US rights group slams Indian army

Srinagar: The US Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused the Indian armed forces in Jammu and Kashmir of human rights violations.

In its 156-page report released on Tuesday, the HRW said both military and the militants were to blame for the deteriorating situation in the state.

It said the Indian Army and paramilitary forces routinely picked up Kashmiri youth by branding them militants.

The Army has been accused of custodial killings, rapes and harassing local youth.

Rights groups have alleged that thousands of people in the state have disappeared after being arrested for-often unproven-links with militants.

Indian authorities nearly always deny the charges saying they investigate all such reports and punish those found guilty, the HRW said.

"The state services operate with impunity. One of the most disappointing and shocking fact that comes up in this report is that there is no reported case of a public prosecution, sentencing, conviction, jailing of a member of the security services for human rights abuse in Kashmir," said Brad Adams, HRW's executive director for Asia, while releasing the report.

It however, said that normalcy was slowly returning to the terror-torn state. The ground situation was getting better in Kashmir and public support for the rebels was dwindling. It however, warned against complacency.

Though the overall violence levels have declined in the region, since India and Pakistan began a peace process nearly three years ago, but on an average, at least half a dozen people die in daily gun battles, shooting incidents and occasional bomb attacks.

"There is a sense on the ground that things are better than they were many years ago but better does not mean that that's good enough. That many deaths, dozens disappearances per year does not constitute a successful resolution of the human rights situation," Adams said.

Kashmir lies at the heart of decades old enmity between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan who have fought two out of their three wars and one conflict over Kashmir.

New Delhi accuses Islamabad of arming and training a separatist revolt in the region where more than 45,000 people have been killed since the rebellion began 1989.

The HRW's report coincided with a massive hunger strike organised by separatist leader Yasin Malik, whose Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) has been one of the most fierce human rights campaigners.

Malik urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to honour an earlier pledge to check the military authorities in the region.

"I appeal to the Prime Minister keep his promise. I want that the head of a nation who heads the world's biggest democracy to see how his own soldiers are honouring his own commitment. I urge him to take a lead and help end human rights abuses on this land," he said.

Singh, who had a roundtable meeting with local political leaders in May this year had assured them on "zero tolerance" for human rights abuses' by security forces in Jammu and Kashmir.

Singh had instructed security forces to be 'more mindful' of human rights and be 'sensitive' to the liberties and self-respect of ordinary people.