South Asia Human Rights Journalist Association

Srinagar, January 08, 2017: Riyaz Ahmad Butt lived a comfortable life in the multi-storey house he owned in Karimabad village in Pulwama.A fruit grower and trader, he tried to provide the best education to his two teenage sons, Asif and Adil. But for the past four months the only concern he has is for the blinded eyes of both his sons. The right eyes of the siblings were damaged on September 11 when Indian forces fired pellet ammunition and teargas shells towards youth protesting against the ransacking of houses in the village by the forces, Butt said. Asif and Adil were taken to SMHS hospital in Srinagar where doctors operated on their right eyes twice in a couple of weeks.
“Despite undergoing two surgeries, none of them has regained vision. Though doctors told me that one of them will regain 40 percent of vision and the other up to 50 percent, so far there has been no improvement,” the distressed father said in an interview at SMHS hospital.
“It is no more their education but the recovery of their eyesight that I am worried about. I am planning to take them outside for advanced treatment,” Butt said. Asif, a Class 12 student, could not appear in his board exams this year while his elder brother Adil, who is in the first year of graduation, also could not sit in the college examinations.
“Though we can see with our left eyes, we cannot stand any glare. If we look at a book for a few minutes, even by using lenses, it hurts our eyes and brings lots of tears. So I, too, decided not to appear in the exams,” Adil said.
Since last evening, he said, the condition of his eye seems to be deteriorating. “I can’t even distinguish between shades of colours with this eye,” he said.
Asif, sitting next to him, said that it was sad for him to see his classmates sitting in exams while he could not. In the same breath he said he believed in destiny.
“Losing a year can be a detrimental experience for anyone but I believe it was written in our destiny,” he said.
Victims’ kin refuse to accept Rs 500,000 as compensation
Srinagar, January 13 , 2017: the brothers of martyred college lecturer, Shabbir Ahmad Mangoo, and ATM guard, Riyaz Ahmad Shah, have refused to accept the compensation of Rs 500,000 announced by the puppet Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti.
Mehbooba Mufti in the so-called Kashmir Assembly had said that the families of victims would be given Rs 500,000 compensation and Special Investigation Teams (SITs) would probe their killings.
Aijaz Ahmad, the brother of 30-year-old college lecturer, Shabbir Ahmad who was killed by Indian Army in Khrew, told media that the money offered by the authorities was like “rubbing salts on our wounds.”
“The money or job won’t return my brother. The government whose armed forces killed my brother has not done us a favour. Shabbir would have secured a well-placed job because he was pursuing a PhD. The larger question is about the delivery of justice. Since my brother was murdered, not even a single official visited my home. A probe has been ordered, but four months have passed and the person who killed my brother is still on duty,” Aijaz Ahmad said.
Shakeel Ahmad, brother of ATM guard, Riyaz Ahmad Shah, who was killed by Indian police by firing pellets on him while he was returning home in Srinagar’s Chattabal area late at night, said that the authorities had done nothing to punish his killers.
“We don’t need money or job; we want to know about the killers and then about their punishment,” he said.
Handicapped man booked under PSA languishes in jail
Srinagar, January 09, 2017: A 29-year-old disabled man has been booked under the draconian Public Safety Act in Baramulla after he was granted bail by a court in all cases the police had registered against him.
Tanveer’s family contended that his arrest as well as his subsequent detention at police station Baramulla was without any justification.
Tanveer’s wife in her petition before the High Court said, “Thereafter he was implicated in a case (FIR 151/2016 P/s Baramulla. He applied and was granted bail by court but despite serving the bail order to the authorities concerned, he was not released but was implicated in another FIR registered at the police station.”
Tanveer, she said, applied for bail in the second FIR as well as the subsequent cases registered against him by the police. The court ordered his release on bail but on 8 December last year, he was shifted to police station Sheer where he was detained illegally for several days, she said.
“While being in the illegal custody in police station Sheer, he was shifted to District Jail Kupwara to be detained under the PSA on the orders of the district magistrate Baramulla,” she said.
Tanveer’s left leg has been amputated and he walks with the help of crutches. He also suffers from multiple ailments, his wife said.
CRPF turns down query on use of pellet guns in Kashmir
New Delhi, January 09,2017: The Indian  Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has refused to disclose the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for use of pellet guns and quantum of ammunition fired by the force on protesters in Kashmir.
This was said in response to a query filed by a human rights activist Venkatesh Nayak, who had sought to know he SOP for using pellet guns which led to large-scale injuries and blinding during the current uprising in Kashmir valley, and quantum of ammunition used since July 1, 2016 till date.
He also wanted the rank-wise number of CRPF personnel injured while conducting operations since July 1, 2016.
“… this department is not liable to provide any information under the RTI Act, 2005,” the Central Public Information Officer said in reply to the query.
Reacting to the response of the force to his application, Nayak said, “When SOP is kept a secret, how can victim bystanders assess whether the actions taken by the CRPF personnel were excessive or not. How can they make a case for compensation and demand accountability of security personnel who caused them injury for no fault of theirs. news agencies sources