Human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir |
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Notes |
1990 |
1991 |
1993 |
1995 |
1995 kidnapping of Western tourists in Kashmir |
1996 |
1997 |
1998 |
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
2006 |
2009 |
Papa II was an interrogation centre in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, [1] operated by the Border Security Force (BSF) [2] from the start of the Kashmir insurgency in 1989 until it was shut down in 1996.
Every security force operating in Kashmir had its own interrogation centres in the state which included temporary detention centres at Border Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and army camps. [3] Detainees were first interrogated by the detaining security force for a period of time which ranged from several hours to several weeks. [3] During this time no person was allowed to meet the detainee and the detainee was not produced before the court. [3] Detainees suspected of being militants were handed over to Counter-Intelligence Kashmir (CIK) and are interrogated at Joint Interrogation Centres (JICs) where detention sometimes lasted for months. [3] Papa II was one of several such centres in Kashmir. [3]
Lawyers in Kashmir told Asia Watch in 1993 that they had filed approximately 15,000 petitions since 1990 calling the state authorities to reveal the situation of the detainees and the charges against them, but the authorities had not responded. [3]
The building, of colonial origin, was initially a government guest house to accommodate visiting bureaucrats, in "serene surroundings" - the exclusive Gupkar Road [4] on the banks of the Dal Lake in Srinagar. On takeover by the paramilitary Border Security Force in 1989, it was named Papa II "in an attempt to keep the compound's new purpose nominally confidential". [5]
A May 1996 report by Human Rights Watch detailed allegations of abuse and torture at Papa II. [6] According to William Dalrymple, Papa II was a centre into which
...large numbers of local people, as well as the occasional captured foreign jihadi, would "disappear." Their bodies would later be found, if at all, floating down rivers, bruised, covered in cigarette burns, missing fingers or even whole limbs. [7]
A method of interrogation by which bodies of suspects were placed under heavy rollers caused at least 250 deaths through acute renal failure at one Srinagar hospital alone, according to Pankaj Mishra. [8] Others died through application of electric shocks, and particularly through "immersing the prisoners’ heads in water during interrogation." [5] One commonly observed consequence of the use of torture through electrodes attached to the detainee's genitals is that released detainees find themselves either unable to consummate or sometimes even participate in normal sexual relationships. [5] [9] It is unknown how many deaths occurred at Papa II, the most intensive centre of its kind: on the tenth of every month, the relatives of some of the disappeared stage a public protest near the building, demanding information on their kin from the authorities; they claim about 10,000 have gone missing during the years of militancy. [5] The Government of India contests that figure. [10]
Following D.K. Basu vs West Bengal in December 1996, in which judgment [11] the Supreme Court of India laid out restrictions on detention without trial in an attempt to curb custodial violence, [12] and the election of the left-leaning United Front government at the Centre, most interrogation centres, including Papa II, were shut down.
Since then it has been used as a residence by senior state politicians, including the state finance minister. Currently it is the official residence of Mehbooba Mufti, who leads the People's Democratic Party, though her occupation of it is contested by those who would prefer it to be a memorial to the ones who disappeared. [5]
The interrogation centre is referred as Mama-II by the character of Roohdaar / Ghost (Hamlet), cast on Irrfan Khan in the 2014 Indian crime drama movie Haider (film) which is based on William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet and Basharat Peer's memoir Curfewed Night . [13]
The Border Security Force (BSF) is a central armed police force in India under the Ministry of Home Affairs. It is responsible for guarding India’s borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh. It was formed in the wake of the Indo-Pak War of 1965 to ensure the security of India’s borders and for related matters.
This article describes the use of torture since the adoption of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which prohibited it. Torture is prohibited by international law and is illegal in most countries. However, it is still used by many governments.
Ghost detainee is a term used in the executive branch of the United States government to designate a person held in a detention center, whose identity has been hidden by keeping them unregistered and therefore anonymous. Such uses arose as the Bush administration initiated the War on Terror following the 9/11 attacks of 2001 in the United States. As documented in the 2004 Taguba Report, it was used in the same manner by United States officials and contractors of the Joint Interrogation and Debriefing Center at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq in 2003–2004.
The Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, commonly known by its acronym DGFI, is the defense intelligence agency of the Bangladesh Armed Forces, tasked with collection, collation and evaluation of strategic and topographic information, primarily through human intelligence (HUMINT). As one of the principal members of the Bangladesh intelligence community, the DGFI reports to the Director-General under the executive authority of the head of government, the Prime Minister, and is primarily focused on providing intelligence for the Prime Minister, the Cabinet of Bangladesh, and the Armed Forces of Bangladesh.
