[Reader-list] Disquiet Ghosts: Mass graves in Indian Kashmir

[Khurram Parvez]

A PDF of the article with photos can be found on the Tribunal website at:

http://kashmirprocess.org/news/20080708_MassGravesKashmirChatterji.pdf



Disquiet Ghosts: Mass graves in Indian Kashmir

Etala'at, Daily Newspaper, Srinagar, 09 July 2008

http://etalaat.com/english/Dimensions/1531.html





Dirt, rubble, thick grass, hillside and flatland, crowded with graves.
Signifiers of military and paramilitary terror, masked from the world.
Constructed by institutions of state to conceal massacre. Placed next
to homes, fields, schools, an army practise range. Unknown, unmarked.
Over 940 graves in a segment of Baramulla district alone. Some
containing more than one cadaver. Dug by locals, coerced by the police,
on village land. Bodies dragged through the night, some tortured,
burnt, desecrated. Circulating mythology claims these graves uniformly
house 'foreign militants'. Exhumation and identification have not
occurred in most cases. When undertaken, in sizable instances, records
prove the dead to be local people, ordinary citizens, killed in fake
encounters. In instances where bodies have been identified as local,
non-militant and militant, it demystifies state rhetoric that rumours
these persons to be 'foreign militants', propagating misrepresentation
that the demand for self-determination is prevailingly external.
Mourned, cared for, by locals, as 'farz'/duty, as part of an
obligation, stated repeatedly, to 'azadi'. 'Azadi'/freedom to determine
self and future.



On 18 and 20 June, the International People's Tribunal on Human Rights
and Justice in Indian-administered Kashmir ('Tribunal', convened in
April 2008, www.kashmirprocess.org) visited Baramulla and Kupwara
district to conduct ongoing fact-finding and verification related to
mass graves at the behest of local communities. The team comprised of
Tribunal Conveners Advocate Parvez Imroz and myself, a staff member,
and camera crew. 



On 18 June, we visited Raja Mohalla in Uri, Baramulla district, 110
kilometres from Srinagar, where 22 graves were constructed between
1996-1997. Then to Quazipora, where 13 bodies were stated as buried in
seven graves in 1991. Then we travelled to Chehal, Bimyar village, Uri,
holding 235 graves. We re-met Atta Mohammad, gravedigger and caretaker
at Chehal, who testified that these bodies, brought by the police,
primarily after dark, were buried between 2002-2006. Atta Mohammad said
that the bodies appear in his nightmares, each in graphic, gruesome
detail. Terrorised by the task forced upon him, his nights are bereft
of sleep. Then we travelled to Mir Mohalla, Kichama, Sheeri, to the
main graveyard with 105 graves, stated to hold about 225-250 bodies,
buried between 1994-2003, and a smaller graveyard, with nine graves,
adjacent to a sign proclaiming it a 'Model Village'.



On 20 June, we visited the northern district of Kupwara. On the way we
witnessed army convoys, including one of 21+ vehicles. Created in 1979
through the forking of Baramulla district, approximately 5,000 feet
above sea level, Kupwara borders the Line-of-Control to the north and
west. Between Shamsbari and Pirpanchal mountain ranges, it is one of
the most heavily militarised zones, about 95 kilometres from Srinagar.
Kupwara houses six army camps, as military and paramilitary forces
occupy significant land. Seven interrogation centres have been
operational with police stations functioning as additional
interrogation cells. In Hundwara town, a watchtower surveils and
regulates movement. 



In Kupwara, we visited Trehgam village, holding 85-100 graves, 24 of
which are identified, and spoke with community members. Trehgam was
home to Maqbool Bhat (b. 1938), founding figure of the Jammu Kashmir
National Liberation Front. Acknowledged as Shaheed-e-Kashmir, Bhat is
labelled a 'terrorist' by certain segments of India. He sought to unite
the territories of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir into
a secular, sovereign, democratic state. Bhat was sentenced to death by
the Supreme Court of India and hanged in Tihar jail in New Delhi on 11
February 1984. Maqbool Bhat's nephew, Parvaiz Ahmad Bhat, reminded us
that Habibullah Bhat, Bhat's brother, was the first case of enforced
disappearance before 1989.



After Trehgam, we reached Regipora around 3 pm and stopped for lunch.
There, two persons introduced themselves as Special Branch Kashmir
(SBK) and Counter Intelligence Kashmir (CIK) personnel, and questioned
the Tribunal staff member about our visit. After responding, we
proceeded to the 'martyrs' graveyard' holding 258 graves, constructed
in 1995. This burial ground is meticulously ordered, each grave
numbered. The body of a 20-25 year old youth was buried in the first
week of June, reportedly killed in an encounter in Bamhama village.



