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WASHINGTON POST ARTICLE





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In Kashmir, Abuses Bruise Hopes for Peace
Complaints Against Indian Security Forces Rise

By John Lancaster
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, September 6, 2004; Page A18

GUND DACHINA, India -- At first, said Syed Rehman Mir, the policemen treated him with the deference he had come to expect as a senior government doctor in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir. They graciously accepted his offer of tea, he recalled, and assured him they just had a few questions. Would he mind accompanying them to the station house for half an hour?

The good manners didn't last. Accused of aiding Pakistani-backed Islamic militants in their fight against Indian forces in the region, Mir, 42, was detained and tortured over three days in early August, he said in an interview last week. Among other methods, he said, interrogators applied an electric current to his toes and genitals and used a length of wood to crush his thighs, causing wounds and deep bruises.



Syed Rehman Mir, a Kashmiri doctor, said he was hospitalized last month after Indian police tortured him for allegedly aiding Islamic militants. (John Lancaster -- The Washington Post)

"They were not allowing me to cry because they were putting a cloth in my mouth," said Mir, whose story was corroborated by medical records and photographs of his injuries. "It was horrible. I was praying to God that I should die."

Eight months after India and Pakistan initiated formal negotiations to end more than half a century of hostility, much of it bearing on their competing claims to Kashmir, there has been little discernible reduction in human rights abuses by Indian security forces that have been waging a counterinsurgency campaign in the region since 1989, according to human rights monitors, Kashmiri political leaders and government data.

The continuing abuses, coupled with recent statements by Indian officials to the effect that Kashmir's territorial status is nonnegotiable, have sown doubts in both Kashmir and Pakistan about whether India's new government -- which recently completed its first 100 days in power -- is sincere about resolving the Kashmir conflict or is merely buying time. Estimates of the number of people killed in the insurgency range from 30,000 to 60,000.

Indian officials say they are committed to settling the dispute, but only after Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president, fulfills repeated pledges to end state support for Islamic militants who continue to cross from Pakistani-held Kashmir into the Indian side of the region, albeit in lower numbers than in the past.

Against that backdrop, the optimism that accompanied the start of peace negotiations in both India and Pakistan is giving way to fear of renewed tensions between two nuclear powers that have already fought three wars -- two over Kashmir -- and nearly fought a fourth in 2002. In New Delhi on Sunday, Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh and his Pakistani counterpart, Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, began two days of talks to assess the progress of the negotiations.

Just as the Pakistanis "fear that India is stringing them along on Kashmir, here there is also a sense that they're not going to give up violence as an instrument of negotiation," said C. Raja Mohan, a foreign affairs columnist for the Hindu, a New Delhi newspaper. Mohan said, however, that he remained hopeful about the negotiations because "neither side can afford failure at this stage."

The Kashmir dispute dates to 1947, when the British quit the subcontinent and gave the rulers of its semi-autonomous states a choice between joining the new nations of India or Pakistan. Although the state formally known as Jammu and Kashmir was -- and remains -- predominantly Muslim, its Hindu maharajah elected to stay with India. Pakistan, which controls a portion of the state, has never recognized his choice.

After local separatists launched their rebellion in 1989, Islamic militants based in Pakistan and supported by that country's military intelligence service joined the fray, causing a sharp escalation in terrorist violence. In response, India has deployed a massive security force of more than 500,000 men.

In some ways, conditions in the state have improved over the last few years. In 2002, Kashmiris elected a new state government in a contest that was generally regarded as fair, although boycotts by separatist groups kept turnout low. Tourists have since returned to the gardens and houseboats of Srinagar, the fabled summer capital, and militant violence has registered a modest decline.

At the same time, Kashmiris say they have been disappointed that the peace process has not yielded other improvements. For example, India has refused requests by moderate separatist leaders to release political prisoners and end offensive combat operations, and a popular proposal to run buses across the cease-fire line that separates Indian and Pakistani forces in Kashmir has stumbled over India's insistence that the bus passengers carry passports.

Moreover, complaints against state security forces have increased from 309 in 1999-2000 to more than 700 in the year that ended Aug. 31, according to the Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission. "We tried to tell them that if you address the human rights situation in the [Kashmir] Valley, it will send a message to the people that the government of India is sincere," said Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a senior cleric who leads the main moderate faction of Kashmiri separatists. "Unfortunately, nothing of that sort happened."

Indian Home Minister Shivraj Patil, whose ministry oversees internal security, said in an interview that "half a dozen big cases don't prove anything" and accused India's critics of overlooking "the human rights of the people who are fighting to protect the lives of innocent people."

Patil reiterated that any talks on Kashmir would take place "within the four walls of the constitution," which describes the region as an integral part of India. But he also said India would talk to Pakistan "unconditionally" about Kashmir and asserted that "many things have been said and done" already to address the concerns of its citizens. He added, however, "I am not expected to give you all the details."

