2 June 2001

A Fact Finding Committee of 11 activists from five civil, democratic and human rights organisations visited J&K from 22/5/2001 to 31/5/2001. The purpose of the visit was to assess the true facts regarding the state of human rights in the valley and in Doda district of the Jammu region during the ceasefire period that lasted about 6 months, and to seek the views of the people of the State regarding the ongoing political process vis-à-vis the `Kashmir issue'.

The team consisted of the following persons:

1. Shahana Bhattacharya
2. Bela Bhatia
3. Rakesh Shukla
4. Dr. Uma Chakravarthi
5. Dr. Svati Joshi (all from Peoples Union for Democratic Rights – PUDR)
6. M.V.Krishniah (Organisation for Protection of Democratic Rights, Andhra Pradesh)
7. Shakeel (Peoples Democratic Forum – PDF, Karnataka)
8. A.Dasaratha
9. D.Suresh Kumar (both from Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee)
10. B.Ramulu
11. K.Balagopal (both Human Rights Forum – HRF, Andhra Pradesh)

The team met and spoke to the Pandit refugees living in the camp in Nagrota, Jammu. It visited 8 villages in Pulwama , Srinagar, Budgam and Baramulla districts as well as the towns of Sopore and Srinagar and talked to a large number of people to investigate a total of 9 incidents of human rights violations by the army/paramilitary/ police. It visited the towns of Doda, Kishtwar, and two villages of Doda tehsil in Doda district and gathered information concerning a large number of human rights violations. The team also spoke to prominent personalities of the state such as Ved Bhasin, Balraj Puri, APHC leaders Abdul Gani Lone and Abdul Gani Bhat, and the MLA from Bijbehara, Mehbooba Mufti. The team also spoke to the Chief Secretary of J &K, the SSP, Pulwama distt. and Deputy Commissioner, Pulwama distt. It spoke to journalists, Professors at Kashmir University and teachers at Govt. Women's College, Srinagar, lawyers, the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons in the valley as well as citizens groups in both the valley and Doda.

Before we go to the details it is necessary to mention the opinions we gathered regarding the actual nature of the ceasefire at the ground level. It is a matter of record that as soon as the Government of India announced the ceasefire, more properly called 'Non-Initiation of Combat Operations' (NICO), on 28 November 2000, the DGP of J&K, A.K Suri went to Press with the statement that the NICO applies only to the Central Forces and not the State Police, in particular the Special Operations Group (SOG) also called the Special Task Force (STF), which is the anti insurgency wing of the State Police. Accordingly, in many places army camps were replaced by SOG camps. Regarding the army too, a common opinion heard was that it honoured the ceasefire only for the first month or so. It appears that the extent to which the ceasefire was observed varied according to the local Commander's interpretation of the Government of India's declared policy. Most people said that it is only at the LoC that ceasefire was consistently observed.

The following is a brief account of the incidents investigated, categorised according to the nature of the violation.

I. Custodial Killings:

1. On 21 Feb. 2001, Ghulam Mohiuddin Pandit and Manzoor Ahmed Khanday of Mohanpura, Shopian tehsil, Pulwama distt. were called to the 1 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) camp at Ahgam. They went there and were beaten mercilessly from 3.00 p.m to 5.00 p.m. on the allegation that they were sheltering militants. The 65 year old Pandit collapsed. The army did not even bother to get him treated. He was taken to hospital by his relatives with the help of the local police where he died the next day. His intestines, bladder and pancreas were severely damaged.
2. On 19 May 2001, the SOG of Jand K Police killed Aijaz Ahmed Kitab of Ilahi Bagh, Buchpora, Srinagar. He was a former militant who had spent 6 years in jail. His kidneys were severely damaged as a consequence of torture he suffered for a total of 60 days at the hands of the Cargo unit of SOG and the police of MR Ganj Srinagar in April-May 1998. While in jail he was not provided with police escort to visit the hospital for requisite tests and treatment inspite of an order by the State Human Rights Commission. He was finally released on bail in a sick condition on 17 October, 2000, and continued to take treatment for his badly damaged kidneys. He joined the J& K Democratic Freedom Party of Shabir Shah, a party that functions purely legally. He got married on 1 April 2001. His wife is a police constable. On 19 May, 2001, at about 4.00 p.m. he was picked up by the SOG in a Maruti car bearing the number JK01A7973 followed by some 'Gypsies'. His wife came to know of this at 8.15 p.m. But all her efforts to save his life using her police connections were in vain and Kitab was shot dead at 10.00 p.m. the same day.
3. Mohd. Ismail Kaloo of Chattabal, Srinagar was picked up by SOG at Darish Kadal, Srinagar on 17 May, 2001 at about 10.00 a.m. A militant by name Niyaz Ahmed Shah was also apparently picked up along with him. Kaloo was brought to his house on the evening of the same day by the SOG and the house was searched, destroying part of the roof and the household goods. His family members were told to take a look at him for the last time since they would not see him again. Both of them were shot dead at Harwan late that night.
4. Sheraz Ahmad Khan of Dagpora, Shopian tehsil Pulwama distt. was a 17 year old TDC ( 10+2) student at Shopian. On 17 May he went to college as usual and in the evening went to a neighbouring village Dangom along with a friend. That night there was a crack down by the BSF on Dangom, in the course of which they took into custody Khan as well as one Mohd. Syed Malik, another teenager of Dangom and killed both of them and threw their bodies outside the house of one Abdul Rashid Sheikh. That house as well as the neighbouring house of Mohd Abdul Wani were riddled with bullets by the BSF endangering the lives of the residents of the houses. When the villagers saw the bodies the next morning they found that Khan's ankles and wrists tied up with ropes.

