On the eve of elections in the disputed territory of Kashmir, Human Rights Watch charged that human rights conditions have deteriorated as a result of a new policy by the Indian government to arm and protect irregular militias to carry out its counter-insurgency operations. In a 49­page report entitled: India's Secret Army in Kashmir: New Patterns of Abuse Emerge in the Conflict, Human Rights Watch documents widespread abuses by several state­sponsored militias commonly referred to as "renegades," including attacks on journalists, human rights activists and medical workers. While attempting to reassure the international community that they have taken steps to curb human rights abuses in Kashmir, Indian forces have instead subcontracted some of their abusive tactics to groups with no official accountability.

As a new government takes power in New Delhi, Human Rights Watch calls on the international community to press India to disarm all irregular militias, fully investigate all reports of abuse and punish those responsible, and provide for full access to Kashmir for the specialised U.N. human rights bodies­­the Special Rapporteurs on Torture and Summary and Arbitrary Execution and the Working Groups on Disappearances and Arbitrary Detention­­and for international human rights organisations. Arms sales and other forms of military cooperation to both India and Pakistan should be suspended until both countries end their support for abusive forces­­including state forces, militias, and militant groups­­operating in Kashmir.

Since 1993, the Indian government has embarked on a campaign to improve an international image tarnished by the appalling human rights record of its police and security forces. Some of the steps the government has taken have been significant, particularly its decision to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to provide humanitarian services in Kashmir. However, many other measures that should have been taken were not. For example, the vast majority of security personnel responsible for abuses are almost never punished and if ever, are subjected only to mild disciplinary measures; nothing has been done to curb the most egregious of abuses, i.e., summary executions and torture, or to punish those responsible; and instead of ensuring that its troops abide by the rule of law, India has sponsored irregular militias that operate completely outside the law to carry out its [Indian] counter-insurgency operations.

Compounding the tragedy in Kashmir, many of India's trading partners, eager to embrace one of Asia's greatest "emerging markets" or are concerned more with South Asian security relations than with human rights, have muffled criticisms that had earlier served to force India to acknowledge the need for reform.

Abuses by these state­sponsored militias are committed with the knowledge and complicity of official security forces. When arrested by local police, members of these groups have been released on orders of the security forces. At the same time, violations of human rights and humanitarian law by the regular security forces­­the army, the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)­­have also continued. These violations include the deliberate killing of detainees in the custody of the security forces in Kashmir and reprisal killings of civilians. Human rights groups and press accounts have registered reports of such killings every month, but there is no sign that security personnel have been prosecuted in a single case of summary execution. In the few high­profile cases in which courts-martial have taken place, soldiers have been prosecuted for abuses, such as the excessive use of force, which fall short of murder. Regular forces have also been responsible for disappearances and reprisal attacks against civilians. More than one hundred cases of detainees disappearing in the custody of the security forces have been documented by human rights groups since the conflict began; to Human Rights Watch's knowledge, not one has resulted in the prosecution of any member of the security forces.

Indian security forces in Kashmir continue to torture detainees systematically to coerce them to reveal information about suspected militants or to confess to militant activity. Torture is also used to punish detainees who are believed to support or sympathise with the militants and to create a climate of political repression. The practice of torture is facilitated by the fact that detainees are generally held in temporary detention centres, controlled by the various security forces, without access to the courts, relatives or medical care. Methods of torture include severe beatings, electric shock, crushing of leg muscles with a wooden roller, and burning various parts of the body with heated objects. The Indian government has not made public any investigations into the many documented cases of torture, nor has it ever announced that a member of the security forces was prosecuted or punished for torture. Although the government denies that torture is practiced systematically and as a matter of policy in Kashmir, government officials have admitted that torture takes place.

The Indian authorities have done little to curb human rights violations by the army and security forces. In the rare cases in which investigations of abuses have taken place, the most severe punishments have generally been limited to dismissals or suspensions from duty. Security officers have also offered bribes and have threatened individuals and families in an attempt to prevent them from pressing charges. The Indian government's failure to account for these abuses and take rigorous action against those members of its forces responsible for murder, rape and torture, amounts to a policy of condoning human rights violations.

The [renegade] militant groups have increasingly made use of car bombs and other explosive devices in crowded areas. The groups have also deployed landmines on public roads and in other areas used by civilians. Militants have thrown grenades at buses and government buildings, killing and wounding civilians. These attacks have occurred in the Kashmir valley and have also been reported in Jammu. Militant groups have kidnapped civilians, including foreigners, and held them as hostages in order to demand the release of imprisoned militants. These actions have lost the militants much support among civilians in Kashmir.

Editors' note: The next issue of the Quarterly will carry details of the latest report on state-sponsored terrorism in Kashmir, published by the Human Rights Watch, "India's Secret Army in Kashmir."