The issue of unmarked graves in Kashmir is ringing loud in the media circles for a while now besides creating a panic among human rights activists worldwide who are vehemently advocating a thorough, unbiased investigation into the issue. Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Societies (JKCCS) has been active in not only bringing forth the issue but also in pursuing it relentlessly. Fake encounters and disappearances aren’t a thing of the past, says the 2006 Reebok Human Rights Awarard winning Programme Coordinator of the JKCCS, Khurram Parvez as he talks to Rameez Makhdoomi in an exclusive interview with Kashmir Media Watch.
How authenti
c are the figures released by State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) on unmarked graves in Kashmir?
The SHRC findings are only the tip of the iceberg. The commission concluded its findings hurriedly while the number of the unmarked graves was going up during the course of investigations. SHRC restricted their investigations to very few graves of two to three areas, while as we have unmarked and mass graves spread all over J&K.
State Government and the Army claim most of the unmarked graves are those of the foreign militants.
How does the government draw that conclusion without doing any DNA profiling or post-mortem of the deceased. The government was supposed to do that under the law. Let me also tell you there is a contradiction between claims of different government agencies. The government claims more than 6000 foreign militants have been killed while the Police puts the figures at 579.
What is the normal procedure of burying foreign militants in Kashmir?
Needless to say, in Kashmir normal is abnormal. What is happening here is a total violation of humanitarian laws .The bodies are buried by the security agencies without any DNA profiling or post-mortem. Under the international humanitarian law, the bodies of the foreign militants have to be handed over to their respective countries.
For local militants, even if they are killed crossing the border, the bodies have to be handed over to their families. And let me make it clear, a large number of civilians are buried in these graves. The State is doing everything to hide the truth to create an assumption that all the people buried in these graves were militants.
Can these unmarked graves constitute War Crimes?
Well, disappearance in itself is a crime against humanity under Rome statute and we have more than 8000 disappearances in Kashmir. The denial of the State to deliver justice and an absolute impunity to soldiers has been the order of the day for the last two decades or so. The human rights violations perpetrated here have been institutional which makes them War Crimes. The fact that the DGP of the State is himself directly involved in gross human rights violations speaks volumes about the state of human rights in Kashmir. There isn’t a single case of erring soldiers or policemen being punished in the State.
Does the widespread presence of these unmarked graves amount to genocide?
That might be stretching the things too far. But, yes, an honest investigation would definitely help in classifying what has happened.
Your Organisation, CCS, has been highlighting the issue for a long time but it took the State institutions and the media a long time to take note of it.
In 2008, we took this issue to European Parliament which passed a resolution condemning India in strong words. Media at that time showed interest but it couldn’t maintain the momentum that was required to put pressure on the authorities to address the issue and highlight the indifference of the State towards it.. Our President, Parvez Imroz, was physically assaulted to dissuade us from pursuing the issue.
Do you believe UN Human Rights Commission has a role to play in Kashmir?
The UN Rapporteurs need to visit this part of the world and it has to be a top priority.
Despite the claims of the State government and New Delhi, we still read and hear about fake encounters and disappearances.
Fake encounters and disappearances aren’t a thing of the past. The recent fake encounter in Poonch, custodial death in Sopore, the disappearance of a Pandit boy in Ashimiquam and many more incidents amply shows that the gross human rights violations are still happening.
Many voices are critical of the International community on maintaining a silence over what is happening in Kashmir.
It is true that international community has remained silent, but we as a nation are also to be blamed as we have not done enough in documenting and highlighting the crimes that we have been subjected to.
It must be very difficult to run a human rights organisation at a place like Kashmir. There have been many reports of JKCCS activists being harassed.
Yes, it is. We have been facing continuous threats. Our President Parvez Imroz was attacked. I lost one of my legs in an attack. Cases of sedition have been filed against our companions like Angana Chatrerjee and Zahirudin.
Our friend Gautam Navlakha was bundled back into the Delhi flight at Srinagar Airport. All these nasty pressure tactics are aimed at discouraging us so that we don’t take up the human rights issues locally or internationally.
J&K CM, Omar Abdullah, criticizes human rights groups alleging that they remain mum over human rights violations by militants.
That is being disingenuous to us, to say the least. We don’t fight twitter battles the way Omar Abdullah does. We do not believe in giving counter statements which are baseless and we have been even calling on militant groups to stop attacking non- combatants like police informers. We cannot give statements daily. We have reported the disappearances for which militants have been responsible but the primary responsibility lies with the State.
One cannot compare the 500 0dd militants with 6 lac soldiers. And the levels of violence perpetrated by State actors is much, much higher. There are no two opinions about that.
What do you think needs to be done to ascertain a fair probe into the whole issue?
We demand a Commission of Inquiry headed by a retired, credible Supreme Court judge. The commission should be assisted by a panel of international experts who have done work on mass graves, unmarked graves and exhumation in other conflict situations. DNA profiles should not be conducted by Indian FSL labs as they have been accused of fudging in the past.