In all these cases the Forces explained the killing as an 'encounter with armed militants'. But in the first three cases there are eye witnesses to testify that the victims were taken into custody prior to killing. In the last cases there is strong circumstantial evidence to the same effect.

II. Vengeance Killings:

1. On 8 Feb. 2001 a grenade was thrown by some unidentified militants at the Police Station, Sopore, Baramulla district. Nobody was injured but the BSF took to retaliatory firing upon the civilians. People ran into their houses. One Shakeel Ahmed Bula, a prosperous businessman living in New Colony, Sopore was returning home with some purchases at about 8.30 p.m. when the BSF on a rampage entered his street. Just as Bula opened the main gate of his mohalla and was about to go in the BSF men fired from behind and hit him. They realised what they had done and took him to the local hospital and from there to Srinagar but by the time he reached Srinagar he was dead. His family members who accompanied him in the BSF truck allege that the truck was detained needlessly at Pattan on the way while Bula was bleeding profusely and all their protests were in vain. The officer responsible for this killing was identified by Bula himself in his statement to the doctor as one K.N. Singh.
2. On 9 May 2001, at Magam on the Srinagar-Gulmarg road in Budgam district, there was a blast near the BSF camp at about 6.30 p.m. It was the handiwork of a fidayeen by name Shoukat Ahmed Khanday, who pushed and ice-cream cart to the BSF camp and blew himself up along with some people there. The BSF immediately started firing. Eight civilians and one BSF officer died at that spot. It is not clear how many of the eight civilians died in the blast and how many in the firing by the BSF but what is certain is that the BSF then went around in the village firing indiscriminately and killed two civilians. One was an auto rickshaw driver, Ghulam Mohd. Dar, resident of Qamarwari, Srinagar, who had the misfortune to enter the village at just about that time with some passengers in his vehicle. Another was Ghulam Mohd. Bhat, a resident of Magam, who happened to be walking past the police thana. Passengers of a bus coming from Srinagar to Magam at that time told the team that the BSF also fired on their bus. They had also witnessed the auto rickshaw driver being shot.

These instances are typical of the retaliatory killing of civilians that the armed forces have frequently resorted to in Kashmir whenever they have been attacked by the militants. That they continue to happen, and happened repeatedly in the ceasefire period shows that the army has learnt nothing from the widespread criticism of this totally unjustifiable reaction. It is worth mentioning that the people of Magam are very upset that the attack which took place the next day on the press persons has received international attention and condemnation, and the army too is said to have initiated some action in that regard, whereas the killing of innocent civilians of the village has found no response whatsoever, though the village has been observing a total and continuous hartal till the day of our team's visit.

III. Police Firing:

On 15 February 2001, a large gathering of people on the Baramulla-Srinagar highway was fired upon by the armed forces killing four people. People from Haigam and neighbouring villages of Sopore tehsil had gathered around noon on 15th to block the highway in protest against the custodial killing of Jalil Ahmad Shah of Haigam. Shah was a former militant who was reporting regularly to the 3 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) camp at Sopore, and when he went as usual to Sopore on 13 February, he was picked up by the forces on the way, and on 14 February his dead body was found at the stadium at Baramulla.

The protest demonmstration of 15 February took place in protest against this.Army trucks which came along the highway were also stopped by the protestors. Some jawans got down and beat the people with rifle butts. The SHO Sopore who was there along with his men pleaded with the army men not to do anything as he would persuade the people to leave. The army men did not heed him. They open fire killing 4 ( two men and two women).

This firing was totally unjustified and contrary even to the draconian Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act. The Act envisages the armed forces assisting the civilian forces and not supplanting them. When the SHO Sopore specifically asked the army men to leave it to him, they had no business to take any action for dispersing the gathering, much less firing upon them.

