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In Kashmir, slain youths’ families demand end to draconian security law

With militancy on the decline, many say there is no longer a need for the Armed Forces’ Special Powers Act
In Kashmir, slain youths’ families demand end to draconian security law

Relatives and friends of two boys killed by the Indian military in Nawgaon take to the strees for a protest over the weekend (Photo by Ritu Sharma) 

Published: November 10, 2014 09:14 AM GMT
Updated: November 09, 2014 09:58 PM GMT

Mehroora Yusuf breaks into inconsolable tears every few minutes. Her husband Mohammed sits numb in a corner of their house.

The couple is mourning the death of their 14-year-old son Faisal Yusuf, who was killed by the army on November 3 in Chhattergam village near Srinagar district in Jammu and Kashmir state.

Faisal was among five boys who were fired upon by Indian soldiers after being told to stop their car. Of the five, two died, two sustained serious injuries and one escaped unharmed.

“My son had gone to the market with two friends to pick up curtains for the house. When the stall owner asked them to return half an hour later, they went to Chhattergam... While they were returning, my son gave a lift to two more of his friends. There was an army checkpoint and the soldiers told them to stop,” Mohammed Yusuf, told ucanews.com.

Mohammed was told by the uninjured boy that Faisal was about to stop the vehicle when, after mistaking them for a group of suspected terrorists, soldiers opened fire.

“If the boys had tried to run away, they would have been shot in the back but Faisal was hit by ten bullets in the chest. The soldiers kicked his body after that. If the troops were suspicious of the boys, they could have hit the tires of the car to stop it. My son would have been alive now,” he said.

Besides Faisal, 20-year-old Mehrajuddin Dar was killed in the incident. Shakir Ahmed Bhat and Zahid Ayub, both 16, sustained serious injuries. A 14-year-old, Basim Amin, managed to flee.

Few doubt that the killings would probably not have taken place were it not for the draconian Armed Forces’ Special Powers Act (AFSPA) enforced in Kashmir. 

The AFSPA is enforced in some restive areas of the country and empowers the military to use lethal force, arrest without a warrant and detain people indefinitely and without charge.

Besides Jammu and Kashmir — a Muslim-majority area where strong support exists for breaking away from India and joining Pakistan or complete independence — the act is in force in the northeastern states of Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram.

In the case of Faisal and his friends, the army admitted the killings were a case of “mistaken identity” and announced a compensation of one million rupees (US$16,300) for the families of the dead and 500,000 rupees for those injured in the shooting.

“While mistakes happen on the ground, every time lessons are learned and it is our desire that procedures are put in place that such incidents do not happen,” Lieutenant-General DS Hooda, general officer commanding-in-chief of northern command, told reporters.

The officer said an inquiry into the incident would be completed within the month and those found at fault will face legal action.

But the area remains tense after the killings. In spite of assurances from the army, family members of the slain youths have begun holding demonstrations demanding a revocation of AFSPA and hefty punishment for the soldiers.

On Saturday, angry protesters blocked the national highway connecting Jammu and Srinagar.

“What will I do with the compensation? My child is gone. If the army is that serious, why have the soldiers responsible for the killings still not being arrested?” Ghulam Mohammed Dar, father of Mehrajuddin Dar, told ucanews.com.

“The accused are still on duty,” echoed Mohammed Yusuf. “They have not been arrested and handed over to the police even though a murder complaint has been registered against them.”

Mohammed Yusuf (right), father of Faisal Yusuf (Photo by Ritu Sharma)

 

AFSPA was imposed in the state in 1989 by the federal government a year after the Kashmir Valley witnessed a surge in terrorism. Time and again the Indian army has been accused of human rights violations in the area.

The abuses range from mass killings to forced disappearances, torture, rape and sexual abuse.

According to data from the Jammu and Kashmir government, more than 53,000 people, including civilians and security personnel, have been killed since the act came in force.

Over 8,000 people have been listed as disappeared in the valley during the same period.

As a result of the act, the Kashmir Valley alone has over 600,000 security personnel stationed there.

“The armed forces are given unlimited powers under this act but are not accountable for any crime committed by them. When an accused is not made accountable for any crime, then you cannot give justice to victims,” said Zahid Mushtaq, an expert on Kashmir affairs.

Mushtaq, who is based in Srinagar, said the act was imposed when militancy was at its peak and there were thousands of militants in the valley.

“Now militancy is almost over in Kashmir and the government itself admits that there are only about 180 suspected terrorists left in the state; so why can’t these handful of people be controlled by a normal security force? We do not need the AFSPA,” said Mushtaq.

“The Indian army is among the biggest in the world. Such shooting incidents are tarnishing the image of the army and India at an international level,” Mushtaq said, adding that scrapping the AFSPA would encourage development and progress in the region.

The state government and other regional political parties have also been advocating the revocation of the act.

“There has been considerable improvement in the situation in [the] last several years. There has been a 70 to 80 percent drop in militancy in that time. The situation is far better and is conducive to ending the AFSPA,” Omar Abdullah, the state chief minister, told reporters late last month.

However, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led federal government has refused to lift the AFSPA in the state.

“Though the security situation has become stable the state is still fragile. The government of India will never under the current circumstances consider lifting of AFSPA. The security environment must be strengthened, militants must feel scared and should not be allowed to disturb peace,” Avinash Khanna, a BJP MP in-charge of Jammu and Kashmir affairs, was quoted as saying by a local news agency.

The Nawgaon tragedy has been compounded by subsequent treatment of the injured and their families. The two teenagers were admitted to an army hospital in Badam Bagh, 15 kilometers from Nawgaon, but the doctors have disclosed little about their condition.

“The doctors said it will take two months for my son to recover from the injuries he sustained from the shooting but they are not telling us what injuries he sustained and how many. They are not even allowing us to remove the sheet covering him,” said Uttaraham Bhat, the father of Shakir Bhat.

“He just lays on the bed and stares at me. He is badly injured. I think he will be bedridden for the rest of his life.”

The scars of the incident are difficult to heal, but people of Kashmir hope that everything will return to normal, if not immediately, if the AFSPA is withdrawn.

“This law is killing Kashmiri youths. I have lost my son. I don’t want others to go through all this. We want the AFSPA to go…. Such incidents should not happen in future,” said Mohammed Yusuf.

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