September 2013: The family members of victims of enforced disappearances continue to await the return of their dear ones but their wait seems to be unending.
The wives of the disappeared persons are being denied their share from their husband’s property, as they don’t know whether their husbands are alive or not. Fatwas are being delivered to these half widows whether they should marry again or not or should they have the right to get the share from the property of their disappeared husbands. Their children don’t know if they are orphans or their father’s are still alive.
According to the Association of Parents of Disappeared People (APDP), more than 8,000 people have gone missing in J&K during the last two decades of turmoil. APDP called on the government of India and its authorities in Kashmir to comply with its obligations under international human rights laws.
“The institutional culture of institutional culpability and impunity has resulted in enforced and involuntary disappearance of at least 8,000 persons. This is a crime against humanity. The government of the day is also complicit in this crime against humanity,” Khurram Parvez, Programme Coordinator, J&K Coalition of Civil Society.
“Almost 7,000 unmarked graves have been discovered in five districts so far. But the government is not willing to conduct DNA test of the bodies. Therefore on this day we not only want to show solidarity with victims but also press for justice to these victims,” Khurram added.
On August 30 while International Day of Disappeared Persons was observed throughout the globe, there is not a single memorial for the custodial disappeared persons since 1989 in Kashmir. Many years ago, the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) in Kashmir valley had purchased seven marlas of land near Narbal on the Srinagar-Baramulla highway, for construction of the memorial.
A concrete signboard was erected on the spot. However despite passing of many years, even the plinth for the memorial could not be constructed. “This is unfortunate that despite our collective efforts, the dream to construct memorial for the disappeared is yet to see the light of the day,” said Noor Muhammad Parray a senior citizen of Narbal “We wish that the concerned organization should come forward and allow us to start work and complete the unaccomplished mission. We can construct a library or a darsgah in the memory of disappeared by bearing all expenses for it,” he said. Although prominent global personalities like Arundhati Roy have also many times visited the spot but one should know importance of this place.
“One morning he left home to drop tiffin box at his brother’s shop. But he never returned “said a victim in Srinagar.
“Indian Army shattered my happy family when troopers of 28 Rashtriya Rifles on August 2, 2005 barged into the house and forcibly took her husband Manya Tancha,” said Begum Jan of Dara in Srinagar as tears trickled down her eyes while little daughter Aisha continued to console her mother. The troopers threatened to kill my brother (Syed Ali) if we insisted on seeking whereabouts of my husband,” she said.
In absence of her husband, who was a carpenter by profession and only earning hand of the family, Begum Jan has to do menial jobs to support her family of five children including three daughters.
An old woman, Rahti Begum, said that her son, Mohammed Ramazan Shiekh, did not return after he disappeared in troops’ custody in 1994. She said that it was an afternoon of June 1994 when army vehicles stopped in the middle of Kawoosa, Budgam and cordoned off the area for a search operation. She said that the troops of Gadwal Regiment called her son and started beating him ruthlessly without any reason.
Rahti and her 8 daughters became furious and started crying. However, she pleaded for his release before he was bundled into an armoured vehicle. “I tried to hold him but army men pushed me away from him and started beating me too. My fingers got fractured and I lost my consciousness,” she recalled. She said since then she moved from pillar to post in search of her son but to no avail.
The last time she saw her son was nineteen years back. Though Rahti has lost much of her memory but the scenes of her son’s abduction are still fresh in her mind. Rahti’s husband Abdul Rehman Shiekh couldn’t deal with the situation and died of a cardiac arrest only after two years of Ramzan’s disappearance.
Haleema became a half-widow 12 years ago when her husband, Mushtaq Ahmad Bhat was abducted by gunmen said. “One morning he left home to drop tiffin box at his brother’s shop, but he never returned. He was abducted by masked gunmen and taken to unknown place. For 12 years we have been going from pillar to post but to no avail,” Haleema told dna.
Tragedy struck again for Haleema when her son fell from a tree some years later. “We could not afford Rs25,000 for his surgery and that is why his arm has been permanently dislocated. We have no means of livelihood. My husband was the breadwinner. Now we are living on the support of my parents and villagers,” she added.
Riyaz Ahmad Mir, who has not given up his fight for justice for his father Ghulam Mohammad Mir, a government employee was picked up from his home by the Indian troops 16 years ago. “We have filed a case and Insha Allaha we hope justice will be done,” said Riyaz.
APDPs senior member, Parveena Ahanger searched for her son Javid Ahmad Ahanger (who was 17-years old when he vanished) for two decades in graveyards, Indian army camps, and police stations across Kashmir. “But all in vain. I am sure he lies buried somewhere without the last rites,” the 48-year-old said, as tears rolled down her face.
“Now I am sure that my son and others who disappeared were killed in fake encounters,” Ahanger said. “Give us at least bodies of our loved ones so that we can give them a decent Islamic burial,” whispered Ahanger at a monthly sit-in protest at Partap park in Srinagar on August 30 where dozens of women, young and old, join her carrying pictures of missing relatives was also joined by JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik.
“I want to kiss the remains of my dear son, at least tell me where he lies buried,” cried 75-year-old Saja, whose son disappeared in Kupwara district 11 years ago.
“The expectation is not of justice,” said Syed Abinah Nawaz, a psychiatrist. “She (Ahanger) and other parents want to lay their children into the graves themselves, and once and for all end these days and night of uncertainty.”
“The true fate of the people who have disappeared in this conflict, possibly may never be known,” Ghulam Nabi, the father of 27-year-old Mukhtar Ahmad, a businessman, who vanished after Indian armed forces raided their house in 2000. “Let us pray for them,” Nabi said in a dimly lit room of his house built on the edge of a graveyard in Srinagar as muezzin in the nearby mosque made the call for prayer.
“APDP is in solidarity with all the people, who have been victim of human rights violation committed by Indian agencies whether it be CRPF, BSF, Army, police or renegades. My heart goes out for the people who have been raped, killed or subjugated over the years by different Indian security agencies,” Parveena said.
She demanded that a fair investigation should be conducted in Kunan-Poshpora gang rape case and victims should be given justice.
Holding photograph of her missing son Bakhti Begum of Tragpora Rafiabad demanding whereabouts of Manzoor Ahmad Wani said I want to see my son once before my death kidnapped by Major Bhattacharya of 28 Rashtriya Rifles.
“I want to kiss the remains of my dear son, at least tell me where he lies buried,” cried 75-year-old Saja, whose son disappeared in Kupwara district 11 years ago.
Authorities have consistently denied systematic human rights violations in Kashmir and claimed they probe all such reports and punish the guilty. “The true fate of the people who have disappeared in this conflict, possibly may never be known,” Ghulam Nabi, the father of 27-year-old Mukhtar Ahmad, a businessman, who vanished after Indian paramilitary forces raided their house in 2000. “Let us pray for them,” Nabi said in a dimly lit room of his house built on the edge of a graveyard in Srinagar as muezzin in the nearby mosque made the call for prayer.
Tahira Begum said, “there is an institutional will to ensure impunity that has resulted in no prosecution of the Indian army, paramilitary and police for human rights violations.”? Tahira said enforced disappearances have left behind over 1500 half widows and their children.
In 2008, the European Parliament passed a resolution recognizing presence of unidentified graves, condemned human rights violations in occupied Kashmir and urged legislative reform that would assist investigations and prosecutions of crimes The international community cannot escape the responsibility to the victims of human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir.
Raies Mir a Kashmiri journalist/ hr activist)