annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights
annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights
annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights
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INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 Jammu and Kashmir<br />
stabbing and rape by the armed opposition<br />
groups. The AOGs also chopped off the<br />
ears, noses and tongues of women. In 4<br />
July 2004, alleged members of the Harkatul-Mujahideen<br />
kidnapped Mariam Begum<br />
from her house in Manoh village in Doda<br />
district, raped her and then chopped off her<br />
ears, nose and tongue10 in retaliation <strong>for</strong><br />
the surrender of her brother, Abdul Latif,<br />
an armed cadre of the Harkat-ul-<br />
Mujahideen.<br />
Prison conditions were deplorable.<br />
Hundreds of detenues and undertrials have<br />
<strong>report</strong>edly been languishing in different<br />
jails because of the delay in their trials due<br />
to unavailability of escorts. A number of<br />
them have allegedly turned insane due to<br />
prolonged incarceration. 11 Over 500<br />
persons were <strong>report</strong>edly detained under<br />
the Public Safety Act (PSA) at the<br />
beginning of 2004 despite the release of<br />
326 PSA detenues by the government<br />
since the PDP came to power. 12 About<br />
eighty two persons were also detained<br />
under the POTA at the beginning of 2004. 13<br />
While the plight of 2.5 lakhs displaced<br />
Kashmiri pandits received necessary<br />
attention14 and the Central government<br />
<strong>report</strong>edly agreed in principle to release Rs<br />
150 crore to set up the two room sets <strong>for</strong><br />
them, 15 the conditions of the 60,000<br />
displaced persons from border areas<br />
remained deplorable. 16 The State<br />
government had taken a few measures to<br />
resettle them. Chairman of Border Migrant<br />
Action Committee, Chajju Ram of Nikkian<br />
village in Khour block of tehsil Akhnoor in<br />
Jammu district died on 2 March 2004 after<br />
being beaten up on 27 February 2004 at Kot<br />
Ghari while protesting against the lack of<br />
their rehabilitation. 17<br />
A survey conducted by the Tribal<br />
Research and Cultural Foundation, a NGO<br />
revealed that 67 per cent Gujjars and<br />
Bakerwals tribes were not in a position to<br />
manage two time meals, proper shelter and<br />
fodder <strong>for</strong> their livestock. The houses<br />
erected by Gujjars <strong>for</strong> themselves were<br />
unhygienic and without proper light and<br />
ventilation facilities, resulting in more<br />
than 43 per cent Gujjar women, 23 per<br />
cent Gujjar males and a sizeable<br />
percentage of children suffering from T.B,<br />
asthma, bronchitis and other diseases. The<br />
survey further revealed that 71 per cent of<br />
Gujjars were not aware of schemes offered<br />
by the State and Central governments <strong>for</strong><br />
their uplift and betterment. 18<br />
II. Atrocities by security <strong>for</strong>ces<br />
i. Disappearances<br />
With 6,000 alleged pending cases,<br />
en<strong>for</strong>ced disappearances continued to be a<br />
key human rights crisis in Jammu and<br />
Kashmir. 19 The Association of Parents of<br />
Disappeared Persons (APDP) alleged that<br />
121 persons have disappeared in Kashmir<br />
since the PDP-Congress government came<br />
into power in November 2002. 20 The<br />
Jammu and Kashmir <strong>Human</strong> <strong>Rights</strong><br />
Commission <strong>report</strong>edly received 27<br />
complaints of disappearances in 2003<br />
alone. 21 On 22 January 2004, then Union<br />
Home Minister, L.K Advani <strong>report</strong>edly<br />
ordered an inquiry into disappearances of<br />
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