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Kashmir Scholars Action Group Letter to the UN High Commission for Human Rights on the Situation in Jammu&Kashmir: KSAG

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Guest Post by Kashmir Scholars Action Group

To Mr. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

Re: Urgent action needed to end state violence in Indian-controlled Kashmir

We are writing to you to express our concern about the situation in Indian-controlled Kashmir where the already subjected population is currently living in a state of siege due to the massive violence unleashed by the Indian forces. We appreciate your decision to create a fact-finding mission and deplore the refusal of the Indian government to allow access to UN human rights monitors (1). In the absence of such a mission, we feel it incumbent upon civil society groups to provide regular updates on the situation.

We, the Kashmir Scholars Action Group, are an interdisciplinary group of scholars of various nationalities engaged in research on the region of Kashmir. Our research on Kashmir, its history, its consequences for the region and beyond, and its possible resolution, delves into the implications for an internationally mediated political solution, and is of relevance to policy makers. Based on our long and active engagement with civil society groups in Indian-controlled Kashmir, we have undertaken to document and communicate the situation on ground since the Indian state’s violence against civilians has continued to mount from July 7th, 2016 onwards. Each of us has written about Kashmiri history, society and politics; and we are particularly concerned about the present conditions of violence. We write to you now as part of our urgent efforts to check the brutality of the state’s response to Kashmiris, scores of whom have mobilized in support of their demand for azadi (freedom). Even as we will go on to list some of the details of the humanitarian crisis, we wish to make clear that we are calling not only for the resumption of basic civil services, the rule of law, and the restoration of human rights in Kashmir, but, most importantly, for an internationally mediated political solution for this ongoing crisis. Continue reading Kashmir Scholars Action Group Letter to the UN High Commission for Human Rights on the Situation in Jammu&Kashmir: KSAG →

Government, Law, Media politics, Politics

AFSPA – 50 Years of a Law

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Come September 2008, and the Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA) is now fifty years old in our country. It is a law in force in large parts of the northeast that gives armed forces special powers in a locality declared as ‘disturbed area’. However, while AFSPA is considered necessary by the state and army officials to protect the state against internal disturbances, to uphold the integrity of nation, to fight against terrorism and insurgency, and to protect sensitive border areas, it is being vehemently opposed and discarded by human rights groups, women’s organizations and political groups, as it is seen as facilitating grave human rights abuses, impunity, rape and torture, and silencing of democratic dissent. The Act has long been challenged internally through country-wide campaigns, coalitions, self-immolation, fast until death, and naked protests. It is also regularly referred to internationally, for example in the recently concluded UN Human Rights Councils’ Universal Periodic Country Review or in the previous Human Rights Committee, as an issue of serious concern.

Continue reading AFSPA – 50 Years of a Law →