We stopped at a roadside tea stall to speak with local people about the
graves. Four intelligence personnel questioned us, asking we disclose
information about those we had visited. Soon, four additional SBK and
CIK personnel joined the questioning. Other intelligence personnel made
phone calls. By then, about 12 intelligence personnel gathered.
Following further questioning we proceeded toward Srinagar. A car
followed at a distance. 



We detoured to Sadipora, Kandi, where locals stated that around 20
bodies were buried. The graveyard, overrun with wild flowers, is part
of a larger ground used during festivals, including Id. Two of four
bodies, killed in a fake encounter on 29 April 2007, were exhumed,
identified as locals, contrary to police records stating them to be
'Pakistani terrorists'. Saidipora holds Riyaz Ahmad Bhat's grave,
killed in the encounter, age 19. Police records, per the First
Information Report, declared him a 'Pakistani terrorist'. Riyaz Bhat
was identified by Javeed Ahmed, his brother, as a resident of
Kalashpora, Srinagar, based on police photographs from the time of
death. Ahmed travelled with the Tribunal to take us to his brother's
grave. On his knees Javeed attempted to clear the thick brush. Later,
in Srinagar, he testified that Bhat had never been involved in
militancy. Javeed spoke of grieving, of imprisonment and beatings at
the police station. He asked how he could have saved his brother from
death.



After Sadiapora, we were stopped at Shangargund, Sopore, at about 6.40
pm, by three persons in civilian clothing. They forcibly boarded the
car. We were ordered to the Sopore Police Station. There we were asked
to detail our identity, employment, the purpose of the visit, and to
hand over tapes which, the police alleged, contained 'dangerous' and
'objectionable' material. We stated that the Tribunal, a public
process, was undertaking its work peaceably, lawfully, with informed
consent, and that we had not visited restricted areas. We stated that
the police had no lawful reason to seize the tapes. We were detained
for 16 minutes. After several calls to senior police persons, we were
released. A red Indica car followed us to Sangrama. At Srinagar,
Intelligence personnel were stationed at my hotel. On 21 June, I was
followed from the hotel to the Tribunal's office in Lal Chowk, where
about 8 personnel were stationed the entire day questioning anyone who
entered or left the office.



My mother, residing in Calcutta, received a query regarding my
whereabouts from the District Magistrate's Office. I was followed to
the Srinagar airport on 22 June, and questioned, asked if I possessed
dual citizenship. I do not. I am a citizen of India and a permanent
resident of the United States. On 24 June, I arrived in Bhubaneswar to
submit a statement to the Commission of Inquiry on the Kandhamal
violence against Christians in 2007 in Orissa. There too, Central
Intelligence officials persistently inquired after me. In April, after
announcing the Tribunal, I was stopped and harassed at Immigration
while leaving India for the United States, and again on my re-entry in
June. 



The targeting of the Tribunal has not abated since the Amarnath issue
erupted around 23 June. The volatile proposal to transfer 800 kanals of
land to the Shrine Board, revoked on 01 July, was supported by the
Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and Hindu militant Shiv Sena.
Despite the Sena's recent call to Hindus to form suicide squads, it
faces no sanctions from the state. Kashmiris of diverse ethnicities and
religions dissented the Amarnath land transfer. Community leaders in
Kashmir explained that their stance against the proposal is not in
dissent to Hindu pilgrims, but a repressive state. During the Amarnath
land transfer protests, civil disobedience paralleled that of 1989,
amid severe repression. On 30 June, in curfew-like conditions, we met
with two families in Srinagar who narrated that the police had shot
dead their sons. At one place, in the old city, while the men took the
body for burial late at night, the police returned and destroyed
property and molested women.



On 30 June, at about 10:10 pm, Parvez Imroz and his family were
attacked at home by state forces, who fired three shots and hurled a
grenade while exiting when family and community interrupted their
attempts. Neighbours reported seeing one large armoured vehicle and two
Gypsy cars, and men in CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) and SOG
(Special Operations Group) uniforms. This murder attempt is an
escalation in the forms of state-led intimidation and targeting aimed
at Advocate Imroz. It is an attempt to make the Tribunal vulnerable and
instil fear in us in an attempt to stop this process.



On 01 July, we met at Khurram Parvez's home before addressing a press
conference. Outside, jeeps with plainclothes men continued their
observation, accompanied by a jeep with armed men in uniform. Later,
Advocate Imroz, Khurram Parvez, Advocate Mihir Desai, and I went to the
police station to lodge a First Information Report. We were not
permitted to do so. For security reasons, Parvez Imroz is not staying
at home. Khurram Parvez remains under surveillance. I must allow for
distance before revisiting the graves. On 04 July, sitting on a plane
at Delhi International Airport, waiting to take-off, I received a phone
call on my India mobile, caller 'Unknown': "Madam, we know you're
leaving. Think wisely before coming back". 



