JAMMU - A powerful Kashmiri . . . group Tuesday [25th
February] accused India of carrying out "slow genocide"
in the troubled Himalayan state.
The All Party Hurriyat [Freedom] Conference [APHC], a forum of
some 30 Muslim political groups, said only United Nations intervention
could stem the human rights abuse.
Conference leader, Yasin Malik, said authorities were carrying
out a "slow genocide" in Kashmir, where a Muslim [Kashmiri]
drive has killed some 17,000 people since 1989.
"Violence generates violence. People are being killed in
dozens by Indian troops," another leader, Abdul Gani Lone,
said at the Conference's firstever news briefing in Jammu,
the winter capital of Kashmir.
Jammu and southern Kashmir are Hindudominated but the state
as a whole is India's only predominantly Muslim [disputed] province.
Conference chief Umer Farooq said a United Nationssponsored
referendum was the best solution to determine the future of Kashmir,
disputed by neighbours India and Pakistan.
He also said a UN peacekeeping force would prevent further rights
abuse.
Earlier in Srinagar, [The APHC] leaders (Wed.Jan. 22), appealed
to the UN to protect [Kashmiri] Muslims against alleged atrocities
by Indian troops.
Farooq . . . said: "It has become imperative on the part
of the United Nations to safeguard our lives and property."
He said rights abuses including rape, execution and
arson by troops were rampant in the disputed Himalayan
territory. He alleged that repression had worsened since September,
when a new state government was elected after seven years of direct
rule by New Delhi.
"They (troops) don't even spare our women," he said.
"We have no other means but to turn to the United Nations
for help."
The United Nations maintains a military observer's office in the
Kashmir summer capital Srinagar to observe cease-fire violations.
[Kashmiri] Muslims want a UN referendum to decide the future of
the state but India opposes the call.
Farooq also accused Indian troops of harassing Kashmiris during a security drive launched to preempt violence on India's Republic Day on Sunday [26th January 1997].
He said people were being "herded out of their homes"
in freezing conditions and forced to take part in identity parades
as Indian troops attempted to round up militants. -- AFP