in that lifeless world that makes the political prisoner and his struggle inside the confines of the prisons a fight to keep one’s finest sensibilities alive and it the same that the mindless and violent state want him to lose forever. Jeetan feels that in this struggle always the news from outside of people protesting for his release, rallies and public meetings demanding his unconditional release all gave him hope and a strong faith in the strength of the people. And it is this united strength of the people and their struggle that can ensure that the terrible injustice of the kind of incarceration that Dr. Muhammad Qasim and his co-accused is going through can be done away with. The release of all such political prisoners in the subcontinent becomes the need of the hour as part of struggle to humanise ourselves.
Zahid a Kashmiri scholar talked about the need for a united struggle of the people of the subcontinent though their causes are different to defeat the designs of the Indian State to suppress all forms of political dissent. The political prisoners committee can be the right platform to realise that unity.
Prof. SAR Geelani, President CRPP, while presiding over the programme stressed the need for the struggle to unite for the release of all political prisoners in the subcontinent. There are thousands of Kashmiri political prisoners lodged in different jails in the Indian subcontinent though in the present programme we are raising only the case of life convicts in the context of Kashmir (more than 40 of them with many having completed more than 10 years)with specific reference to the continuing incarceration of Dr. Muhammad Qasim. The platform of CRPP is a definite step in the direction towards all forces fighting for the unconditional release of all political prisoners. While pointing out that the rights of the political prisoners has well been recognised in the international law he stressed that it is our duty to struggle to make the Indian State accept the category of political prisoners and their rights.

In Solidarity,

SAR Geelani Amit Bhattacharyya Prof. Jagmohan Singh
President Secretary General Vice President

Jeetan Marandi Rona Wilson
Secretary Secretary, Public Relations

List of Kashmiri Muslims Serving Life Sentence
1. AB Rashid, Udhampor was awarded Death but now changed into Life, Jammu District Amphala Jail
2. Aashiq Hussain Faktoo alias Dr Muhammad Qasim Faktoo Srinager Jail.
3. Ghulam Qadir Butt R/O Dooru Mir Maidan, Islamabad in Khutwa Jail now in Srinagar Jail.
4. Muhammad Ayoub Mir, Sadrabal Kot Bulwal Jail Jammu
5. Muhammad Ayoub Dar, Rawal Pora, Srinagar presently in Srinagar Jail, Life sentence by TADA court Jammu in 2009
6. Iqbal Jan, Bandipora Srinagar Jail
7. Mustaq Kaloo, Sopore co-accused with Iqbal Jan, Tihar jail, New Delhi
8. Mohammad Amin Wani, Banihal
9. Mehmood Toopiwal, Kangan
10. Abdul Waheed Thachi, Banihal
11. Jafar Umar Khanto
12. Javeed Khan, Nowpora, Srinagar Tihar Jai s/o M Shafi Khan Nowpora Srinagar 517-96 Lajpath Nagar Blast
13. M Shafi Khan @Prof Shafi Sharyati Hariwanun Khansahab in Sgr Jail.
14. Noor Muhammad Tantry, Tral, earlier in Tihar, now in Srinagar
15. Feroz Ahmad, Budgam Beerwa
16. Sh Raeis Delhi Tihar
17. Ishaq Pala s/o GH Rasool Tariq Shiekh, Manihal Shopian
18. Shabir Ahmad s/o M Abdullah Butt, Handwara Maratham
19. Mustaq Malik s/o Gh Muhammad Shah, Gund Handwara
20. Gh Muhammad Butt s/o Noor Muhammad Butt Koker Bagh Khag
21. Ab Hamid Teeli s/o GH Hasan Kokerhama, Kulgam
22. Nazir A Shiekh s/o Ab Rashid Batamaloo
23. Showkat A Khan Chotabazar present Nishat
24. Zakir Hussain alias Umar Faoorq, son of Ali Mohd of Malhar,
25. Fayaz Ahmad Shah of Babnad Shopian and Muhammad Syed Bhat of Dirhama Bijbehara.
26. Samiulla Sheikh R/O Patan Baramulla
27. Ghulam Nabi Soura, Srinagar, Kashmir Central Jail, Srinagar
28. Amin Dar Banihal, Jammu, Jammu Jail
29. Barkat Hussain S/O Neik Muhammad Pulwama, Kashmir Jammu Jail
30. Farooq Ahmad, Central Jail, Nagpur
31. Farooq Chopan, Central Jail, Mumbai
32. G. MuhammadWani, Jammu Jail
33. G. Qadir Butt Kupwara, Kashmir, Sub Jail, Kathua
34. Lala Hussain, Jammu Jail
35. Muhammad Akram Butt
36. Muhammad Aslam S/O Kamal Din, Jammu Jail
37. Muhammad Latif S/O Wali Muhammad, Jammu Jail
38. Muhammad Shafi S/O Abdal Karim, Jammu Jail
39. Muhammad Hussain R/ O Hadmat, Jammu Jail
40. Muhammad Shafi S/O Mohammad Abdullah, Jammu Jail
41. Muhammad Yousuf S/O Fetha Muhammad, Jammu Jail