Orders to unnerve the leadership of the International Tribunal by the
Government of India's intelligence and security administration appear
to be generated at the highest levels. The general policy of
surveillance should not be used as a pretext to create obstacles for
our work. As India argues for a seat on the United Nations Security
Council, the Government of India, as 'Frontline Defenders' stated in
their recent alert supporting the Tribunal, must adhere to its own
repeated commitment to peace in Kashmir and international conventions
and laws. It must uphold democratic governance and safeguard human
rights. 



Advocate Imroz, Khurram Parvez, other members of the Tribunal team,
have long experienced injustices for their extraordinary work as human
rights defenders. A lauded human rights lawyer, Parvez Imroz has
survived two, now three, assassination attempts, the first from
militants. Since 2005, his passport has been denied. Khurram Parvez
lost his leg in a landmine incident. Gautam Navlakha and Zahir-Ud-Din
have been intimidated and threatened, as has Mihir Desai, in their
larger work. It is noteworthy that the Government of India is adding
intimidation to the death and rape threats delivered me by Hindu
extremists for human rights work. 



The work of the Tribunal is
an act of conscience and accountability, fraught with the charge of
complex and violent histories. Its mandate, in documenting Kashmir's
present, is to chronicle the fabric of militarisation, status of human
rights, and legal, political, militaristic 'states of exception'. The
Tribunal's work will continue through the coming months. We have
received extensive solidarity from civil society; victims/survivors, at
street corners, from villagers, ordinary citizens, those committed to
justice. Each life in Kashmir has a story to tell. The subjugation of
civil society has produced magnificent ethical resistance. The state
cannot combat every individual. 



Nearly two decades of genocidal violence record 70,000+ dead, 8,000+
disappeared, 60,000+ tortured, 50,000+ orphaned, incalculable
sexualised and gendered violence, a very high rate of people with
suicidal behaviours; hundreds of thousands displaced; violations of
promises, laws, conventions, agreements, treaties; mass graves; mile
upon mile of barbed wire; fear, suppression of varied demands for
participation to determine Kashmir's future, spirals of violence,
protracted silence. Last year, Kashmir's only hospital with services
for mental health received 68,000 patients. Profound social, economic,
and psychological consequences, and an intense isolation have impacted
private, public, and everyday life. It has generated brutal resistance
on the part of groups that have engaged in violent militancy.
Repressions of struggles for self-determination and international
policies/politics have yielded severe consequences, creating a juncture
at which the failure of governance intersects with a culture of grief. 



Torture survivors, non-militants and former militants, that I met with
testified to the sadism of the forces. Reportedly, a man, hung upside
down, had petrol injected through his anus. Water-boarding, mutilation,
rape of women, children, and men, starvation, psychological torture.
Brutalised, 'healed', to be brutalised again. An eagle tattoo on the
arm of a man was reportedly identified by an army officer as a symbol
of Pakistan-held Azad Kashmir, even as the man clarified the tattoo was
from his childhood. The skin containing it was burned. The officer, the
man stated, said: "When you look at this, think of azadi". A mother,
reportedly asked to watch her daughter's rape by army personnel,
pleaded for her release. They refused. She pleaded that she could not
watch, asking to be sent out of the room or be killed. We were told
that the soldier pointed a gun to her forehead, stating he would grant
her wish, and shot her before they proceeded to rape the daughter. We
also spoke with persons violated by militants. One man stated that
people's experiences with the reprehensible atrocities of militancy do
not imply the abdication of their desire for self-determination. This,
he stated, is a mistake the state makes, conflating militancy with the
intent for self-determination. He clarified that neither is
self-determination an indication of allegiance to Pakistan, largely to
the contrary.



The continuing and daunting presence of military and paramilitary
forces, increased and sophisticated surveillance, merges with pervasive
and immense suffering and anger of people in villages, towns, and
cities across Kashmir. Parallel to the presence of 500,000 troops and
commitment to nuclearisation, official figures state that there are
about 450 militants in Kashmir and that demilitarisation is underway.
In March 2007, three government committees on demilitarisation resolved
that the 'low intensity war continues', placing in limbo troop
reduction and the repealment of draconian laws -- the Armed Forces
Special Powers Act, 1958, imposed in Jammu and Kashmir in December
1990, and the Disturbed Areas Act, 1976, enacted in 1992. Local
realities reflect that these laws and the military seek to control the
general population with impunity.



Kashmir is increasingly defined as a 'post-conflict' zone.
'Post-conflict' is not the propagation of tourism toward an overt
display of nationalism. Post-conflict is a space in which to heal,
reflect, and enable civil society participation in determining peace
and justice. The graves speak to those that listen. Those haunted by
history are called to remember.



(Dr.
Angana Chatterji is associate professor of Social and Cultural
Anthropology at the California Institute of Integral Studies and
co-convener of the International People's Tribunal in Kashmir.)