IV. Rape

1. The rape of three women and the killing of two men by men of 29 RR at the village Alai Waripora in Kreeri PS limits of Baramulla district on the intervening night of 13/14 April 2001 is an event that should make the entire Indian army hang its head in shame. The army men raided that remote hamlet at about noon of 13 April and searched the houses on the plea of looking for militants. Later in the night they came again and fired upon the houses and took away three women, one of whom is identifed as Aisha Begum. Two men, Mohd Sultan Alai (65) and Ghulam Hassan Alai(28) came out to protest, and they were shot dead. The latter's mother, Haja, who also came out, was shot at and injured in the foot. They kept firing at the houses throughout the night, injuring a small child by name Nazir Ahmad and his mother Mehmooda. A massive procession was taken out the next day by the people of this and neighbouring villagers and the Srinagar-Baramulla highway was blocked for 6 hours. The three women who were taken away and subjected to sexual assault in the custody of the army were released only at about noon of the next day as a consequence of the protest.
2. Molestation and rape of women in the Doda region by the army and the STF is routine. In the course of a day in the Doda district we heard of at least 20 instances of grave molestation and rape over the last two years. As this was the first human rights team to visit the area, we heard of cases of gangrape prior to the ceasefire period, in which even when women have complained and FIR lodged, they are being pressurised daily to withdraw charges. One such case was that of the gang rape of 43 year old Raja Begum w/o Mohd. Shafi and her 16 year old daughter Gulshan Bano, r/o Baldarri, Doda. The soldiers of 322 ADA picked up the two of them after a grenade burst near their house in mid April 1999 when the men were away. They first assaulted them in the house and then took them to the camp at Goha where thy were kept for 5 days, continuously blindfolded and raped repeatedly. Then they were released to the custody of the Doda and Bhaderwah police where they were detained for 8 days. Though a medical examination was done all evidence was tampered with- for instance Gulshan Bano's salwar with blood stains was taken away by the army. An FIR was lodged only after protest and demonstration by the people and the case is still pending trial. Raja's sons have subsequently been picked up and detained in the Joint Interrogation Centre and tortured to prevent the victims from giving evidence.
3. On 30 October 2000 about 25-30 women of Bihota accompanied by 8 or 9 men went to protest against the overnight detention of Amina w/o Nazir Ali Wani of Bihota in the Butungul camp of the 14 Bihar Regiment. A majority of the women who went to protest were gravely assaulted and molested by large groups of soldiers inside the camp and released only after 5 hours. The men were detained and tortured. A deputation went to the DC to lodge a complaint but no action has been taken subsequently.

V. Torture & Begar in the camps

As said above, this is the first time that any human rights team has visited the district of Doda. The district is huge in size, being equal in area to the whole of the Kashmir Valley. It is hilly and difficult to traverse. Our visit to the villages of Bihota and Mangota on the hills of Doda tehsil revealed the most despicable behaviour by the army and the SOG. We can only summarise the allegations here without listing out the numerous individual details we gathered.

Forced labour or begar is extensively resorted to in this area. If a camp of the army or the SOG is set up in a village, residents of that and neighbouring villages must provide unpaid labour in sweeping, cleaning and especially bringing logs of wood from the forest. In winter months, they have to clear the snow. People are detained in the camp for days together, beaten and forced to labour without payment. On our way down the hill from Bihota we saw local boys carrying a heavy drum to the 8 RR camp set up only two days ago at the village. And in the village of Goha where there is a 10 RR camp, we saw jawans openly carrying to their camp logs of wood which had been chopped by the villagers of the interior villages at their demand.

About the SOG camp in Bihota, it was said that throughout the six months of the ceasefire when the SOG replaced the army in the camp, the SOG men did not have a single meal at their own expense. At each mealtime they would raid one of the villages, fire in the air claiming to be searching for or following militants, and then settle down in the village and force people to cook and provide then with a meal, with meat and whetever else they wanted.

Torture at the camps and the police stations all over the affected area is indescribable in its intensity. People are hung upside down by their ankles from the trees and thrashed. Their heads are forced into drains until they gulp the stinking fluid. They are given electric shocks. They are detained for days on end, given little or no food, and thrashed again and again.

The people of the Doda villages also complained of extensive destruction of houses and despoilation of household goods including foodstuffs. Everytime there is a raid, the people suffer such destruction leading to loss of thousands of rupees worth of property.

Before going on to list out the demands we wish to place before the concerned authorities, we would like to deal with four matters. One is the response of the authorities, both civil and military, to complaints of human rights violations by the forces. The second is the injury frequently caused by the militants to the civilian population by the use of explosives such as IEDs in public places. The third is the use of anti personnel mines by the army. And the fourth is the opinion expressed by the people about the ongoing political process.