COMMITTEE FOR THE RELEASE OF POLITICAL PRISONERS
185/3, FOURTH FLOOR, ZAKIR NAGAR, NEW DELHI-110025

Jammu and Kashmir Court tells Govt -Don’t handcuff under-trials

Asks DGP To Ensure Compliance Of Apex Court Directive
GK NEWS NETWORK

Jammu, Mar 29: Taking strong note of the practice adopted by police to handcuff under-trails, a court here has directed Director General of Police (DGP) to ensure compliance of Supreme Court directive in this regard.
Principal Sessions Judge Jammu Kartar Singh issued the direction after observing that several applications have been filed by the under-trails with the prayer to direct police not to handcuff them.
“It is now settled law of the country that handcuffing of the under-trial prisoners is in violation of Article-21 of the Constitution; as it is inhuman and not permissible in civilized society”, the court observed adding that unfortunately the under trial prisoners were being brought to the courts in handcuffs.
“It may be due to the reason that the lawful agencies are ignorant about the law of the country or they are doing it arbitrarily and intentionally and thus committing human rights violation of under trial prisoners”, the court observed adding, “Law enforcing agencies are assisted and guided by the prosecuting wing which is well-versed in law and for the said reason, the courts are not going to accept any excuse in future”.
“The Supreme Court has time and again deprecated practice of handcuffing of accused or under-trials without prior permission from the court concerned or any judicial magistrate and flouting of such directions amounts to contempt for which the law enforcing agencies are accountable and it may also amount to violation of human rights of a person”.
The court directed the state’s Director General of Police to issue appropriate administrative directions in this regard to subordinate officers and officials.

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Press Release-Kashmir- India, International Law and an act of hypocrisy

Press Release

The 21 March 2013, United Nations Human Rights Council [UNHRC] resolution is a welcome initial step in the ongoing struggle to hold countries responsible for human rights violations, ranging from Genocide, Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes to Enforced Disappearance, Torture, Rape and Extra-judicial executions. The watered down resolution, moved by the United States, and India’s support for the resolution, requires both commendation and severe criticism at the same time.

There can be no selective morality when it comes to standing against the commission of human rights violations by State’s. Every country must be held to the same standards, as Sri Lanka has been in the instant case, regardless of economic or geo-political concerns. In this regard, the United States and India stand accused of hypocrisy in their dealings with human rights violations in their regions or across the world. Similarly, Pakistan’s vote against the resolution raises serious questions on its own approach to human rights violations in the region or elsewhere.

India’s recognition of the atrocities arising from the Sri Lankan conflict is in direct contrast to its public and international position on Jammu and Kashmir. The Indian institutional culture of moral, political and juridical impunity in Jammu and Kashmir has resulted in, by some estimates [as of 2013], enforced and involuntary disappearance of at least 8000 persons besides more than 70,000 deaths, countless cases of torture and disclosures of more than 6000 unknown, unmarked, and mass graves. In the context of the issue of unmarked and mass graves, despite a series of recommendations by the State Human Rights Commission on 19 October 2011, and an European Parliament resolution of July 2008 urging the Government of India to hold an investigation into the alleged mass/unidentified graves in Kashmir, no action has been taken. Countless violations against the armed forces and the Jammu and Kashmir Police have been brought to the public domain.

The Indian State has evaded, denied and altogether refused to acknowledge its continuing criminal actions in Jammu and Kashmir. The Indian vote for the resolution is therefore, at the same moment, both laudable
and revealing.

Adv. Parvez Imroz
President, JKCCS

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Jammu and Kashmir Biometric Census to begin next month #UID #Aadhaar

 

ZAHID MAQBOOL

 

greaterkashmir.com

 

 

Srinagar, Mar 22: Biometric census, which constitutes the second phase of the National Population Register (NPR) project, will commence in Kashmir Valley from next month.

 

 Officials associated with the NPR in J&K told Greater Kashmir that biometric census will commence from second week of April from Kulgam and Ganderbal districts.“We have completed the collection of basic data under the first phase. Now we will start holding camps to gather biometric data in valley from next month. Headquarters of Census Operations has already initiated tendering process in this regard,” said Joint Director, Census Operations J&K, Chander Shekhar Saproo.

