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Sister asked to show I-card
Arshad Me’raj
(from greaterkashmir.com)
Wagad, (Tral), Mar 11: “Show me your identity card and I will allow you to move forward,” an Army officer asked Parveena Akhter, sister of Majid Jehangir who was killed by troops at Aripal.
Parveena, wailing and weeping, was stopped by the troops at a barricade outside Aripal village. She had come from her husband’s home in Pampore to see the face of her brother for the last time. For an hour the troops did not allow her to enter the village.
Beseeching the Army officer with clasped hands, she said, “I want to see my brother.”
The officer however asked her to show that if she was carrying any identity card. “Don’t you know that it is obligatory to carry an I-Card with yourself in Kashmir,” he told Parveena.
“They have killed my brother and are now denying me to move,” Parveena told the reporters who were waiting near the barricade for army’s permission to enter the village.
On the persistent insistence of the media persons, the officer allowed Parveena and two of her family members to go ahead by foot.
The barricade was crowded with people who couldn’t make it to their homes last night due to the cordon maintained by the troops. “I went to relatives place and spent the night there,” a government employee wishing anonymity told Greater Kashmir adding the troops didn’t allowed to go yesterday.
Many women were seen waiting near the erected barricade and repeatedly urging the troops to allow them to go to their respective homes. “Our children are alone there, please allow us to go,” the women said.
The people waiting for the go ahead expressed apprehensions saying that army might harm their family. “The troops have been harassing us for long and this time they might harm our families,” they said.
Copyright and courtesy of Greater Kashmir. com [link]
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Tags: Freedom Struggle, Human Rights, Indian Army, Innocent Killings, Kashmir, Kilings, News, Police, Terrorism, Terrorism in Kashmir
Army’s killing spree continues–Murder two more youth at Tral
(from kashmirobserver.com)
SRINAGAR, MARCH 10 (KONS) |50 RR personnel posted at Aripal village in Tral shot dead two cililians after they failed to trace out a youth they were looking for on Saturday evening. The deceased have been identified as Jehangir Ahmad Khan and Ghulam Mohammad Mir, both government employees.
Eyewitnesses said that people urged the army men to release them but instead they pumped bullets into their bodies killing them instantly. After killing them in cold blood, the fleeing jawans fired several rounds into the air to disperese the angry mob. The bodies lied at the spot for several hours. People assembled again carrying the bodies while chanting of slogans against the army. The army blocked all points leading to the main road. It is learnt that army has made it mandatory for the people particularly the youth of Aripal village to attend the camp daily for forced labour. “They (Army Personnel) come to our houses if we fail to turn up for the labour,” said a youth who looked terrified.
The defence spokesperson however said that the civilians were killed in militant firing.The Tral town and its adjoining areas are shut under a protest strike over the civilian killings.
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Tags: Freedom Struggle, Human Rights, India, Indian Army, Innocent Killings, Kashmir, Kilings, Massacre, News, Police, Terrorism, Terrorism in Kashmir
Govt terminates 18 employees with ‘militant links’
(from kashmirobserver.com)
JAMMU, MARCH 10 (KONS) |The state Cabinet has decided to terminate the services of 18 employees for alleged links with militants.The Cabinet yesterday agreed to the action recommended against the 18 employees by a committee headed by the chief secretary. A senior officer said the action was taken under Section 126 of the J&K Constitution. During the recent Assembly session, Azad had indicated that he may take stern action against such elements.
“The Cabinet, in its meeting, took the decision. Official orders for termination of services will be issued soon,” Health Minister Mangat Ram Sharma told The Indian Express adding that the government would not tolerate any involvement of employees with militants, at any cost.
The government has not yet disclosed the names of the 18 employees, but sources said they include engineers, a doctor and a banker. The decision was taken in the Cabinet meeting which was boycotted by PDP. A committee headed by the chief secretary had submitted its report to the government a few days back. The committee was constituted by the chief minister after inputs from intelligence agencies and state police regarding alleged involvement of some state employees in subversive activities and their alleged links with militants. A PDP minister described the action as “taken in haste”. “It is unfortunate that the decision came at a Cabinet meeting which was not attended by our party. I am not aware of the whole picture. But I think any action taken in haste against employees can bring down the morale of those working under difficult conditions,”he added.
Copyright and courtesy of Greater Kashmir. com [link]
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Tags: Congress, Freedom Struggle, Government, India, Kashmir, News
Valley’s youngest missing in custody still untraceable
Govt says he was killed; family demands body
Arif Shafi Wani
(from greaterkashmir.com)
Srinagar, Mar 7: Muhammad Iqbal Shah holds an unenviable distinction in the Valley of woes: he was 14 when BSF soldiers arrested him, never to return. Thus, he’s the youngest among thousands of Kashmiris who disappeared in custody.
Iqbal, a student of Wagoora Varmul, was working hard to pass his matriculation examination when troops of 163 battalion of paramilitary Border Security Force arrested him on March 13, 1995. “He was brutally tortured and all our attempts to rescue him proved futile,” his father Muhammad Yousuf said.
Though troops released his two classmates who were arrested a day before him, but there was no trace of Iqbal. The family approached the BSF camp but they denied his arrest.
“The assurances of the then Senior Superintendent of Police Muneer Khan, Deputy Commissioner and Lt. Gen M A Zaki, advisor to Governor, too proved futile,” Yousuf said.
