Thousands of Kashmiris have been subjected to enforced disappearance during custody by Indian troops and police over the last thirty four years in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.’After A Decade Of Decline, Enforced Disappearances Resurface In Kashmir’
According to a report released by the Research Section of Kashmir Media Service on the occasion of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, today, IIOJK being the most militarized zone in the world has witnessed killings, enforced disappearances, torture, rape and other brutalities by the Indian forces’ personnel during the last over three decades. At least 8,000 innocent civilians have vanished in the custody after they were picked up by Indian troops, police and paramilitary personnel since 1989. The intensified Indian military crackdown op-erations and the rising numbers of extra-judicial, custodial and fake encounter killings in IIOJK are part of the extremist anti-Muslim and anti-Kashmir designs of the “Hindutva” inspired BJP-RSS combine in India. Ironically, Kashmiri youth have been a specific target of over one million Indian forces’ personnel deployed in the occupied territory.International Day of the Disappeared: Where is Rashid, Mehraj, Ahad, Shabir… | Free Press Kashmir
The report revealed that the families and rela-tives of victims of the enforced disappearances moved from pillar to post to trace their missing loved ones but to no avail. Also the families of the disappeared people suffer economically because in most cases, the breadwinner of the family was targeted.Enforced Disappearances: ‘Indian State in Denial’ | Kashmir Life
The report maintained that disappearances not only silence opponents but also create uncertainty and fear in the wider community. This inhuman, savage and insensate act has been committed by all the tributaries of the so-called security apparatus comprising Indian military, paramilitary and special task forces as well as counterinsurgents working under the superintendence, control and direction of the armed forces.We Are Sure They Have Him’: Enforced Disappearances Continue to Haunt Families in Kashmir
The cruel practice of enforced disappearances has given rise to a new class of people called half-widows and half-orphans, now common phrases used in occupied Kashmir. The impunity provided to the forces’ personnel through draconian laws like Disturbed Areas Act, Armed Forces Special Powers Act, Public Safety Act, and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act gave them the license to kill, terrorize, arrest, harass and silence the people and besiege, snatch and ransack their property without being questioned.—KMS