 

 Official sources said a meeting has been scheduled this week between census officials and District Development Commissioners of Ganderbal and Kulgam.

 

 “We will start from districts that are less in area comparatively. It will help officials associated with Census to gain experience in the work which will help them in other major districts later,” officials said.

 

 Meanwhile government has already started biometric census in J&K from district Samba in Jammu.The government had launched NPR project in the year 2010 with a motive to provide National Identity Cards to each and every citizen of Jammu and Kashmir. The form filling and house-listing process was started by Census department in August 2010.

 

 NPR will be an exhaustive database, listing all residents in the state, district, block, village, and household. The register will include any person who stays or intends to stay in an area for six months or more, both citizens and non-citizens, and the data will eventually be replaced by a National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC).

 

 Pertinently the State government was asked by the Centre to replace the Aadhar project with NPR as has been done by various other states across the country.

 

 “The process is basically aimed to give every citizen a unique mode to identify himself in front of the governing body. For this purpose, a Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) was formed by the Planning Commission last year,” sources said.

 

 

 

#India- 815 rapes cases in Jammu and Kashmir in last 3 years #Vaw

Thursday, 07 Mar 2013 at 11:22, Rising Kahsmir

 

3553 molestation, 2950 kidnapping, 960 eve-teasing, 29 dowry cases

Arun Singh
Jammu, Mar 7: Around 815 rape cases have been registered in Jammu and Kashmir in the last three years. 110 rape cases were reported in Jammu and 55 cases in Srinagar.

The figures came to fore in a written reply to the question asked by Member of Legislative Council, Ravinder Sharma seeking details regarding number of crimes against women in the state during past three years and steps taken to check the atrocities against women.
According to the reply, 2950 kidnapping cases were reported in last three years. In year 2012, 299 women/girls were raped and 1059 were abducted in different districts of the state. In the same year, two gang rape cases, 1322 cases of molestation and outraging modesty, 347 cases of eve teasing, eight cases in dowry deaths, 199 cases of abetment to suicide, 301 cases in cruelty by husband, three cases under Dowry Restraint Prohibition Act and three in suppression of immoral trafficking were registered at various police stations across the state.
In the year 2011, 273 rapes, 1041 kidnaps, 1194 molestations, 351 eve teasing and 11 dowry cases were registered. In 2010, 243 rapes, 850 kidnaps, 1037 molestations, 262 eve teasing and 10 dowry cases were registered.
“Stringent laws were already in force and any culprit involved in a crime or atrocity against a woman was being dealt in accordance with law,” the government reply reads.
It said the investigations in the cases were supervised by a senior officer. “Effective patrolling and vigil was also being ensured at sensitive locations to prevent the occurrence of such crimes.”
The government also said various awareness programmes, legal camps with the help of opinion leaders at police station level were also organized to create public opinion about crime against women.

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#Kashmir -Pathribal carnage evidence to be recorded in Valley

AHMED ALI FAYYAZ, The Hindu

Responding to the public pressure, an Army court on Saturday decided to shift its centre of recording the statements of witnesses in the Pathribal carnage from Nagrota in Jammu to Awantipore in Kashmir valley. The court is holding trial on a chargesheet as the CBI has held a group of the Army officials guilty of killing five civilians in a fake encounter in Anantnag district in March 2000.

Even as the civilian witnesses had declined to travel to the headquarters of 16 Corps at Nagrota, the court had continued its initial proceedings in Jammu. It has finally relented to the extent of facilitating the recording of the evidences at headquarters of Victor Force at Awantipore in south Kashmir.

“Upholding the principles of justice, in a significant endeavour to facilitate timely conclusion of the case, the officer recording Summary of Evidence has been directed to move to Awantipur for recording the statements of the remaining witnesses,” an Army spokesperson said in a handout. He said that fresh summons had been issued to all the witnesses, including the family members of the five persons killed in the controversial shootout.

“Statements of 26 witnesses, including all the Army witnesses and some police as well as government officials, have been recorded so far. However, despite repeated summons issued to the civilian witnesses, they have not come forward to depose before the Army court, which is unduly delaying the judicial process”, said the handout. Recording of statements would commence from March 5.

On the night intervening March 20 and 21 in 2000, 35 male members of the Sikh community were massacred outside a Gurudwara at Chittisinghpura in Anantnag district. Four days later, officials of Rashtriya Rifles 7th battalion claimed to have killed “five foreign mercenaries” holding them responsible for the massacre. Soon, the residents of different villages developed suspicions with regard to the Army’s claim. They held demonstrations, asking the authorities to trace out the five civilians, who had been picked up in late night raids by different units of the armed forces.

