South Asia Human Rights Journalist Association

Srinagar, August 30, 2014 :  On International Day of the Disappeared, scores of Kashmir mothers vowed to carry on their struggle for the search of their sons who were subjected to enforced disappearances  by Indian paramilitar forces in custody .The Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons staged a sit-in protest at Pratap Park in Srinagar to mark the International Day of Disappeared Persons, today.Many people including the relatives of thousands of Kashmiris who have been subjected to enforced disappearance by Indian police and troops during the past twenty-four years participated in the sit-in. 
 To mark the day, the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) headed by Parveena Ahangar, had organized a sit-in-protest here in Pratap Park in Lal Chowk. Hundreds of people including the family members of disappeared persons, pro-freedom leaders, students, human rights’ activists, civil society members, artists and common people attended the sit-in.
Parveena Ahangar, whose son was subjected to enforced disappearance in the year 1990, reiterated that she would continue her struggle till ‘justice is not delivered’. “I won’t rest till they don’t tell us about our sons,” she said. 
With every passing international day of disappeared persons the number of the parents of those persons who are missing from past twenty four years in the Kashmir valley is reducing silently.  
There have been as many as ten deaths of the parents of these disappeared persons who are assembled under the forum Association of Parents of Disappeared Person (APDP), since 2009.   
This year, the father of Shabir Hussain Bhat who is missing since 27 April 1996 after 21 Battalion Border Security Forces allegedly took him from the area of Chattibal, Srinagar city died with a hope to see his son’s return.
Ghulam Mohammad Bhat would often come to commemorate the international day of disappeared persons.  “He died on 7 January 2014. But my pledge to take their struggle to the logical end are not going to die,” said Parveena Ahanger who heads the APDP.
Another mother Haseena Begum whose son Syed Anwar Shah was subjected to enforced disappearance by the Indian Security forces on 21 July 2000 died last year.
The APDP leader, Parveena Ahangar, the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Chairman, Muhammad Yasin Malik, other liberation leaders and a large number of students participated in the sit-in.Addressing on the occasion, Perveena Ahangar demanded of the puppet authorities to provide whereabouts of the more than 8,000 Kashmiris, who have been subjected to custodial disappearance by Indian troops and police during the past twenty-five years.
She said that if the disappeared persons were alive, then their relatives should be allowed to meet them and if they had been killed then their graves should be shown to the people.
. The demonstrators carrying pictures of their missing relatives demanded of the puppet authorities to disclose their whereabouts. 
Parveena said: “Haseena Begum  would often miss any sit-on protest. She strived hard along with half widow of his disappeared son struggled for thirteen years to get a glimpse of his son before she passed away on 5 October 2013.” 
According the head APDP, she said, though some of parents of the beloved sons may not present among us on this day. “But remember: there orisons are always with those who stand against the oppressor. We will never break our pledge or rest till India shows us their where about,” she said. 
 Meanwhile, among the parents of disappeared person who died in earlier years includes Haleema Begum of Batamaloo, Wali Mohammad of Baramulla, Mohammad Jamaal Bhat of Kupwara, Zoona Begum of Rajbagh, Misri Begum of Bemina, Abdul Ahad Sofi of Naid Kadal, and Mahtaba Begum of Kupwara.
The chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and senior liberation leader, Muhammad Yasin Malik, along with his party leaders and activists also attended the sit-in to express solidarity with the kin of disappeared persons. 
“They aren’t oppressed, but are brave,” Malik said in his address while referring to the families of the disappeared persons. He hailed Parveena Ahangar and termed her ‘brave woman’. The JKLF chairman slammed world organizations and Indian civil society and accused them of inaction. 
As Parveena and few other elderly women narrated their ordeal, the scene turned emotion with mothers of disappeared youths bursting into tears with “o my son, where are you,” on their lips.
However, they were consoled by other people, whose sons were also subjected to enforced disappearance. “Have patience, we braved the situation till this moment and we will have to face the situation in future as well. Our struggle has not ended,” a man in his sixties told Bhakti, while wiping her tears.  Parveena herself was seen consoling many women.
 Khwaja Aapa, whose son was also among the disappeared persons, fainted and fell unconscious. “She has low blood pressure,” a women, who was next to her, said. A group of people including scribes lifted her and was kept under the shade of a tree. The lady woke up after water was sprinkled on her face.
 “If they will return me my son’s bones, I will accept that too because I need him,” Bakhti, whose son was allegedly picked and subjected to enforced disappearance by Indian army’s 28 Rashtriya Rifles in 2001 at Rafiabad,Baramulla district told media men. “I fought my case in local Human Rights Commission sponsored by the authorities but I achieved nothing. After five years, they expressed helplessness and offered me relief but I rejected,” she said. 
For Bhakti, she says, the future is dark. “I don’t know what would happen. There seems to be complete dark,” she says. 
The artists, who also attended the sit-in, painted various paintings reflecting the pain of disappeared persons’ kin. The presentation of the play ‘Be chus Shahid’ or I am the witness was also shown on the occasion. 
The family members whose loved ones disappeared allegedly at the hands of  Indian armed forces and security agencies reiterated that they will continue their struggle till administration and athorities did not issue a statement about the whereabouts of their missing members.
A resident form North Kashmir’s Katianwali area of Baramulla district Bashir Ahmad Chichi told media men that his brother Altaf Ahmed was on his way back from his routine work from fields when he was taken away by some unidentified gunmen. He said, “Since November 16, 2002 his family has been roaming from pillar to post in search of Altaf but all in vain.
An elderly woman from Kawoosa village of Budgam district said that her son Muhammad Ramzan Sheikh was a 25-year-old young lad in 1992 when he was  taken away by Indian armed forces. “He was engrossed in his work; we were busy in our paddy fields,” she said while wiping her tears.
“I will die in peace after having a glimpse of my beloved son,” she said.
 Parveena Ahanger said the victims have left no stone unturned to know the whereabouts of disappeared but to no avail.
“Our search from pillar to post is turning futile.” Parveena said adding, “We don’t get any clue of our dear ones doesn’t mean we would give up. No way till our last breath.”
She said that several movements across the globe have been raising their voice for the victims of the enforced disappearances in the world. Like us many families have organized themselves in Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand.
“I would like to remind ourselves that the enforced disappearance in Kashmir cuts across regions and religions. Besides Kashmiri Muslims, the Sikh minority has not remained untouched from the state terror. In the year 1994 five foreign tourists who were picked up from the forests of Phalgham also became victims of enforced disappearances. Despite evidence State has failed to give details of their whereabouts to their families,” she said.