Human rights violations continue in J&K: Forum For Human Rights

“Human rights violations” that started on August 5 2019, when the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 was revoked, “continued till date,” the latest report by ‘Forum For Human Rights in Jammu & Kashmir’ states.

Brought out by the Forum for Human Rights in Jammu and Kashmir, which was formed in May 2020 by an informal group of jurists, former civil servants, former military officers, academics and human rights experts, the report highlights how the human rights situation in the region has deteriorated.

“Civilian security, children and women, health, industry and the media detail, security concerns continue to prevail over civilian welfare and humanitarian law, violence continues to rise, the economy continues to be devastated, and civil and political rights continue to be violated,” the second report of the Forum, which covers the period from August 2020 to January 2021, says.

The Forum, which is co-chaired by former Supreme Court judge Justice Madan Lokur and former member of the Group of Interlocutors for Jammu and Kashmir Radha Kumar, states that a new category of ‘protective’ detention has been introduced in the recently concluded district development (DDC) polls.

“The DDC elections were intended to herald a softening of the bar on political activity, but were marred by the Jammu and Kashmir administration’s apparent bias against the candidates of the opposition People’s Alliance for the Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), a coalition of mostly valley-based political parties,” the report says.

It further says that at 16.6 per cent, unemployment in J&K was almost twice that in the rest of the country while healthcare is still restricted and the local and regional media have not regained what little independence they had.

“As highlighted in our August 2020 report, restrictions on movement of patients, such as orders under Section 144 of the CrPC, continued to impede access to quality medical care. Despite the Home Secretary’s repeated communications requesting free movement between districts in states and Union Territories, bars to intra-state travel continue to be placed by the Jammu and Kashmir administration,” it added.

The report also recommended the release of political detainees. “Repeal the Public Safety Act (PSA) and any other preventive detention legislation, so that they cannot be misused against political opposition, or amend them to bring them in line with our constitutional ethos,” it recommends.

The Forum also regretted that the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and Jammu and Kashmir administration have not responded to its August 2020 report and recommendations or to the letters sent to J&K Lieutenant-Governor (including on the Shopian extra-judicial killings of July 2020).

The reports also demanded initiation of criminal and civil actions against police and security forces personnel found guilty of violation of human rights, especially with regard to recent instances of attacks on journalists.