Shattered, the family filed a Habeas Corpus petition in the High Court for locating the Iqbal’s whereabouts. On July 16, 1996, it directed the District and Sessions Judge Varmul to hold an inquiry.
After receiving the report, which confirmed the arrest of Iqbal, the Court finally disposed off the case on April 6 1999, with the direction to conduct an investigation and conclude the same in accordance with the law.
On Court directions a case under FIR no 88/99 under sections 346 RPC was registered at Police Station Varmul. Acting on court directions, District Magistrate Varmul formed a four-member committee comprising Additional District Magistrate Varmul as its Chairman, Deputy Superintendent of Police Varmul, Tehsildar and SHO Police Station Varmul as members.
“During the course of investigation all the legal formalities were completed, statements of witnesses were recorded and it was established that M C Heldar Deputy Commandant and J N Singh Assistant Commandant of 163 Battalion BSF are involved in the case and offence Sec 346 (abduction) has been proved against them,” the committee in its report said.
The Committee quoting a report of Director General of Police addressed to Principal Secretary on September 8, 2000 said, “On March 1995 personnel of BSF’s 163 battalion raided the house of Muhammad Iqbal, Muhammad Ibrahim and Ghulam Mohiuddin Mir of Wagoora. All of them were ruthlessly beaten in BSF vehicles towards Anantnag (Islamabad). Two of them namely Muhammad Ibrahim and Ghulam Muhammad were left in serious condition at unknown places whereas whereabouts of Muhammad Iqbal were not known.”
“After taking into consideration all aspects and reports received from different headquarters, we reached at the conclusion that Muhammad Iqbal Shah son of Muhammad Yousuf Shah of Wagoora, who was a student of 10th class is presumed to be killed and his dead body has been disposed off somewhere,” the report said.
“Despite the declaration that my son was killed by the BSF men, neither has his body been handed over to me nor the accused punished,” his father said.
“We have suffered enough for the past seven years, now we want justice,” he said.
Copyright and courtesy of Greater Kashmir. com [link]
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Tags: Custodial Killing, Enforced Disappearance, Human Rights, Indian Army, Innocent Killings, Kashmir, Kilings, Terrorism, Terrorism in Kashmir
Bollywood film to focus on rights abuse in Kashmir
Krittivas Mukherjee
(from reuters.com)
MUMBAI, March 6 (Reuters) – A well-known Bollywood filmmaker hopes to prick the conscience of viewers about human right abuses in Indian Kashmir with a movie on police killings of innocent people in staged gunbattles to win rewards.
“Dhoka”, or Betrayal, is the latest offering from a Hindi film industry — the world’s largest by number of tickets sold — that has been forced by a maturing audience to diversify from its formulaic song-and-dance fare into more realistic themes.
Mahesh Bhatt, known as much for his fluffy musicals as for handling controversial subjects such as Hindu-Muslim riots, says “Dhoka” will turn the spotlight on “state atrocities” in the insurgency-torn Himalayan state of Jammu and Kashmir.
“There is a need to speak about the misdeeds of the state, the betrayal of police in each of those regions where human rights are trampled upon everyday,” Bhatt, who is producing the movie and helping daughter Pooja direct it, told Reuters.
“Dhoka” will be partly shot around Kashmir’s verdant valleys and snow-capped peaks but Bhatt did not give a release date.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed or have disappeared in mainly Hindu India’s only Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir during a 17-year-old separatist revolt.
Kashmiris say some of those who have disappeared are innocent people killed by police in fake gunbattles to claim rewards and earn promotions meant for eliminating militants.
In late January and February, protests erupted in the Kashmir Valley following the alleged killing of five innocent Kashmiris in staged gunbattles by Indian forces, who then passed off the dead men as militants.
Seven policemen have been charged with the killing of one of the men — a carpenter and father of five. Police said they were also investigating the four other cases.
SLEEPING CONSCIENCE?
“The conscience of the country hasn’t been questioned on these gross violation of rights of the people of Kashmir,” said Bhatt.
The filmmaker is also completing a movie that delves into the mind of a potential suicide bomber in a story set against the backdrop of the 2005 London train and bus bombings.
In the past, Bollywood’s offerings on Kashmir have generally been populist, patriotic fare which cast neighbouring Pakistan and menacing Muslim extremists as the villains, and the Indian security forces as heroes.
But films like “Mission Kashmir” have generally failed to impress critics.
In contrast, “Dhoka” is the story of a young Kashmiri man grappling with the staged killing of someone close to him and aims to highlight the plight of Kashmiris whose lives have been touched by violence.
The conflict has officially killed more than 40,000 people. Human rights groups put the toll at about 60,000 dead or missing.
“Custodial deaths and fake gunbattles of police are a menace in Kashmir,” said Bhatt, who is also known as an activist for creative freedom and religious harmony.
Authorities deny allegations that security forces regularly pick up people in Kashmir and kill them in fake gunbattles.
Bhatt has chosen a Kashmiri newcomer to play the lead in Dhoka, hoping the actor can inject some realism into the film.
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Tags: Bollywood, Freedom Struggle, Human Rights, Hurriyat, India, Indian Army, Innocent Killings, Jammu and Kashmir Police, Kashmir, Kilings, Mahesh Bhat, Massacre, Militants, News, Police, Terrorism, Terrorism in Kashmir