As the residents’ demand grew louder with the death of seven demonstrators in firing by the men of Special Operations Group of Anantnag district police, a special investigation was ordered and all the five bodies were exhumed under magisterial supervision. Fudging of some tissue samples in a Forensic Science laboratory led to a fresh pandemonium. Finally, the investigation was assigned to the CBI.

In 2006, CBI completed its investigation and produced challan in a designated court in Srinagar. It found five Army officials responsible for stage-managing a fake encounter and claimed that the five innocent civilians had been killed so as to project them as the militants responsible for the Sikhs’ massacre.

Brig. Ajay Saxena, Lt. Col. Brajendra Pratap Singh, Maj. Sourabh Sharma, Maj. Amit Saxena and Subedar Idrees Khan were charged by the CBI with the murder of the five civilians.

However, Army put up resistance, claiming that the courts could not hold the trial without proper sanction from the government of India, as the Army in Jammu and Kashmir enjoyed special powers and immunity against such prosecutions. The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir stayed the proceedings in 2007.

The CBI pleaded that it was a “cold-blooded murder” of innocent civilians and the armed forces’ special powers and immunity were restricted only to the genuine counter-insurgency operations. The Supreme Court did not agree with the CBI but directed the Army to either hold the trial in its own court or choose the option of a civil court. On September 20, 2012, Lt. Gen. A.S. Nandal, who is also GOC of 16 Corps, started hearing the CBI case after the matter was shifted from the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Srinagar to the Army court.

On January 14, 2013, the General Court Marshal asked the family members of the five deceased persons to depose at Nagrota on January 28 but they refused to travel to Jammu and expressed security concerns. Finally, the Army court decided to record rest of the witnesses’ statements in the Valley.

Keywords: Pathribal encounter, AFSPA, Nagrota, Awantipore, Kashmir, Army court

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Situation of Press in Kashmir- Communication between Justice Katju and Omar Abdullah #mediagag

Dear Omar,

 I am forwarding the email I have received from Mr. G.M. Kaloo, President of the J&K Press Association, whom you had met several months back at my request. I have been receiving several such emails from various persons stating that newspapers are not being allowed to be published/distributed in Kashmir, cell phones and internet services have been disabled, and other restrictions placed after the hanging of Afzal Guru.

  My own thinking in the matter is this : no freedom can be absolute, and hence press freedom under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution can also not be absolute, but is subject to reasonable restrictions in the public interest vide Article 19(2).

 Kashmir has a law and order problem, and ordinarily it is the state government which is the best judge of the situation and the way to handle it. Hence we should ordinarily respect the decision of the state government. The state government may have thought that for some time there should be a restraint on press freedom, because while many newspapers are responsible, some are not, and may publish inflammatory material which may create a huge law and order problem by inciting people to violence. Hence for some time a restraint order may be justified.

 However, if the restraint is continued too long it may become unreasonable and unjustified. After all, there has to be a limit to the time duration of the restraint order, and it cannot continue indefinitely. People have to be allowed to let off steam and express their grievances peacefully,otherwise their grievances will erupt violently. There is a proverb “Words break no bones”.

 I would therefore request that you consider the matter and discuss it with Mr. Kaloo and other respected and responsible journalists of J&K, and then pass appropriate orders.

  You know that I hold you in respect, and I know of the difficult situation you are facing, and so I hope you will not mind my expressing my view, which I think to be in your interest.

 Regards

 Justice Katju

Subodh Mukoo wrote:

Adab,

Publication of news paper has been stopped by the government and thus people deprived of information about day to day developments in Kashmir Valley .

G. H. Kaloo

President

Jammu Kashmir Press Association(JKPA)

(Subodh K Mukoo)

National Coordinator, JKPA

CM Omar Abdullah‘s Reply :

Dear Justice Katju,

With reference to your emails of today please find attached below my response which I hope you will take in to consideration while making any public statements regarding the media in Kashmir.

Best regards

Omar Abdullah

With reference to your e-mails, I fully share your concern regarding continuation of restrictions in the Kashmir Valley.

The facts are under:-

·       The execution of Afzal Guru took place on Saturday (Feb 9). On Saturday night, some local newspapers like Kashmir Images and Kashmir Reader and a few local Urdu dailies did print and publish their newspapers.

·         Circulation of these papers by the vendors was not possible as there were severe restrictions on any kind of movement in Srinagar city, in particular, and all over Kashmir valley at large.

·         We have been given to understand that on Sunday newspapers have not printed their editions as restrictions were continuing in Kashmir valley and circulation of the same would not have been possible, even if they were to be printed.

·        It may be mentioned that Jammu editions of the Kashmir based papers did get circulated.