Such claims are viewed with skepticism in Gund Dachina, a bucolic, poplar-shaded village at the edge of terraced rice fields about 30 miles north of Srinagar. Behind the village is a steep forested ridge that is said to be teeming with militants. More visible are the Indian soldiers, several hundred of whom are encamped on the playing fields of a nearby high school. The other day, soldiers in armored vests and heavy steel helmets moved warily through the village on foot, with rifles at the ready. A few miles down the road, locals lined up to display identification cards at one of the army's ubiquitous checkpoints.

As a doctor, Mir enjoys considerable status in the village, where he lives with his wife and three children in a spacious brick house with a garden full of flowers and a Maruti car parked in the driveway. A balding, round-faced man with a reddish beard, he was recently promoted to "block medical officer" of a nearby district, where he supervises 21 government clinics.

After being arrested on Aug. 4, Mir said, he was taken to an interrogation center in Srinagar and accused of giving money to a militant group. Mir acknowledged that he might have done so inadvertently; a few weeks before the arrest, he said, a stranger in a suit and tie dropped by his clinic and asked him to hold a bag of cash for one of Mir's patients. Mir said he thought little of the request at the time but later learned that the patient had been arrested for working with the militants.

"They said, 'You must be a middleman,' " he recalled of his interrogators, whom he identified as members of the Jammu and Kashmir police.

The physical abuse started immediately, he said, when a police officer slapped him twice across the face, rupturing one of his eardrums. Then his interrogators made him strip naked and sit on the floor while electrical current from a hand-cranked generator was applied to his genitals and feet, which were splashed with water for better conductivity. At the same time, he said, two officers placed a wooden stave across his legs, bore down with all their weight and rolled it repeatedly back and forth, opening half-dollar-size wounds on his thighs.

The torture was repeated on the third day of his imprisonment. "I was crying, 'I am diabetic. I am going to lose my legs because of this torture,' " recalled Mir, who takes medication for his condition. "They said, 'Yes, we want you to lose your legs.' "

The officers also beat him on the back and buttocks with a length of tire, he said, and hung him twice from the ceiling by his arms for 10 or 15 minutes at a stretch. The ordeal finally ended on the fourth day, he said, when guards found him unconscious on the floor of his cell. He was taken to Sri Maharaja Pratap Singh Hospital, where a doctor noted bruises and torture marks on his thighs and back, according to a copy of the examination record.

Mir was hospitalized for 12 days. During that time, he said, police dropped the accusations relating to the money transfer and instead charged him with giving a hand grenade to two militants who used it in an attack.

The two were arrested and named Mir in their confession, according to a police charge sheet. Mir said he had never heard of the two men, let alone supplied them with a grenade.

Javaid Gillani, the senior superintendent of police in Srinagar, said in an interview that he did not know how Mir was injured but denied security forces were involved. Such allegations, he added, are "generally not true."

Special correspondent Rama Lakshmi in New Delhi contributed to this report.

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Jay

This is the funniest story of all.

__________________
A grain of wheat eclipsed the sun of Adam !!

visioninthedark

turture is not a funny thing ....

Jay

Dont be a spoil sport, some suit clad stranger gave him a bag of cash to give it to his patient and "unknowingly" our doctor saheb holded the money for him only to know that both were terrorists.

Whoa, whoa!!

hammer

simple pure propaganda ! how else to describe this piece of news? if the police had really thought he was aiding terrorists they wouldnt have let him walk free and give interviews to a newspaper. he would be in some prison under "POTA".
how come i dont find anybody crying for the kashmiri pundits? strange world isnt it ? 300,000 people are refugees in their own land ? so many were butchered by the same breed of terrorists who shot at children in russian yet strangely no news either in indian or foreign media ?
is this what they call double standards with terrorism? i only wish we are even more tough while dealing with these scum. they should wish they were never born.

Asim Aquil

The Kashmiris are being beaten to death. Its the oldest claims of all time, no one's taking real notice of it, since no real investigation has ever been done. Countries in a position to arm twist for at least a proper investigation should do all they can to get to the bottom of it all. Settle this torture/no torture issue for once and for all.

Kashmiris are very peaceful people, but these things.... (IF TRUE! See I'm being nice) would push them over the edge. India has allegedly tortured and killed thousands of civillians in Kashmir. This should not be associated with any gain to Pakistan but an effort to save the Kashmiris. Do the same in Pakistan! I doubt you'd find Pakistan guilt free either. But an effort should be made to support such an investigation in every chance one gets.

__________________
-- Administrator @
Pakistan Defence: Defence.pk

Ray

If someone crossed over the border, he doesn't walk off.

He hangs around in jail for some time. Ask those fisherfolks who stray across the Sir Creek and are held by Pak and vice versa.

Now nothing better is first hand experience. Why don't you just cross over for some experience.

Torture is not funny? Heard of tickle torture? One could die by sheer laughter.
That is the the funniest torture known to mankind from one's childhood.

__________________


"Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

HAKUNA MATATA

Samudra

Asim
[patriotism]i dont think arm twisting with India can be a good idea for any country. [/patriotism]


Now you are a nice fellow.So dont make that statement again.

