ISLAMABAD, Aug 30 (APP): Thousands of Kashmiris have been subjected to enforced disappearance during custody by Indian forces’ personnel over the last 37 years in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) ), leaving behind a trail of broken families, fear, and deep scars on Kashmiri society.
On the occasion of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances on Saturday, the IIOJK, being the most militarized zone in the world, has witnessed relentless killings, enforced disappearances, torture, rape and other brutalities by the Indian troops and police personnel since 1989. At least 8,000 innocent civilians have vanished after being picked up by Indian troops, police and paramilitary personnel.
The report noted that Kashmiri youth have been the primary target of over one million Indian troops deployed in the occupied territory. The intensified crackdowns, raids and rising incidents of extra-judicial, custodial and fake encounter killings in IIOJK form part of the extremist anti-Muslim and anti-Kashmir agenda of the Hindutva-inspired BJP-RSS combine in India.
The report revealed that families of the victims of the enforced disappearances have been left in a perpetual state of anguish, moving from pillar to post to trace their loved ones but to no avail. Also, the families of the disappeared people suffer economically because in most cases, the sole breadwinners were targeted. The phenomenon has given rise to a new class of people called half-widows and half-orphans, terms now tragically common in occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
The report highlighted that this cruel practice serves not only to silence dissent but also to create an atmosphere of pervasive fear. It said that enforced disappearances have been carried out by all branches of India’s so-called security apparatus comprising army, paramilitary, special task forces, and counter-insurgents working under the control and direction of the armed forces. The impunity provided to these all forces operate under the cover of draconian laws like Disturbed Areas Act and Armed Forces Special Powers Act. These black laws provide blanket impunity to perpetrators, effectively granting them a license to kill, terrorize, arrest, harass and silence the people and besiege, snatch and ransack their property without being questioned.
Family members of victims talking to the media persons said that their dear ones were taken away from their homes, streets, and workplaces by by occupational forces, never to return. They were killed in custody or during brutal interrogation sessions.
The Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) in Srinagar on the occasion reiterated its demand that India must fulfill its obligations under international human rights laws. The BJP regime, however, has even banned the peaceful sit-ins of the parents and the relatives of these disappeared persons in Srinagar while the occupation authorities have failed to provide them information about the whereabouts of the victims. By denying these families the right to protest or seek justice, their grief has been further compounded.
Meanwhile, spokesman of All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) Abdul Rashid Minhas in a statement in Srinagar, expressed solidarity with the families of the enforced disappeared persons. He appealed to the international community to urgently intervene in tracing the whereabouts of thousands of Kashmiris subjected to custodial disappearance.
Kashmir watchers stress that enforced disappearances in IIOJK remain one of the darkest chapters of modern history, an ongoing crime against humanity that continues under the shadow of occupation.