·      The Information Department has not issued any directive to the publishers by putting any restrictions.

·         It is true that the internet facilities on GPRS enabled phones  have suffered, but Broadband  Desktop internet facilities are available and the newspapers are updating their editions online.

·        With the Government proposing to ease restrictions in Kashmir valley as the situation improves, movement of vehicles would also be getting facilitated and we are sure that the media publications would also get circulated.

·        The security/ law and order concerns and the restrictions in Kashmir Valley has well been appreciated by you and we acknowledge it with all humility.

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Invitation- Impunity for Alleged Perpetrators & Quest for Justice in Jammu and Kashmir @24Jan

Peoples’ Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR)
Cordially invites you

for a
Public Meeting/Discussion
On
“Impunity for Alleged Perpetrators and Quest for Justice in Jammu & Kashmir”
On the 24th Jan 2013, Thursday
Between 1pm—5pm at Gandhi Peace Foundation, New Delhi.

Speakers and Discussants:
Pervez Imroz, Arundhati Roy, Nivedita Menon, Karthik.

Asish Gupta & D. Manjit
Secretaries, PUDR

(N.B: Please see the following statement of PUDR)

People’s Union for Democratic Rights
Press Statement

PUDR welcomes study on ‘Alleged Perpetrators’ on the culture of impunity in Jammu & Kashmir. Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) welcomes the release of the
study “Alleged Perpetrators” by the International Peoples’ Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Indian-Administered Kashmir (IPTK) and Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP)   on the culture of impunity ubiquitous in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. PUDR acknowledges that this is the first ever study in India which has broken the cover of anonymity which protects the perpetrators by raising the principle of ‘individual criminal responsibility’ which is well established under International Criminal Law starting with Nuremburg Trials and several UN tribunals.

Equally it raises the principle of Command Responsibility and principle of Joint Criminal Enterprise which too forms part of International Criminal Law. The Indian State ‘authorizations’ to armed forces to carry out every kind of operation, often without adherence to laws and norms under draconian legislations such as AFSPA  on the pretext of combating militant violence while simultaneously being in breach of bringing India’s domestic laws in line with International Conventions such as against Torture, Enforced Disappearance and Genocide compounds the impunity extended to India’s security forces because certain crimes are non-justiciable under Indian’s domestic law.

The study exposes the state of impunity through a study of 214 cases, using information garnered from official State documents. The documents include FIRs, statements before police and /or magistrates, police final reports, High Court petitions, objections, other documents forming a part of the court record such as compliance reports, status report, judicial enquiries, SHRC documents from complaints to objections, police submissions and final orders; the documents in custody of the State itself arraign the armed forces and the police of culpability in specific crimes. But the study also supplements these documents with testimonies of victims and other witnesses.

The study successfully refutes the claim of the Indian state that commission of crimes is an aberration than policy. It indicts the Indian State for pursuing a policy which engenders the state of impunity by listing 500 individual perpetrators, which include 235 army personnel, 123 paramilitary personnel, 111 Jammu and Kashmir Police personnel and 31 Government backed militants/associates. The list of perpetrators includes 2 Major Generals, 3 Brigadiers, 9 Colonels, 3 Lt. Colonels, 78 Majors and 25 captains of the Indian army as well as 2 Additional Director Generals of central para-military forces, 2 DIGs and 12 commandants. It also indicts a DG of Police and a serving IG of police.

The study shows how State violence is institutionalized through a culture of institutional impunity to the state forces where the police, the judiciary and other organs of the government perpetuate the state of human rights violation. This has resulted in enforced and involuntary disappearance of an estimated 8000 persons, besides more than 70,000 deaths, and disclosures of more than 6000 unknown, unmarked and mass graves as of November 2012. There is hardly any prosecution and conviction of the perpetrators. The unwillingness of the Indian State is revealed in the mass grave issue where the Kashmir Home Department on 19 October, 2012 expressed inability to carry out DNA tests because there are no more than “15-16 recognised labs in the Government as well as Private Sector”.  And then turns the entire issue into a farce when they ask that the blood relative should indicate “with fair amount of certainty the exact location of the graveyard and the grave”!

The study highlight that the state structure specifically sanctions commission of crimes through provisions such as the system of cash incentives, awards and out of turn promotions for anti-militancy operations, and prioritizing for the victims the system of monetary compensation over justice. The venerable Supreme Court has also ended up shielding criminals by upholding in the Pathribal fake encounter case denial of sanction for prosecution under AFSPA thereby raising yet another wall to protect the perpetrators.

