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Sun Jul 13, 2008 5:55 am (PDT)
POSTED BY: WebXpurt
http://www.hindu. com/2008/ 07/12/stories/ 2008071255451300 .htm
European Parliament demands probe into charges in Kashmir
Praveen Swami
Allegations of human rights abuses false, insist Indian officials
NEW DELHI: European Parliament members have called on India to
investigate allegations that its troops may have executed thousands of
innocent Jammu and Kashmir residents.
Passed unanimously on Thursday, a resolution calls on the government of
India to urgently ensure independent and impartial investigations into
all suspected sites of mass graves in the State and, as a first step,
secure the sites in order to preserve evidence.
Call to European Commission
In language likely to offend Indian sensitivities, the resolution also
calls on the European Commission to offer financial and technical
assistance to the Indian government for such a thorough inquiry and
possible further measures of conflict resolution in Kashmir.
Earlier in March 2008, the Association of the Parents of Disappeared
Persons (APDP) reported the existence of 940 unidentified graves in 18
villages in Uri district. In addition, the APDP said, it found several
similar graveyards elsewhere in the State.
Army's stand
While the Army said the graves were of terrorists killed in the area
which straddles the Line of Control and saw frequent fire contact
between infiltrators and Indian forces, the APDP and human rights
organisations said the graves could contain the bodies of people killed
in fake encounters.
"20,000 ultras killed"
The Jammu and Kashmir police have denied the allegations. Over the last
two decades, Director-General of Police Kuldeep Khoda told The Hindu,
almost 20,000 terrorists had been killed in combat, both while crossing
the LoC and inside the State. "I do not see how we can be expected
to have definitive knowledge of all of them."
In some cases, "we were able to make a positive identification; in
others, we could not. Every death was recorded in a First Information
Report, which recorded our best knowledge about the facts of the case at
the outset, as well as photographs and case records."
Muddy facts
Mr. Khoda's position is disputed by the APDP and other rights groups
but the facts they have laid on the table are also muddy.
For one, although the APDP has characterised the graves secrets
discovered through its investigations, their existence has in fact long
been public knowledge.
Frontline report
In March 2003, for example, Frontline carried a detailed account of one
such graveyard in Surankote, a town in Poonch district that was then one
of the areas worst-hit by jihadist violence.
Describing the fallout of an Army offensive on the mountains around
Surankote, Frontline recorded that the bodies of unidentified foreign
terrorists killed there were buried in a field that sprawls over an area
of an outsize football field and threatens to overrun adjoining farms.
Frontline earlier reported on a similar graveyard in its January 4, 2002
photo-feature on counter-terrorism operations in the remote
Wadwan-Inshan belt of Doda district.
As things stand, it is far from clear just what facts the European
Parliament wants Indian investigators to establish.
"Fake encounters"
In a recent article, Angana Chatterjee of the International People's
Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Indian-administered Kashmir
argued that exhumation and identification would establish the dead as
locals, ordinary citizens, killed in fake encounters.
While exhumation might well prove that some of the dead were local
residents, it is unclear how this will prove that the encounters were
fake or, for that matter, genuine.
"Misrepresented"
Ms. Chatterjee asserted that the State wilfully concealed the local
identities of the dead, thus propagating a misrepresentation that the
demand for self-determination is prevailingly [sic.] external.
On point of fact, while politicians have said most terrorists in Jammu
and Kashmir are foreign mercenaries, this is not the Indian
government's official position.
Data released by the Union Home Ministry shows that only a quarter of
the terrorists killed in the State have been presumed to be foreigners.
Claims rebutted
Authorities earlier rebutted APDP claims of large-scale disappearances,
arguing that many individuals on a list of 743 were either living at
home or did not exist.
Related stories:
Backing Kashmiri Separatists @
http://worldmonitor .wordpress. com/2008/ 07/08/a-desperat e-bid/
Europe's Civilising Mission @ http://www.neurope. eu/articles/ 87642.php
Ethnic Cleansing in Kashmir @
http://www.kashmir- information. com/history/ fundamentalism. html
Bottom of Heap:Gypsies @
http://www.economis t.com/world/ europe/displaySt ory.cfm?source= hptextfeat\
ure&story_id= 11579339
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