NEW DELHI: The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and the Citizens For Democracy (CFD) have alleged that there are several anomalies in the Center’s policy on Jammu and Kashmir.
The two human rights groups Said there was an increasing sense of alienation among most people in the State of Jammu and Kashmur. A political vacuum has ensured in the nonfunctioning of traditional parties in the state, the document observes, commenting on the situation in the Valley. The report has been prepared by a five member delegation culled from the two NGOs.
The many instances of violation of human rights in the State have caused “a feeling of businessmen and despair” in the minds of the people there, the report says. Consequently, the general sentiment among citizens of the State is undoubtedly in favor of “azadi” (froedom), says the report, adding that everyone, however, is neither as committed nor as active. Moreover, the report says the last two years have witnessed no downward trend in the number of disappearances and custodial deaths in the State “People arc interrogated and subjected to untold torture which sometimes leads {to injuries, incapacity of one kind or the other, and in quite a few cases, death,” the report states.
Accusing the High Court of unsatisfactory performance, it says “In several cases it appears that the court orders have not been honored,”
The report Claims the five member team came across certain people who made serious allegations of smuggling and sale of weapons in the State in the BSF, “It is mainly the BSF and partly the Army which are to be blamed,” the report charges. “The basic problem in Kashmir is once of winning back the allegiance of a people who have been alienated. Dealing with subversion from within and without is a subsidiary problem. Unfortunately, more effort has been on the subsidiary problem.”
Article extracted from this publication >> August 6, 1993