The recent Universal Periodic Review by UN agency tasked with human rights, on India, revealed that Indian Government has rejected 67 recommendations out of 168 made by the committee which had among other things asked the Indian State to repeal AFSPA, and to ratify and bring domestic laws in accordance with International Convention Against Torture, Enforced Disappearance and Genocide. This blatant refusal by the Indian state currently engaged in taking its claim to a permanent seat in the UN Security Council only lends credence to the study which concluded by indicting India State and establishing that victims of armed conflicts stand little chance to get justice from Indian state institutions because they are themselves implicated in the perpetuation of impunity.

PUDR in extending solidarity with IPTK/APDP demands:
•         Adherence to domestic and international obligations and punishment to all perpetrators of human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir.
•         Withdrawal of security related legislations that are in contravention of international humanitarian laws and norms.
•         Ratification of Convention Against Torture, Convention Against Genocide and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance by the Government of India.

Asish Gupta and D. Manjit
(Secretaries)

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#Kashmir -The Other Horrors of Avtar Singh #Jaleelandrabi

With the Jammu and Kashmir police closing the case against Major (Retd) Avtar Singh who attained notoriety in the murder of top human rights activist and lawyer, Jaleel Andrabi, Kashmir Life profiles the other victims of Avtar’s cruelty!

Jaleel Andrabi, a human rights lawyer, had appeared in the 77th session of Human Rights in Geneva in 1995 where he raised voice against the ‘military aggression’ carried out by India in Kashmir to curb the popular political dissent. His speech was so powerful that many people say he was told in Geneva that he ‘won’t be spared’.

Once Jaleel returned home, there were two attempts on his life after which he fled to Delhi. He was returning home with his wife on March 8, 1996 to celebrate Eid with his family when their car was stopped near Saddar police station and he was taken away. “I followed the military vehicle in an auto till the National Highway where I lost their trail,” his wife, Rifat Andrabi, says.

On March 27, Jaleel’s body was found near river Jehlum in Rajbagh area in Jammu and Kashmir’s summer capital, Srinagar. It has been 16 years now but no one has been booked for his murder. Major Avatar Singh of 35 Rashtriya Rifles was identified as the main accused in the case but the state, like in most cases where armed forces have been found involved in cold blooded murders, allegedly deliberately put a brake on filing charges against him.

When Avatar Singh was found guilty and a prime accused by a Special Investigation Team formed in 1997 along with five others, and ordered his arrest, he fled to Canada and then to California, despite the fact that his passport was impounded. Singh was arrested in Canada on charges of domestic violence in 2011 and US police had alerted Central Bureau of Investigation in New Delhi that they had their man but he was never extradited.

Jaleel, however, was not the only victim of Avtar’s cruelty. Kashmir Life profiles four other persons who were allegedly abducted by Avtar at the peak of militancy in Kashmir valley. While their tortured corpses were found abandoned, like Jaleel’s, many of them have vanished into thin air, and justice is still a far cry!

BUDGAM

On April 5, 1996, Sikander Ganai, a pro-government gunman was found dead in a private taxi near Pampore on Srinagar-Jammu highway along with four other men. Three of them were his close associates who alleged helped Avtar Singh eliminate Jaleel Andrabi. The fifth man killed that day along with Sikandar and his associates was later identified as Mohammad Afzal Malik, the driver of the Ambassador car.

On June 10, 2012, Kashmir woke up to the news of Avtar Singh allegedly killing his entire family in Selma California before turning the gun on himself. Singh was investigated for the murder of nine other people including Sikandar and his associates, and Malik. We set out to find out the family of Malik and after two days of futile efforts finally met Malik’s father, Ghulam Mohiddin Malik, who lives a detached life on the outskirts of Budgam in central Kashmir.

Ghulam Mohiddin Malik, 65, looks much older than his age. It was hard to convince him to talk about his son and when he finally agreed, sadness overcame his face and he began to sob like a child. “He was a taxi driver. He had nothing to do with Sikandar,” said a barely audible Mohiddin Malik.

“Three days before his body was found, he was picked up by Sikander near our house. Sikander and his men forcefully took him along as they needed a ride,” he said in between consistent sobs. Mohiddin’s neighbour who was sitting beside him told us that he saw Afzal plead with Sikandar and his men to let him go as his wife was expecting a baby.

“But he did not listen. Too much resistance would have put Afzal in instant danger as Sikander was known to be ruthless in the area,” added Mohiddin. For the next three days, Afzal was untraceable. “We filed an FIR with the local police station when he did not return that day,” Mohiddin recalls.

After three days, a man from the local police station told them that they had found some dead bodies near Pampore and took Mohiddin along with him for identification. “I kept praying for odds to be in my favour. I kept praying all along. But it was all in vain. My son was there soaked in blood along with four other people.”

