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From: *Khurram Parvez* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>>
ASSOCIATION OF PARENTS OF DISAPPEARED PERSONS
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_Press Release_
/ /*/28^th April 2008/*
This is exactly one month after we released a report of a fact finding
mission on nameless graves and mass graves in Uri area titled 'Facts
Under Ground' which evoked response from the media, human rights groups,
politicians and political formations of various hues, civil society and
people at large.
We want to utilize this occasion to appreciate, thank and
criticize the concerned on their response; and to make requests and
demands for fresh, comprehensive and sustained responses from the stake
holders i.e. the local and international civil society and HR Groups,
Political formations and resistance Groups, local and international
media, lawyers' groups, international humanitarian agencies and people.
First of all we appreciate the local print media for the coverage given
to the report. We urge for a sustained campaign of follow up reporting
to build a more compelling case for urgent international expert and
humanitarian intervention in order to initiate credible measures to
establish the identity of those buried in these graves and seek linkages
with the thousands subjected to Enforced Disappearance by the state
security agencies in Kashmir from 1989 till date. The families of the
disappeared have neither the resources nor the expertise to carry out
either the job of comprehensive reporting or the task of scientific
exhumation and identification of those buried in these nameless graves
and mass graves.
We have received more reports of the existence of mass graves and
nameless graves, some of which has already been reported by a section of
the local press. We expect people and the media to be more proactive in
reporting about the existence of such graves with all the available
detail and local narratives about them. This will bring their existence
into public knowledge and thereby help in safeguarding the grave sites
from tampering. We request the people to take all steps necessary to
safeguard these sites from any kind of interference till such time as we
are able to garner the support and intervention of internationally
credible expert and humanitarian bodies to undertake a thorough exercise
of identifying these bodies. We believe some of those subjected to
enforced disappearance are buried in these graves and the process of
identification, that we are demanding, will provide some relief to the
families whose kin have disappeared, will enable a decent burial of the
victims and contribute to producing the necessary evidence against the
perpetrators thus help in breaking the culture of impunity enjoyed by
the state security agencies. It is the moral and humanitarian duty of
the local people to do whatever is possible to safeguard these sites and
the bounden duty of the local media persons to take extra pains to
unearth these skeletons and ferret out the truth in all its ugly detail.
We expect the local lawyer community to take up the issue in the
relevant forums, file PIL and undertake a legal campaign to force the
Government and its security agencies to come out with verifiable truth
and fix responsibility for these crimes as it is the government and its
security agencies who are the ultimate repositories of information about
these graves and also about those disappeared involuntarily while in
their custody.
We impress upon the local political formations of all hues
to encourage people to provide more information about these and other
grave sites and to take necessary measures to safeguard these sites from
tampering or interference considering them as an extremely sensitive and
a sacred trust with them.
We express our satisfaction at the issue of comprehensive
statements by various humanitarian groups particularly the Amnesty
International and the Asian Federation Against Involuntary
Disappearances (AFAD) demanding that India should investigate all
allegations of enforced disappearances in Jammu & Kashmir following
reports of mass graves.
We expect the international humanitarian bodies particularly
the Amnesty International and AFAD to initiate steps toward
implementation of their demands by lobbying with the relevant credible
international bodies.
We also urge the ICRC, which is operating in Kashmir to
volunteer their expertise on this issue.
We understand the callous attitude of the state security
agencies in dismissing our findings as a result of their direct
involvement in these crimes as is borne out by the various fake
encounters and custodial killings documented and reported extensively.
We believe that this callous and inhuman attitude of the security
agencies springs from the culture of impunity produced as a result of
the draconian laws operating in Jammu and Kashmir, which do not allow
the families of the victims to pursue their cases productively.
We believe that this report should be a cause of alarm for
those with a human heart and a concrete basis for the international
expert groups and humanitarian and human rights bodies for initiating an
urgent action to probe the matter.
Spokesperson
Ghulam Nabi Mir
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