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

[Pawan Durani]

Shivam ,

During the days os mass insurgencies , encounters at border discrict were
very common . it ususally happened when the terrorists used to sneak into
India in large groups.

In each encounter , scores of people used to die .Many bodies would remain
unidentified and police but usual used to bury them.

If today , a different story is eing made of those graves , the rest of
world should be made aware of the past instead of sensationalising the issue
to create more distrust and hate.

Regards

Pawan



On 7/12/08, Shivam Vij शिवम् विज् <mail at shivamvij.com> wrote:
>
> Dear Khurram,
>
> Thanks for posting this. The Delhi media's conspiracy of silence
> around human rights violations in Kashmir, as also the intimidation of
> those like you who seek to defend human rights, sadly seems reflected
> on this list - this list seems to endlessly list the sentiments of
> some and is silent on an article like this.
>
> best
> shivam
>
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Jul 10, 2008 at 2:10 PM, Khurram Parvez <khurramparvez at yahoo.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > 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.)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _________________________________________
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>
> --
> /National Highway/ http://shivamvij.com/
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