In recent times, the army has taken well publicised action in a few select cases against its officers guilty of rights violation. In the incidents referred to above, some action has reportedly been taken in three cases: the Haigam firing, the manhandling of the Press at Magam and the molestation of one women at Alia Waripora. This is of course better than nothing, but what is objectionable is that it is left to the army's own choice as to when and what action it takes. From the information we have, it is apparent that the army picks and chooses the cases, going mainly by the quantum of public protest and negative reporting in the Press. In areas such as Doda, Rajouri. Poonch and even interior areas of the valley such as Kupwara district, there is little possibility of big protests being built up and therefore no action is taken, In cases where the army can plausibly blame the victims of links with militancy, no action is deemed be necessary since the allegation, in the eyes of the army, retrospectively justifies the atrocities they have committed. A good instance of this unjustfied discrimination is the taking of action at Magam for the attack on the Press but not the killing of villagers. In general, not a single case of custodial killing has resulted in any action against the officers responsible, since unlike in a case of firing upon demonstration the victim of a custodial killing can be easily called a militant.

In law, every instance of death in the hands of the Forces must at least be subjected to a departmental enquiry by an executive magistrate. But it transpired from the detailed discussion we had with the Deputy Commissioner, Pulwama and the State's Chief Secretary, that this is not happening. It is only a select few cases that such an enquiry in ordered. In other cases, the army's word is final.

With particular reference to `encounter' killings, we found from our discussion with the SSP, Pulwama, that the report of the Forces stating that the deceased was a militant and was killed in self defence is taken as the final truth. This is totally contrary to the guidelines issued by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in February 1997. The NHRC has said that any such report must in fact be treated as revealing a cognisable offence committed by the Forces, and it should be investigated independently. These mandatory guidelines are not being followed at all in J&K. The use of explosives, in particular IEDs by the militants in public places has frequently resulted in severe and fatal injury to civilians not at all involved in the conflict. Causing injury to noncombatants cannot be condoned under any conditions, and we condemn the same.

The army too is using anti-personnel mines around its cantonments and camps to prevent surprise attacks by militants. While we fully appreciate the army's need to take precautions, using such mines which can and do cause injury to civilians cannot at all be accepted. Though we did not actually meet any person who was actually injured by these mines we heard of a number of instances of loss of life and limb due to these mines deployed along the LoC and around the army camps in Kupwara and Baramulla districts. Their use by the Indian Army is particularly reprehensible when the U.N has been making efforts to enforce a worldwide ban on such mines.

Regarding the ongoing political process we elicited opinions from all sections of the people. Without exception everyone has responded positively to the forthcoming talks between India and Pakistan. Again without exception they've all said that the talks will be meaningless and indeed a farce if representatives of the people of J&K are not involved. Regarding the nature of such representation we could not get any uniform view. While some believed that the APHC is an adequate representative of the people of J&K others vehemently contested that. But all were emphatic that the talks should take place in an atmosphere of peace and should involve the people of J& K and should result in a conclusion acceptable to them.

We demand that

1. Custodial killings must stop.
2. The retaliatory killing of civilians in revenge attacks upon the forces by the militants must stop.
3. The army personnel guilty of extra judicial killing and molestation of women must be prosecuted forthwith so that the people are assured that the rule of law rather than the rule of the gun is operative.
4. The army must necessarily function under the civil authority whenever civilians are involved.
5. Whenever an enquiry is held or an investigation is under taken into human rights violations by the army in a particular locality, the armed force units in that locality must be removed in the interests of an impartial investigation.
6. In all incidents of human rights violation by the armed forces, the accused personnel must be tried in the ordinary criminal courts in the interest of justice. Court martial is an internal matter of army with the object of maintaining discipline and should have no place in trial of criminal offences amounting to human rights violations.
7. NHRC guidelines pertaining to the method of the investigation of alleged encounters must be strictly followed whether in the case of the police or the armed forces.
8. Forces such as the SOG which has acquired a reputation for being a killer squad must be strictly disciplined. The practice of enrolling surrendered militants who have committed gross offences such as murder in the SOG is totally illegal and violative of rule of law.
9. People’s right to hold peaceful protest and demonstrations and to exercise all democratic rights must be respected.
10. Wide spread harassment of women which is part of the violence unleashed by the armed forces has created fear and insecurity among the women of the valley. The security of women must receive the highest priority from the administration.
11. Since the ceasefire was ineffective and even that has been lifted, a genuine ceasefire which would help bring peace to the valley is imperative. But it should be part and parcel of a sincere political process that will involve the people of J&K and resolve the issue expeditiously and justly.
12. The army should immediately remove all the mines placed around its cantonments and camps and stop using such devices which are internationally condemned.

Finally we have just come to know after reaching Delhi today that the people of the mountain villages of Doda tehsil (Bihota and Mangota) who spoke to us on 31 May have been picked up and tortured by the 8 RR yesterday to punish them for having expressed their woes to us. They were particularly victimised for talking about the incident of rape and molestation of women of Bihota by the 14 Bihar Regiment on 30 October 2000. We unequivocally condemn this victimisation of the people.