Srinagar, April 21 2012: The international human rights watchdog, Amnesty International has reiterated its call to repeal black laws, Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and Public Safety Act (PSA) from Jammu and Kashmir.
The AI team comprising Saptarshi Mandal and Sahana Basavapatna talking to a local news agency KNS on Saturday in Srinagar said, “Our idea to come here was to build on the work that Amnesty International had already done in 2010. Our focus was on the PSA and the amendments to the Act and the implications that it would have in the state, whether they actually make any difference or whether they were fair,”
Observing that legal process is ‘very slow’ in Jammu and Kashmir, Amnesty International said that there is a problem with the legal system in the State. “During our interactions with cross section of people, we found that the legal process where people really took up the legal process and went to courts, is very slow. In many cases, lodging FIR has taken a lot of time. Investigations have not been completed despite cases been filed 10 years back or much earlier,” Amnesty team members said.
The team is on a 10 day visit to Valley to take first-hand account of the latest developments in respect of human rights situation in occupied Kashmir with special ‘focus’ on Public Safety Act and AFSPA.
“Our position on the AFSPA remains unchanged,” the Amnesty officials said. “And we are also pressing for amendments to the Public Safety Act.”
“Our idea to come here was to build on the work that Amnesty had already done in 2010 and when it released the report in 2011 on ‘lawless law’. Our focus was on PSA and the amendments to the Act and its implications on the State,” they said.
Referring to AFSPA, the Amnesty team said, “There are no conclusions that we can share with anybody as yet but there will certainly be an outcome. It will come in due course of time when research paper is complete.”
Asked about the AI’s call to repeal PSA and AFSPA, the members said, “We stand by what Amnesty International had said about the abrogation of PSA and AFSPA.”
Regarding their engagements in the valley during last ten days, they said they met cross section of people, mostly families, lawyers and human rights groups. “We also met IGP Kashmir,” they said. He appealed all the intending yatris to strictly adhere to the announced Yatra schedule and should not venture on the arduous track except on the date and by the route for which they possess a Yatra Permit.
The two-member team of the global human rights watchdog on a fact-finding mission over the issues of enforced disappearances and unmarked graves also said that several recommendations by the State Human Rights Commission were not being implemented.
“We are also studying the impact of laws like the AFSPA, and surveying progress of various kinds of cases,” they said. The team said that violence- affected families were the primary focus of their current visit. “We have met 25 such families over the past 10 days, including those of Wamiq Farooq and Zahid Farooq,” they said.
The team, however, said that they had not been able to meet the family of Tufail Mattoo. They said they had met liberation leaders, human rights activists, lawyers, and had also had a meeting with the inspector general of the police (IGP) for Kashmir, SM Sahay. The team expressed serious concern over the discovery of unmarked graves in Kashmir.
“Not only are there delays in registering an FIR, but the investigations show no sign of ending once started,” they said. “During our meetings with families, we have found that many cases have been dragging on for the past 10 years, but the investigations have not been completed even today, as a result justice eludes the affected families,” he said.
“Several recommendations made by the SHRC in cases of custodial killings have not been implemented, and many families approaching the government for compensation and relief have not been entertained, though some have been provided recompense and government jobs under the relevant SRO,” they said. “The SHRC has been doing some good work, but it has itself complained that many of its recommendations are not being carried out,” they said.
The Amnesty team said they looked at the contentious AFSPA but refused to divulge anything further regarding it. “There are no conclusions that we can share with anybody as yet but there will certainly be an outcome. It will come in due course of time when research paper is complete.” Asked about the amnesty international’s call for abrogation of PSA and AFSPA, the members said, “We stand by what Amnesty International had said about the abrogation of PSA and AFSPA.”
Regarding their engagements in the valley during last 10 days, the amnesty members said, “We met a cross section of people, mostly families, lawyers and human rights groups. We met only IG Kashmir and we have not met anyone else in administration.”
The members refused to comment on the issue of mass graves in the state. “We have not been able to talk to lot of people on mass graves but we do have the report and are yet to go through the information. But we don’t want to comment on it.”