International Day of Disappeared

International Day of Disappeared

Dead can’t fight, but those who live won’t give up

BISMAH MALIK

SRINAGAR, Aug 29: The issue of unknown and unmarked graves involves the living as much as the dead- this statement reflects how big an impact could the recent finding of State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) which confirmed that over 2,000 bodies were found in the unmarked graves of Kashmir have. Not only has the report confirmed that the dead in Kashmir have been wronged but also the hopes of ones who are still living and looking for their dear ones have been belied.
If the dead buried in 38 graveyards across the valley according to SHRC report cannot now wake up and fight again, it is their relatives who are not giving up.
A day prior to International day of Disappeared Persons, the families who have borne the brunt of enforced disappearances, fake encounters, custodial killings and many other human rights violations in the valley staged a protest in the Sher-e-Kashmir Park, Srinagar today organised by International People’s Tribunal on human rights and Justice in Indian Administered Kashmir (IPTK).
“My son could be in one of these graves,” says Wali Muhammad Khan, a 65 year old distraught father whose 22 year old son Farooq Ahmad Khan was allegedly killed in the custody after BSF Rambagh, 57 battalion picked him up from in Batmaloo, Srinagar on 19 August, 2003.
“They killed him, they killed my son. They killed my hope, my inheritance and I could not even see his face for the last time,” says a wailing Wali Muhammad Khan who is a part of J&K Coalition of Civil Societies (JKCCS) since 2003.
Injustice, violence , subjugation , humiliation , deception – is what the voices, faces, banners and placards all around Sher-e-Kashmir Park symbolised especially when the families who could relate to every finding of SHRC came together.
“We long before knew about the presence of these unmarked graves in Kashmir. Where else could they have buried our beloved ones? We have been looking for them since so many years now. Since government was acting insensitively, IPTK conducted a survey on its own to unearth the reality. And after all these years the government appointed institution says the same. Now the truth is out. Everything is apparent. Would the government still turn its back towards our concerns,” questions Sheeraza, a mother who does not know if her son Mushtaq Ahmad of NaidKadal, Srinagar is still alive or not.
The protestors sought credible investigations and punishments to perpetrators of heinous crimes which have been going on in the valley for over two decades now.
“We welcome the SHRC’s report on unmarked graves in Kashmir which actually corroborated with what IPTK’s investigative research conducted between November 2006- November 2009 under the title ‘buried evidence’. Our finding documented 2700 unknown, unmarked mass graves containing over 2,943 bodies across 55 villages of kashmir valley. The state has at last agreed with our fact findings,” read an official handout of IPTK.
IPTK has urged the SHRC to extend its investigation to include those sites which were incorporated in IPTK’s research before especially in north Kashmir areas.
Besides, the site present in Doda, Reasi , Poonch , Rajouri districts of Jammu province have also been asked to survey.
The organisation is also asking for cross- tabulation of DNA based profiles of the buried in unmarked graves with those that have been involuntarily disappeared in Kashmir.
“In case our people have died, at least help us identify their dead bodies,” says Shameema Begum, on the lookout for her only son and family member Kamran Muhammad.
In line with this demand, IPTK stresses that comprehensive forensic examinations be conducted to determine the circumstances of death, including incidences of torture.
As a matter of fact, not even a single family which has undergone a huge trauma of gross human rights atrocities have not been compensated till date.
“My son died. My family has suffered a great deal since then. There is no one to take care of us now. Nobody has come to us for any assistance. We certainly deserve some kind of compensation, although it is not going to bring back the dead from the graves,” asserts Wali Muhammad Khan.
IPTK has urged SHRC to amend the proposal of SHRC recommending a monetary relief of Rs 70,000 to the next of kin who undertake DNA test based investigation.
Asides, the Indian government has been asked to ratify the International Convention for Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearances and Convention against torture, and other inhuman treatment to which it has been a signatory since February 2007.

[Kashmir Times]