Washington: The United States has said Indian troops and police personnel are committing gross human rights violations including killings and torture in disputed Kashmir.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the US State Department in its annual 2010 assessment of the state of human rights around the world said that there were numerous reports that the Indian government and its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings, including the extra-judicial killings in Kashmir and other areas such as the North Eastern States and the Naxalite belt.
The report maintained that according to the Institute for Conflict Management, as of October 17, there were 1,616 fatalities including civilians in India and the territory. In March, a number of media outlets reported that in response to a Right to Information (RTI) request, the National Human Rights Commission in India (NHRC) provided data indicating that 1,224 of the 2,560 police encounter cases reviewed since 1993 had been staged by the forces.
The report said that in Jammu and Kashmir, between June and September, Indian forces killed demonstrators during protests and injured many others. It stated that deaths and injuries to protesters including a number of children spurred anger and renewed protests. The report said that India and its authorities in the territory imposed restrictions on media
during the protests and the journalists experienced violence and harassment as a result of their reporting during the year.
The report pointed out that in September, the authorities reinstated the four police officials involved in the May 2009 killing of two Kashmiri women Neelofar Jan and Asiya Jan in the Shopian district of Kashmir. It said that relatives, locals and examining doctors held the Indian men in uniform responsible for gang rape and murder of Neelofar and Asiya. In addition, the report said, several government officials stated that police involvement in the killings could not be ruled out. In July 2009, the High Court of the territory ordered the arrest of four police officers on charges of suppressing and destroying evidence in the case, it added.
The report said that in September 2009, the court granted bail to the officers, and the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took charge of the case from the Special Investigation Team. In December 2009, the CBI submitted its report to the High Court, concluding that the women died of drowning and ruling out rape and murder, it added.
Indian troops, police commit human rights abuses in IHK: US
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