Torture in Bahrain refers to the violation of Bahrain's obligations as a state party to the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and other international treaties and disregard for the prohibition of torture enshrined in Bahraini law.
The Ministry of Interior and General Investigation, commonly known simply as the Mabahith, is the secret police agency of the Presidency of State Security in Saudi Arabia, and deals with domestic security and counter-intelligence.
The Sopore massacre refers to the mass killing of at least 43 civilians by Indian Border Security Force (BSF) who were travelling on a bus from Bandipur to Sopore in Kashmir on 6 January 1993. According to some reports as many as 57 people were killed.
Tariq Mahmood is a British Pakistani man who was captured in Islamabad by Pakistani security forces in October 2003. His family reports that Tariq was tortured, while in Pakistani custody, with the knowledge or cooperation of UK and American security officials.
The 1993 Lal Chowk fire refers to the arson attack on the main commercial centre of downtown Srinagar, Kashmir, that took place on 10 April 1993. The fire is alleged by government officials to have been started by a crowd incited by militants, while civilians and police officials interviewed by Human Rights Watch and other organisations allege that the Indian Border Security Forces (BSF) set fire to the locality in retaliation for the burning of an abandoned BSF building by local residents. Over 125 civilians were killed in the conflagration and the ensuing shooting by BSF troops.
Lal Chowk is a city square in Srinagar, in the Indian administered Jammu and Kashmir.
The Bijbehara Massacre took place when 74th Battalion Border Security Force (BSF) fired upon protesters in the Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir, India on 22 October 1993, killing 51 civilians. In the official version of events, BSF had only acted in self-defense when fired upon by militants; however, this narrative was rejected by Human Rights Watch citing the 1993 U.S. Department of State country report on human rights in India which said, "Despite government claims that the security forces were ambushed by militants, only one BSF sub inspector was injured."
Mohammed Yousuf Tarigami is an Indian politician from Jammu and Kashmir. He belongs to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and is a member of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, to which he has been elected five times consecutively since 1996, representing the Kulgam Assembly Constituency.
Prisons in Bahrain are fully owned and operated by the state. They are run by 3 different security forces, including the National Security Agency (NSA), the Bahrain Defence Force (BDF) and the Ministry of Interior (MoI). Administration of prisons is overseen by a number of judicial authorities, as well as the public prosecution. Out of a total of 20 prisons, there are 4 main prisons, one of which is for women. The main prisons are: Al Qurain Prison, Dry Dock Detention Center, Juw Prison and Isa Town Detention Center for women.
Torture during the 2011 Bahraini uprising was described in many human rights reports as being widespread and systematic; 64% of detainees reported being tortured. At least five individuals died as a result. During the uprising, detainees were interrogated by three government agencies, the Ministry of Interior (MoI), the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Bahrain Defence Force.
Human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir range from mass killings, enforced disappearances, torture, rape and sexual abuse to political repression and suppression of freedom of speech. The Indian Army, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and Border Security Personnel (BSF) have been accused of committing severe human rights abuses against Kashmiri civilians. According to Seema Kazi, militant groups have also been held responsible for similar crimes, but the vast majority of abuses have been perpetrated by the armed forces of the Indian government.
Human rights abuses in Kashmir have been perpetrated by various belligerents in the territories controlled by both India and Pakistan since the two countries' conflict over the region began with their first war in 1947–1948, shortly after the partition of British India. The organized breaches of fundamental human rights in Kashmir are tied to the contested territorial status of the region, over which India and Pakistan have fought multiple wars. More specifically, the issue pertains to abuses committed in Indian-administered Kashmir and in Pakistani-administered Kashmir.
Curfewed Night: A Frontline Memoir of Life, Love and War in Kashmir is a memoir on the Kashmir conflict between India and Pakistan, written by Kashmiri American journalist Basharat Peer. It primarily focuses on the impact of the ongoing anti-India insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, and is a winner of the Crossword Prize for Nonfiction. It was also included in the 2010 issues of both the 'Books of the Year' list by The Economist and 'A Year's Reading' by The New Yorker.
Haider is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language political crime thriller film directed by Vishal Bhardwaj, who co-produced it with Siddharth Roy Kapur, and written by Bhardwaj and Basharat Peer. It stars Shahid Kapoor, Tabu, Kay Kay Menon, Shraddha Kapoor and Irrfan Khan.
The Kashmir conflict has been beset by large scale usage of sexual violence by multiple belligerents since its inception.
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