Probe J&K rights violation charges

The government has shut off all communication with UN Special Rapporteurs on a report on Kashmir released by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in June last year. The 2018 report had drawn attention to India’s use of “excessive force that led to unlawful killings and a very high number of injuries” in the Kashmir Valley. It listed 76 cases of torture and killing of civilians and pointed out that 2018 alone accounted for 13 civilian killings, including eight by security forces and the rest by militants. India rejected that report for its “unverified” and “prejudiced” content. Then, in March, UN Special Rapporteurs wrote to the government seeking clarity on the steps taken to address issues raised in the report. Dismissing the 2018 report as “false and motivated,” the government reportedly ruled out engaging further with the OHCHR on the matter. It is a “closed chapter,” it said.

India’s discomfort with the 2018 report is understandable to some extent. Its methodology was flawed; the authors based their conclusions on the accounts of others, elicited long distance. It seemed biased against India. Its reference to the Hizbul Mujahideen as an ‘armed group’, rather than a terrorist organisation riled India. Besides, it had unsolicited advice for India: it called for revoking the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act and investigations into human rights abuses in the Valley. The UN’s proffering of gratuitous advice drew Delhi’s ire. Not only was this a violation of India’s territorial sovereignty but also, it appeared to signal a return to the UN’s old approach of meddling in the Kashmir issue. India’s pique with the 2018 report must be seen in this context.

However, Delhi’s decision to snap all communication with the UN on the report is ill-advised. Importantly, issues raised by the 2018 report are not new. Neither are the recommendations. Indeed, allegations and recommendations in the report have been made within the country countless times. India cannot therefore dismiss the issues raised by the report or the Special Rapporteurs as the prejudiced opinion of outsiders. A report released by two Kashmiri human rights organisations on Monday too details abuse and torture of Kashmiris by security forces. Torture is being used as “an instrument of control” to quell unrest in the Valley, it says. These are serious allegations that the government must investigate and punish those responsible for, not so much to please the UN as to heed the anguished cries of the Kashmiri people for justice.