South Asia Human Rights Journalist Association

By Niha Masih, Joanna Slater andShams Irfan Oct. 1, 2019PARIGAM,: It was near midnight when the soldiers came for Yassin Bhat.  The 25-year-old pulled on some clothes and stepped into the darkness. Nearby, on the main road, he saw dozens of Indian army soldiers, Bhat said. One asked him what he thought about India’s move the day before to revoke Kashmir’s autonomy. Terrified, Bhat replied that it was a good step.  The officer told him not to lie, Bhat recalled, and ordered him to take off his clothes in the middle of the road.
 Then, he said, the abuse began. Several soldiers held him down while others used thick cables to whip his back and legs. The soldiers then placed on his chest and genitals electrical wires connected to a battery. He remembers being immobilized as the current surged through his body.
 

New Delhi, September 25, 2019: Leaders of Indian women’s organisations National Federation of Indian Women’s (NFIW)who visited occupied Kashmir earlier this month released a fact-finding report, detailing appalling conditions in the Muslim-majority valley. The five women leaders — including Dr Syeda Hameed of the Muslim Women’s Forum, Pragatisheel Mahila Samiti's Poonam Kaushik, and Annie Raja, Kawaljeet Kaur, and Pankhuri Zaheer from the National Federation of Indian Women's (NFIW) — visited occupied Kashmir from September 17-21, 2019. 
Speaking at the Delhi Press Club, the five brave women shared their experiences and observations with the media and concerned citizens after visiting Kashmir under lockdown for the past 51 days. “When we reached there, it was like walking into a cloud of depression,” Dr Syeda Hameed and Annie Raja explained, terming their findings an eyewitness account. “By many verified accounts, we are talking about almost 13,000 young people having disappeared in the past 51 days,” they said, noting that they visited Srinagar and several villages in the districts of Shopian, Pulwama, and Bandipora.The report details the grief of one of the many people the women spoke to and notes that the Indian Army “pounces on young boys; it seems they hate their very sight. When fathers go to rescue their children they are made to deposit money, anywhere between 20,000 to 60,000.” 

Washington, September 17, 2019 : The Amnesty International has vowed that it would not be silenced on raising concerns about the situation in occupied Kashmir despite facing intimidation by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi´s government.Amnesty International Secretary-General, Kumi Naidoo, in a media interview in Washington said that the Modi government has made a very big attempt to crush Amnesty in India, stressing, “On the Kashmir question, on various human rights questions in India itself, we are not intimidated”. 
 

Srinagar, September 17,2019:The Indian soldiers came after midnight, Abid Khan says, his hands trembling, one of around two dozen young men in just one part of Kashmir who say they have been tortured by the Indian army.  Sajjad Hyder Khan, a local official in Pinjoora village, told media that he had seen a list of 1,800 people detained by police and troops from Shopian alone. The residents say the troops are committing such inhuman acts with an aim to create a climate of fear in the territory.   Screams of people are often heard from Indian army camps at night, as troops pick up youth from Shopian villages and torture them at their camps ‘to make them an example for other villagers’.

September 17, 2019 (New York) : The Human Rights Watch has urged Indian authorities to release immediately Kashmiris detainees as India is making a mockery of its human rights commitments by denying Kashmiris a voice in their future, jailing political leaders, and suspending basic freedoms. Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch said “India is making a mockery of its human rights commitments by denying Kashmiris a voice in their future, jailing political leaders, and suspending basic freedoms,” Ganguly said. “The government’s heavy-handed measures are only making a bad situation worse.”  

 
Dawn.com August 30, 2019 :People in occupied Kashmir have accused Indian security forces of carrying out beatings and torture in the wake of the government's decision to strip the region of its autonomy, BBC News reported on Thursday.The BBC heard from several villagers who said they were beaten with sticks and cables, and given electric shocks.
The author of the article, journalist Sameer Hashmi, wrote that residents in several villages showed him injuries. The BBC, however, was not able to verify the allegations with officials.

Srinagar, July 14: Indian police arrested over a dozen youth in Baramulla , Islamabad  and Kulgam districts. The Personnel Security Officer (PSO) of National Conference leader Syed Tawqeer Shah was killed in an attack in Islamabad district while three persons were injured in separate blasts in Kashmir valley. The police arrested seven youth, Aadil Ahmed War, Shahnawaz Ahmed War, Zahoor Ahmed War, Tariq Ahmed War, Irfan Ahmed Malik, Irshad Ahmed Malik and Tawheed Ahmed Lone, during house raids in Sopore and Rafiabad areas of Baramulla district. The police arrested three other youth, Amir, Qaisar and Irfan during house raids in Islamabad town. At least five youth were detained during the nocturnal raids in Zazripora area of South Kashmir’s Kulgam district. Locals saidd that forces raided the locality on late Friday night and detained at least five youth from their respective houses.

July 13, 2019   Srinagar: Normal life was crippled in the Kashmir valley due to general strike called by pro-freedom groups as on this day in 1931, twenty-two Kashmiris were killed in firing by  Dorga forces during Dogra rule outside the Central Jail, Srinagar.

“LET’S TALK ABOUT KASHMIR! LET’S GET PAKISTAN AND INDIA TO TALK, LET’S FIND A SOLUTION! WE MUST START THE DIALOGUE WHICH SHOULD BRING PEACE TO THE REGION!” - “OUTSTANDING EXIHIBITION” – KASHMIR: CHAMPIONS OF PEACE AT THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Brussels; 12 July 2019: An outstanding Exhibition entitled “Kashmir: Champions of Peace” was  organised at the European Parliament (EP) hosted by MEP Klaus Buchner, MEP Julie Ward and  MEP Phil Bennion in association with Organisation of Kashmir Coalition (OKC). The guest of Honour, at the Exhibition, was Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, Chairman Pakistan Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
 

Srinagar, May 30, 2019:  Shakeel Ahmad Ahangar, husband of Neelofar and brother of Aasiya of Shopian, has said that he has now completely lost faith in all institutions of India and the Jammu and Kashmir and demanded a probe by an independent international agency into the Shopian incident  but the unrelenting struggle for justice by Shakeel Ahmed Ahangar continues.