South Asia Human Rights Journalist Association

Srinagar, 15 February, 2014 : The Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) seeking whereabouts of missing persons in Jammu and Kashmir  staged a protest against Indian Army's closure of Pathribal fake encounter case. The Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) demanded re-opening of the case and punishment for the guilty.
 The Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) led by Parvena Ahangar carrying banners and placards during their peaceful protest at Press Enclave in Srinagar, today, against Indian military court verdict to close Pathribal fake encounter case termed the Indian army decision as murder of justice and as a mark of protest had wrapped their mouths with pieces of clothes.
"Our demand is that the Pathribal fake encounter case, in which five innocent Kashmiris were killed in 2000, should be re-opened," APDP chairperson Parveena Ahanger said. Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the protest at the Press Colony, she demanded an impartial inquiry into the case. "How can the Army probe the case fairly when its own men are involved in it," Parvena Ahangar said.
Talking to reporters, Ahangar said: army decision has not come as a surprise to the people of Kashmir as generations of Kashmir people have been witness to extra judicial killings, torture, rape, enforced disappearances, molestation, humiliations and other heinous violations at the hands of the Indian soldiers and their collaborators in Kashmir. She said: not a single Indian soldier has so far been convicted for the crimes they committed in Kashmir reflects that the tall claims of justice and reparation made by the Indian state and its collaborators are nothing but a tactics to hood-wink the international community and an attempt to cover-up India’s crime against humanity in Kashmir. “As parents and relatives of the victims of enforced disappearances we are not unfamiliar with the Indian state’s architecture of oppression. Last twenty years of our struggle for justice and liberty is witness to the fact that in Kashmir elaborate oppressive apparatus of Indian State ensures control over every aspect of our lives. The fair and impartial trials, which have historically been the cornerstone of civilized regimes across the globe, are impossible in case of Kashmir.”      
 APDP said Pathribal fake encounter case was very unique as it attracted media attention and was indeed an exception among thousands of incidents of human rights abuses, which never get reported.