The report besides throwing light on AFSPA and PSA, also refers to Jalil Andrabi’s killing, Shopian rape and murder, killing of journalists and press censorship during the civilian unrest.
About Kashmir her report says: “The Special Rapporteur was deeply disturbed by the large number of cases brought to her attention during the course of her visit by defenders who claimed to have been targeted by the police” and troops under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and Public Safety Act.
The Special Rapporteur was told that these laws were being arbitrarily applied to provide legal grounds for a number of human rights violations against defenders.
In addition, the Special Rapporteur is of the view that the broad and vague definitions of terrorism contained in these security laws, including the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, have allowed the State apparatus to wrongfully target defenders.”
“Parvez Imroz, an advocate and president of the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society, has faced repeated harassment because of his work in denouncing impunity for human rights violations by security forces in the state, including extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances and torture. In 2008, security forces reportedly attacked his home at night in reprisal for having report a few months earlier published on alleged mass graves.
The same year, Imroz was arrested and beaten by police officers, along with several other persons, while monitoring a demonstration during election in Bandipora.
Imroz was also prevented from traveling abroad to receive an award for his human rights achievements by not having his passport renewed. .,” the UN report said.
It added that the lawyers, working in Jammu and Kashmir, were asked by the authorities whether they were with them or against them. Six lawyers were killed in recent years because they were representing victims of human rights violations. The President of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association in Srinagar was arrested because of his legal advocacy for the detained and disappeared in Kashmir.
“Student activism in Jammu and Kashmir is reportedly banned: for instance, students are not allowed to criticize fee hikes. Students in Kashmir are profiled by intelligence services and often branded” as militants, as was the case of one student who was falsely charged and his house raided.
About journalists, the UN report stated that no investigation was conducted in the killings of, at least 10 journalists. “Journalists who covered protests in the streets were on some occasions slapped by . authorities who branded them as “enemies”, and had their equipment damaged.”
“They also mentioned the difficulty in accessing information from the authorities and, when accessed, to publish it.” The uprising in the summer 2010 was reportedly marked by an unprecedented censorship by the authorities, the report added.
The Special Rapporteur remains disturbed by the draconian provisions of the public security laws, such as the maximum period of pre-charge detention that goes beyond internationally recognized limits, the excessive powers of the police to search and arrest, and the presumption of guilt under certain circumstances. (APP)
