Nature of Human Rights Violations in Jammu and Kashmir

Abstract

Kashmir is a key dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947. Each country claims Kashmir as a part of its territory. Since 1989, Kashmiri people took the violent way against India by supporting the merger of the state with Pakistan. To control the violent nature of the Kashmiri’s, more than 700,000 troops were deployed by India in the state. Most of the people stipulated that the accession to India was to be ratified by plebiscite. All this resulted grave human rights violations in the state. There have been repeated cases of violation of the Geneva Convention in the state. Indian security forces have consistently violated the humanitarian law and not often comply with its provisions regarding treatment of prisoners of war. They are involved in thousands of rape cases and custodial killings. In the eyes of India, Kashmiri people are terrorists and have even extended shoot-at-sight powers to its security forces. The Terrorist and Disruptive Act (TADA), Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, National Security Act, Armed Forces Special Powers Act and Prevention of Terrorist Act (POTA) are in violation of the International humanitarian law. The total killings in the state are recorded as more than 90000, Custodial killings are almost 7000 and rape cases are recorded as more than10000. The terrorism in the state increased the number of orphans. As many as 100000 children became orphans during the violence. The terrorists are involved in numerous human rights violations in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Various Human Rights Organizations are working such as Amnesty Organization, Human Rights Watch, and Kashmir Quarterly to identify the human rights violations in the state.