‘Tip of the iceberg'

Interview with Khurram Parvez of the JKCCS.

Khurram Parvez: “The question is why the authorities breached the law. It amounts to criminal negligence.”

KHURRAM PARVEZ is the programme coordinator of the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS). He was also a member of the International People's Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Kashmir (IPTK), which prepared a report titled “Buried Evidence” on Kashmir's mass graves. Excerpts from an interview he gave Frontline:

What do you think about the SHRC report on unmarked and mass graves?

We welcome the inquiry report of the SHRC's police investigation wing. It comes as a vindication of our research. After we published our reports “Facts Under Ground” and “Buried Evidence” , we were accused by the security forces of maligning them. A case of sedition was filed against two of our members. This report is just a beginning – the tip of the iceberg. We hope that the SHRC will carry its investigation beyond these 38 graveyards in three districts of north Kashmir. Unmarked graves and mass graves exist in all districts of the valley and also in Poonch, Rajouri, Doda, Ramban and Reasi districts of Jammu province. By the way, these are not just unmarked graves. There are mass graves too. The SHRC report has identified 18 mass graves in 38 graveyards. In our report, we had identified 42 mass graves in 62 graveyards.

Did you expect such an investigation from the SHRC, since it was ultimately done by its police wing?

Honestly, we didn't expect it, given the past record of state institutions in Jammu and Kashmir.

Are these graves necessarily linked to the missing people in Kashmir?

Yes, these unmarked graves and mass graves are linked to disappearances. In 53 cases of exhumation conducted by the state, which we submitted to the SHRC, 49 were found to be local civilians. One was identified as a local militant. All these people had disappeared from their homes, and the armed forces had killed them in fake encounters, claiming that all of them were foreign militants. The SHRC report has documented 574 cases in which people branded as foreign militants were buried after alleged encounters; but later, they were identified as local residents. Why were these people buried instead of their bodies being handed over to their families? Isn't it clear that the state authorities were hiding something?

The police and the military forces have been maintaining that since a large number of militants infiltrated in the early 1990s, they could be even non-state subjects and not necessarily those killed in custody?

The people buried in these unmarked graves could be anybody – civilians, local militants or foreign militants, but what records does the state have to prove that these were foreign militants? It has not maintained any identification profile to prove who they were. According to legal procedures, the police are expected to maintain photographic evidence, DNA profiles, fingerprints and post-mortem reports. The question is why the authorities breached the law. It is not mere negligence, it amounts to criminal negligence.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has said his government will not cover up the issue….

He says he will not allow a cover-up. But he has earlier said that unmarked graves are a normal phenomenon in rural Kashmir. By saying so, he undermined the credibility of the state institution that endorsed our viewpoint that these unmarked graves are of those dead who were handed over by the police to the local community for burial.

There are conflicting reports about the number of disappeared people. Human rights activists say the number is over 8,000, but documentation is available for not more than 500.

For us, figures are immaterial. We are not fighting to prove figures; we want the state to acknowledge the phenomenon of enforced disappearances and begin delivering justice in the individual cases. Enforced disappearances are not a phenomenon of the past. This year, a 21-year-old boy was a victim of enforced disappearance. We are working to create a situation where the right to not disappear is respected. According to our estimates, around 8,000 people have disappeared.

You have said there are mass graves in other parts of Kashmir too. Is that true?

Yes, Poonch, Rajouri, Doda, Ramban, Srinagar, Ganderbal, Budgam, Kulgam, Anantnag, Pulwama and Shopian also have many unmarked graves and mass graves.

Source 


Follow discussion @ Facebook Page