Hours after Afzal’s body reached home, his wife gave birth to a baby girl. “Life plays games with us and we can’t help but accept His will,” said Mohiddin. Three years later, Afzal’s wife remarried and left forever with her daughter. “She was our only hope after Malik left. But we could not stop her from marrying again as she was young,” said Mohiddin.

After Malik’s death, his wife was offered a job by the government. “They also gave us a compensation of Rs 1 lakh. But can money bring back our son?” Mohiddin asks. —

Jawahar Nagar

Abdul Majid Shah, 40, was killed in the winter of 1996, some weeks before Jaleel Andrabi was killed in a similar manner. It was snowing, his friends and family say, when Majid was picked up from his rented residence at Jawahar Nagar. “Days later, his body was found miles away from his home in Pampore, Farooq Ahmed Shah,” Majid’s younger brother says.

Majid’s mother kept staring at us for a long time when we visited her house. She does not move often and needs a support to walk, “What should I tell you? He was killed and that is all I know,” was the only response that she gave.

Majid’s body was found in river Jhelum. Since no one had come forward to claim it, the body was buried by the police in Pampore who had taken its pictures which helped the family in identifying him. Majid was later exhumed and handed over to his family.

“We had never imagined he will die like this,” says his friend, Mohammed Yousuf, “One of our friends, Ghulam Mohammed Bhat, used to tell Majid, ‘If you ever leave me alone, I will take you out from your grave’.”

And it was indeed Bhat who took Majid out of the grave in Pampore, Yousuf recalls. “Torture marks were visible all over his body. It later came out in media that he was tortured and hanged to death,” he says.

Majid, who was associated with a mainstream political party, was one of the victims of Major Avtar Singh. The family did not investigate or follow up Majid’s killings. “Though we had good contacts and connection with police but the time was the hardest. There was no way to raise our voice against our brother’s killings. So we did nothing more than mourning,” says Farooq.

Since Majid’s siblings had no role in following up his case, the details of Majid’s death vanished with his father’s death. The family does not even remember the FIR number that was lodged in the Pampore police station where his body was found.

One of the Majid’s close associates and his relatives says that before Majid was picked up, some Hizbul Mujahideen militants had resided in his apartment for a night. One of them was Harwinder Kaur alias Vinny, who lived in the same vicinity in Jawahar Nagar. Kaur was then in a relationship with Avtar and later both got married. “This could possibly be the only reason for Majid’s killing,” Majid’s cousin says.

Batamaloo

Mehbooba Jan has been bed-ridden since her husband, Ghulam Qadir Kanni, a chef, was abducted on Feb 18, 1996, allegedly by Major Avtar Singh, two days before Eid-ul-Fitr near his Batmaloo residence on the outskirts of Srinagar. On the fateful day, the government forces knocked at Kanni’s door at around 9:45 pm to carry out a search operation. After they could not find anything, Avtar asked the family who the eldest person in the family was. Kanni presented himself before the officer and he was taken out.

“Avtar took him out of the room, held a pistol to my chest and threatened to kill me,” Mehbooba recalls in a chocked voice. Three months after the abduction, a corpse was brought to the house and Kanni’s daughter, Subeena, was asked to identify it. It turned out that the body was not of her father.

Sixteen years have passed but the fear still pervades the family. The family wants to conduct the last rites of Kanni. Mehbooba, who has tacitly placed her bed near the window, still hopes to see her husband walk into the house again. “Writing about it is like rubbing salt on our wounds,” she says, “Do you have any way that would help me in finding my husband?” Mehbooba asks.

The family had filed a complaint with the J&K police and visited different jails, interrogation centers and police stations. One day, an Army brigadier from Badam Bagh cantonment summoned Mehbooba to identify her husband’s abductors. “I saw Avtar Singh and told the Brigader that was the abductor. Instead, Avtar refused my claims and the Brigader told me to go to court,” Mehbooba says. —

The government had offered a job for the kin of Kanni and Rs 1 lakh as compensation but the family rejected the offer, “The only want we want is our father. We don’t need money or any government job,” Subeena says while kissing her father’s photograph.

Many of the victims of Avtar Singh were dumbed in River Jehlum from where their bodies were recovered later

The news of Major Avtar’s suicide had brought some relief to the family, “Justice may get delayed but it can’t be denied, especially when Allah’s mercy reaches its zenith,” says Mehbooba. The family believes that the alleged suicide of Singh was God’s verdict in the case.

Jawahar Nagar

Imtiyaz Ahmed Wani was picked up by uniformed men from his residence at Ikhrajpora on the intervening night of May 15-16, 1996 at 9.45 pm when he was barely 17. He had left school due to financial problems at home, since his father, Ghulam Mohammed Wani alias Gulla Wani, often complained of ill-health, and joined as a gardener in the state’s forest department.