Asim Aquil

arm twist arm twist arm twist arm twist arm twist arm twist arm twist. Mar ja tap ke

Its not to be taken literrally, dude! And many countries can, heck even the US's arms can be twisted. It's just the issue of need and willingness. Every sane country wishes to live in peace and harmony with other countries around the world. It'll strive to achieve this harmony.

Samudra

Asim
Certainly your language doesnt seem to suggest that arm twisting is just 'manipulating' a country.

Wonder why you always cry for a third country to come and help you.

Asim Aquil

What in my language suggested otherwise? And its not even manipulation. It's making someone see reason. I'm asking people to help Kashmiris... Something you should be doing too.

Samudra

heck ! Its very childish to keep doing this with you.

1.Kashmiris are *humans* like Indians and Pakistanis.They get their rights in Indian Kashmir.Thats why the doc is alive today rather than rotting in a labour camp.

2.Before arm twisting India on alleged HR abuses , i would love to see some one arm twists your Pakistan see reason for continous occupation of Kashmir and absorbing it in the name of "Northern Areas" which is totally agaisnt the UN resolution on Kashmir.Just like how they arm twisted Pakistan in ditching Taliban in a day.

Although i dont want to go running anywhere crying about this.

Ray

Want to go to Swat in Pak Occupied Kashmir? Kasuri has promised that will be possible soon.

I rather go to Swat, than swat Pakistanis out here.

I believe it is beautiful in scenic beauty, though not in amenities. But if the traffic increases, the infrastructure will grow and the economy look up.

Friendship to me is more important than some of the venom of some.

Yahoo.com till then!

There will be Asim in vision and vision beyond the dark or Area yarns! Great! And maybe a Ray of hope!

Asim Aquil

Chandragupta, dude, I'm lobbying for Pakistan to let go of the Northern Areas, and re join it with the rest of the land. Jammu, Kashmir and Laddaakh should all be freed into one new country. That should include NA too.

LOL! You just pop up from somewhere haven't read any of my old posts and start putting me down using something that I've been lobbying for myself!?

See the solution has to be mutually acceptable. Both the sides shouldn't be gaining a lot more than the other and shouldn't be losing a lot more than the other either. Normally whenever Pakistan has demanded India to release Kashmir and we'd do the same, it usually means we'd let go of the current Azad Kashmir, the small strip of land. This makes Indians feel cheated that they're losing a big fat piece and Pakistanis are losing just a small strip. How about we add in NA to even things out.

Active steps should be taken to break the status quo. Don't mistake me for your enemy. Just because I'm a patriot of my nation, doesn't mean I have to show that patriotism by destroying the Indians. Challenge your preconceptions, you seem to be calling for the same things that I am. So why be sour with a potential ally?

Ray, LOL! Dude...

Samudra

1.You lobby brother asim, but do you really think it has the remotest remote chance of being accepted by Pakistan.....See Pakistan , yesterday and today does not care about the Kashmiri "cause".Tis only a excuse for those people.The seeds of hate have been sown among a certain people in Pakistan.aint it ?
Kashmir or no Kashmir , certain Pakistanis are just wanting Indias elimination even if we are prepared for peace.You have to understand that.Do you ?

2.Human Rights abuses and Massacres in Kashmir.Now nobody has proved it , including Baker who needs to be baked . What they do is , they claim, they heap allegations.why do you have to come here and keep telling us the same thing again and again.Do you really think we do that ? Check our census data about how muslim population is growing.Sure there are abuses.But certainly nowhere remotely close to the gargantuan figures quoted by Pakistanis.I mean here we have a whole state , and a huge force gaurding it .The sepoy on road is expecting a grenade anytime.Sure if he suspects some one , get ready for a dress-down evening.We acknowledge those and we try to rectify those errors.
The no of such abuse cases are rare enough to be classifed as "Needs Improvement".Not bad , worse or deep_in_sh$t.You have to understand that.Do you ?

Do tell me how can i help it when you heap allegations , or atleast 'subtly' heap allegations without any basis and pages of over exaggerations.I aint buying that.

Here we are indians who have been invaded so countless number of times being moderate and righteous(Prithvi raj let off Mohammed of Ghori once ) towards our enemies.It hurts to see the invasion continue.

Being unfortunate enough to know about these invasions,loss of our cultures and mass migrations does invoke some anger naturally towards Pakistanis when they claim to be descendants of such invaders and now i see it as another invasion of Kashmir.

(my ancestors migrated down south , when our then "nation" was taken over by Allaudin Khilji and the King taken prisoner and he died en route to delhi approx 400 year?s before .You want the dynasty's name ? Kakatiya)

It aint merely a peice of land or about kashmiris alone.The roots run deep and you have to make an effort to understand that.Do you ?

However that aggression doesnt stem its roots from false pride,racism , nazism, or any ism.Its a reaction. And you may rest assured that i aint a member of an indooo rightist extreme rights right wing organisation.

BTW , any info above is only an explanation for my "swatting" of Pakistanis , and i dont really think we need to argue about those , except about the topic at hand i.e Kashmir !

Asim
As for me , viewing you as my enemy ,rest assured that when you come over to some other thread and post something that i agree with , i wont run your post down.