Human Rights Watch finds reporting "markedly less forthright about government abuses than had been the case in previous years" in Kashmir. Nevertheless, Indian counter insurgency operations in Kashmir have made the pages of the US State Department's annual report on human rights around the world - this time over the role of pro-government counter-militants and faked encounters.

There continue to be significant human rights abuses, despite extensive constitutional and statutory safeguards. Many of these abuses are caused by intense social tensions which occur when authorities' attempt to repress them with deficient police methods and training. These problems are acute in Kashmir, where the judicial system has been disrupted by terrorist threats including the assassination of judges and witnesses, by judicial tolerance of the government's heavy handed anti-militant tactics, and by the refusal of security forces to obey court orders. A decrease in abuses by security forces in Kashmir coincided with increased abuses by pro-government counter-militants.

Serious human rights abuses include: Extrajudicial executions and other political killings and excessive use of force by security forces; torture, rape, and deaths of suspects in police custody throughout the country; poor prison conditions; arbitrary arrests and incommunicado detention in Kashmir and the Northeast; continued detention throughout the country of thousands arrested under special security legislation; prolonged detention while under trial; widespread inter-caste and communal violence; legal and societal discrimination as well as extensive violence, both societal and by police and other agents of government, against women; discrimination and violence against indigenous people, castes and tribes; child prostitution; and widespread exploitation of indentured, bonded, and child labour.

Respect for Human Rights

Political killings by government forces (including deaths in custody and faked encounter killings), pro-government counter-militants, and insurgents, continued at a high level in the state of Jammu and Kashmir and the seven northeastern states, where separatist insurgencies exist.

Security forces committed an estimated 100­200 extrajudicial killings of suspected militants in Kashmir. Although well­documented evidence to corroborate cases and quantify trends is lacking, most observers believe the number of killings declined from previous years. However, the decline was at least partially offset by an increased number of killings by pro-government counter-militants. According to press reports and anecdotal accounts, those killed had been detained by security forces, and their bodies, bearing multiple bullet wounds and often marks of torture, were returned to relatives or were otherwise discovered the same day or a few days later. Security forces claim that these killings, when acknowledged at all, occur in armed encounters with militants. Members of the security forces are rarely held accountable for these killings.

The [Indian government-National Human Rights Commission] NHRC has no authority directly to investigate abuses by the security forces, and security forces are therefore not required to ­­ and do not ­­ report custodial deaths in Kashmir or the Northeast.

Killings and abductions of suspected militants and other persons by pro-government counter-militants emerged as a significant pattern in Kashmir. Countermilitants are former separatist militants who have surrendered to government forces but have retained their arms and paramilitary organisations. Some observers number them at several thousand strong, but the precise figure is unknown. They committed an estimated 100 to 200 political killings in Kashmir, although this figure is speculative. For example, on 20^th March, journalist Sheikh Ghulam Rasool, was abducted from his home by countermilitants reportedly angered by a news report criticising their activities; Rasool's body was found in the Jhelum river a month later. There are credible reports that government agencies fund, exchange intelligence with, and direct operations of counter-militants as part of the counter-insurgency effort. Counter-militants are known to screen pedestrians at roadblocks and guard extensive areas of the Kashmir Valley against attacks by militants. In sponsoring and condoning counter-militant activity, which takes place outside the legal system, the government cannot avoid responsibility for abductions, murders, and other abuses by these irregulars.

In March [1996], countermilitants believed to be fronting for the Rashtriya Rifles paramilitary force abducted lawyer and human rights activist Jalil Andrabi from his car in Srinigar. Andrabi was preparing to attend the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva at the time of his abduction. His body, displaying marks of torture, was later discovered in the Jhelum river. Five countermilitants believed to be the abductors were found dead a month later. A court­directed investigation into Andrabi's abduction and murder was stymied when the Rashtriya Rifles did not respond to the court's request for assistance and denied investigators access to witnesses. However, the investigation continues and appears to be making progress. Counter-militants also killed human rights monitor Parag Kumar Das in Assam in May.

The total number of deaths in Kashmir has changed little compared with the total in 1995, although the proportion of civilian deaths increased. Reliable press reports indicate that 1,214 civilians, 94 security force personnel, and 1,271 militants, died in insurgency­related violence in Kashmir in 1996. 1995 figures were 1,050 civilians, 202 security force personnel and 1,308 militants. The decrease in security forces' deaths apparently reflects the increased role of counter-militants. Non-government organisation (NGOs) and other sources agree that civilian deaths attributed to security forces have decreased. Press reports indicate that the increase in civilian deaths is attributable to militant efforts to disrupt elections and the new government.

Disappearance

According to human rights groups, unacknowledged incommunicado detention of suspected militants continue in Kashmir...

Human rights groups maintain that as many as 3,000 more are held by the military and paramilitary forces in long­term unacknowledged detention in interrogation centres and transit camps nominally intended for short­term confinement.

A program of prison visits by the ICRC, which began in October 1995, is designed in part to help improve communications between detainees and their families. All acknowledged detention centres in Kashmir and Kashmiri detainees elsewhere in the country have been visited. The ICRC is not authorised access to interrogation centres or transit centres.

Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

In 1995, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture reported that torture was practised routinely by the army, the Border Security Force, and the Central Reserve Police Force against the vast majority of persons arrested for political reasons in Jammu and Kashmir. According to the Rapporteur, official investigations into allegations of torture, including those that resulted in custodial deaths, were rare. This state of affairs did not change. Past practices have included beating, rape, burning with cigarettes and hot rods, suspension by the feet, crushing of limbs by heavy rollers, and electric shocks. Because many alleged torture victims die in custody, and others are afraid to speak out, there are few first hand accounts, although the marks of torture have often been found on the bodies of deceased detainees.

According to the U.N. Special Rapporteur, torture victims or their relatives have reportedly had difficulty in filing complaints because police in Kashmir were issued instructions not to file a FIR without permission from higher authorities. In addition, Section 7 of the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, provides that unless approval is obtained from the central government, "no prosecution, suit, or other legal proceedings shall be instituted against any person in respect of anything done or purported to be done in exercise of the powers of the Act." This provision reportedly allows the security forces to act with virtual impunity.

NGOs claim that rape by police, including custodial rape, is more common than NHRC figures indicate. Although evidence is lacking, a larger number appears credible, in light of other evidence of abusive behaviour by police and the likelihood that many rapes go unreported because women are ashamed to report them.

With the exception of an agreement with the ICRC for visits to detention facilities in Kashmir, the Government does not allow NGOs to monitor prison conditions.

The NHRC has no direct authority to investigate abuses by security forces, and security forces in Kashmir and the Northeast are not required to report custodial deaths to the Commission.