“They dragged Imtiyaz by his collar and warned us not to shout or cry. They threatened to kill us. They said they have to get some information from him and that they will set him free the next day,” his sister, Mehbooba says

Gulla Wani had tried to follow the Army vehicle but, he says, it just disappeared. Mehbooba was alone at the house when we went there. She points out towards the window through which Gulla Wani had jumped to follow the government forces who took away his son, Imtiyaz, the sole bread-earner of the family.

The J&K police had investigated the case and created a list of accused which was sent to Home Ministry in 2000 for taking its sanction to take action against the accused. Till now, the ministry has not responded, says Bari Andrabi, Chief Prosecuting officer of the case in Srinagar. “Six army personnel – Major Avtar Singh, Sobadar Balbeer Singh, Naib Sobadar Sukinder Singh, Hawaldar Ved Kumar, Hawaldar Vijay Krishnan and Suman Singh alias Doctor, and four civilians including Satvant Kaur, wife of Hakeeqat Singh, Gursharan Kaur alias Dimple and Harvinder Kaur alias Vinny were accused in the case,” Andrabi says. Harvinder Kaur alias Vinny, who was then residing at a rented apartment in Jawahar Nagar, later married Avtar. She is presently living in Delhi. Avtar had divorced her some years back.

Riyaz Ahmed, SHO Rajbagh, where the case was registered, says, “I haven’t investigated the case myself. I have heard that Imtiyaz was either in a relationship with Gursharan Kaur [Avtar’s sister-in-law] or must have teased her at some time. This is the only possible reason for murdering Imtiyaz.”

After his wife died, Gulla Wani spends most of his time outside his home, “She died of heart attack some two years back. They found a photograph of Imtiyaz under her pillow. The family has been waiting for him,” Mehbooba’s cousin says. The family is still living with a hope that Imtiyaz will come back since his body was not found. They approached a few local human right defenders and participated in their monthly sit-in protests but it didn’t bear any fruit.

After her brother disappeared, Mehbooba has decided not to marry. “First it was Imtiyaz. Now it is my father. I never got time to think about my marriage. When Imtiyaz comes back, he will sort out the things himself,” she says.

Police records show Imtiyaz is dead but his body has not been found yet. An FIR no 4/97 under section 302, 364, 201 was lodged in Rajbagh police station but no investigations were carried out.

“How can I say he is not alive? How can I even believe that?” Mehbooba asks. “I am told he is alive and I would like to believe so. I have spent many sleepless nights to look for him on television and have actually seen him, alive!”

Compiled from dispatches by Shams Irfan, Syed Asma, Saima Bhat and Junaid Nabi Bazaz.

Original source- http://kashmirlife.net/

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Omar to push for phased withdrawal of #AFSPA in Jammu and #Kashmir

With two years remaining for Assembly elections in the state, Abdullah said he will approach the Centre again and make a case for partial withdrawal of the AFSPA

J&K CM Omar Abdullah hands a cheque to a worker in Srinagar. PTI photo

Jammu (PTI): Pushing for partial lifting of the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in Jammu and Kashmir, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Monday 7 January asked all stakeholders concerned to shed rigidity to help take a decision based on the ground situation and for the benefit of people of the state.

“It’s surprising that whenever we have talked about lifting of AFSPA, certain vested interests have been working overtime and making projections as if we want it to be removed from the entire state whereas we want it to be lifted from certain parts only,” Omar, who completed four years as the head of the National Conference-Congress coalition government Sunday, said.

With two years remaining for Assembly elections in the state, 42-year-old Omar said he will again approach the Centre and make a case for partial withdrawal of the AFSPA.

“It was never a political issue or an emotional argument from us. Our stand has always been based on sound logic and a realistic assessment of the ground situation,” he said.

Questioning the claims of ‘vested interests’ that partial withdrawal of AFSPA will see a rise in militancy, the chief minister asked “whom are they trying to fool? This is an insult to the Army and other security agencies who are manning the border. Those propagating such an idea indirectly mean that Army is doing nothing. This is an absolute misinformation campaign launched to demoralise the Army, CRPF and state police.”

“First and foremost I never advocated lifting it from areas close to the Line of Control or so. I have suggested that it could be lifted from areas like Srinagar and Jammu cities,” Omar said in reply to a question about apprehensions that the areas, where the AFSPA will be withdrawn, would become a safe haven for terrorists.

Asked about the response for his attempts so far on the AFSPA issue, the Chief Minister said, “We have not been successful but this does not mean that we should not try. We are trying and I know for sure that something positive will emerge.”

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