A Forum consisting of noted names in the sphere of academic and human rights, like Justice Madan Lokur, Radha Kumar, Nirupama Rao, Shantha Sinha, Air Vice-Marshal Kapil Kak, and Ramachandra Guha, amongst others, submitted their report on the state of human rights in Kashmir since the abrogation.
The report covers the situation in Kashmir from August 2020 to January 2021, the Quint reported.
The report looks at various parameters like civilian security, the security of women and children, access to healthcare, industry and employment and the state of the media, and the effect of the COVID-19 lockdown on them.
The key observations of the report were :
Both civilians and security forces fatalities have increased since last year, it states, as have IED blasts, grenade attacks, and cross-border shelling.”Adding to the overall fallout from recurring lockdowns, violations of civil, political, and fundamental rights of civilians in the name of ‘security’ or national interest continued between August 2020-January 2021,” said the report.
“Arrests and detentions of activists and politicians continued; so did the destruction of homes and civilian injuries in militant attacks and cross-border shelling. Consecutive internet restriction orders were released by the Jammu Kashmir home department, most of them offering dubious ‘justifications’, such as unsubstantiated fears of heightened militancy during the DDC elections,” it added.
For women, too, cases of atrocities have climbed.
Responses to a questionnaire by the Forum by Mehram Women’s Cell, Kashmir, a non-governmental organization working on gender-based violence in the Kashmir valley, showed a significant rise in domestic violence.
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Domestic violence was noted to have surged, “primarily because of the proximity of perpetrators and victims” during the lockdown and due to unemployment. There have been allegations of sexual misconduct and harassment by government and army officials in the past few months.
Restrictions on movement further compounded the problem. “Compounded by the coronavirus pandemic, overburdened hospitals and medical staff, and overwhelming delay in completing much-needed health centers, further deteriorated the state of Kashmiri citizens’ health. Unavailability of running water and safe drinking water has made life extremely difficult for residents, forcing them to consume unsafe nallah water, prompting serious health complications.”
Report by Forum for Human Rights In Jammu Kashmir
The report also talks about a “fear of intimidation” amongst the press in Kashmir. The report stated that after the release of the new media policy in May 2020, the past six months saw a systemic use of psychological scare tactics on media professionals through physical assault, summons and harassment under various charges, administrative seizure of assets during raids, sealing of newspaper offices, illegal detentions, withdrawing advertising and militant hit-lists of journalists declared to be on the government’s payroll.
Moreover, the implementation of the new media policy has led to the dis-empanelment of about 20 media outlets in the region.