NEW YORK - In its world report of 1997, Human Rights Watch accuses the international community of its exclusive interest in seeking to gain an economic advantage in "a potentially sizable market" and condoning India's human rights record, more particularly in Kashmir, as well as ignoring their moral responsibility to demand an end to all government directed and sponsored massive abuses in Kashmir.

Indian security forces in Kashmir continue their practice of arming and training local auxiliary forces made up of surrendered or captured militants to assist in counter-insurgency operations. These state sponsored paramilitary groups, along with their counterparts in the regular security forces, committed serious human rights abuses, and human rights monitors and journalists were among the principal victims. On 8^th December 1995, Zafar Mehraj, a veteran Kashmiri journalist, was shot and critically injured as he returned from an interview with Koko Parry, the head of the state-sponsored paramilitary group, Ikhwan-ul Muslimoon. Although Mehraj had previously been threatened by both the security forces and some militant groups, in this case the evidence strongly implicated the state-sponsored militia force, Ikhwan-ul Muslimoon. Ikhwan-ul Muslimoon forces were also believed to be responsible for the murder of Farooq Ahmed Sheikh, a 31-year-old pharmacist at the Soura hospital in Srinagar, on 2^nd December 1995.

Extrajudicial executions and torture by Indian security forces in Kashmir also continued. Ghulam Ahmed Bhat, an 18-year-old man who was deaf and mute, was summarily executed by troops of the Seventh Battalion of the Border Security Force (BSF) during a crackdown in Nawakadal, Srinagar, on 21^st December 1995. During a visit to Kashmir in January. Human Rights Watch interviewed a number of torture victims who described severe beatings and the use of electric shocks. Civilians also continued to complain of assault, including sexual assault, by security forces during crackdowns. No prosecutions of security personnel for torture or murder were made public.

The US State Department's report on human rights was markedly less forthright about government abuses than had been the case in previous years. While attempting to characterise the situation in Kashmir as improving, the report appeared oblivious of documentation by Indian human rights organisations about deaths in custody and other abuses.

India also maintained its reputation as one of the most dangerous places in the world for human rights activists. The detention and subsequent murder of human rights activist, Jalil Andrabi, in Kashmir in March [96] and the shooting death of Assamese activist, Parag Das in May [96], exposed the security forces' use of irregular militias to carry out abuses. By November, no one had been prosecuted in either murder.

Jalil Andrabi, a prominent human rights lawyer and political activist associated with the pro-independence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, was found murdered on 27^th March 1996. According to eyewitnesses, Andrabi had been detained on 8^th March by a Rashtriya Rifles unit of the army which had intercepted his car a few hundred yards from his home in Srinagar. The army repeatedly denied that Andrabi was in custody. Andrabi had previously received death threats from government-sponsored so-called "renegade" forces, and it was widely believed that Andrabi may have been handed over to such forces after his arrest. The bodies of some of the men believed to have been involved in Andrabi's killing were later discovered in April; it was widely believed that they had been killed by the security forces. India's official National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) launched an investigation into Andrabi's killing, but as of November, no findings had been announced, and human rights lawyers complained of obstruction by the army and tampering with evidence from the post-mortem examination.

Following Andrabi's murder, on 2^nd April, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Jose Ayala Lasso, called on the government of India to "undertake a thorough investigation, with a view to establishing the facts and imposing sanctions on those found guilty of the crime."

In its annual report to parliament on 10^th September, the NHRC accused the state government in Kashmir of concealing reports of human rights abuses by security personnel. At the same time, when provided with reports of abuse from independent human rights groups, the NHRC was seldom willing to push the authorities for impartial investigations.

Parliamentary elections were also held in Jammu and Kashmir in May for the first time since 1989. Militant leaders called for a boycott, however, and there were widespread reports that security forces had forced voters to go to the polls. Shortly before the elections, the state government imposed a ban on any reporting that "directly or indirectly express[ed] lack of faith" in the state and federal constitutions or was deemed "prejudicial to the unity and integrity of the state and country"- apparent references to articles that might advocate a boycott of the elections or call for independence. State assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir in September were also marred by reports of coercion and the arrests of leaders of the All-Parties Huriyat Conference an umbrella group of parties opposed to the elections.

Both the UK and the US called on officials to ensure that the vote would be free and fair; however, neither publicly criticised widespread intimidation of voters by security forces. British Foreign Secretary, Malcolm Rifkind, also urged India to allow international observers at the polls. (The government did not permit international observers).

As had been the case in previous years, trade issues dominated international interest in India in 1996, and expressions of concern about human rights were limited to a few prominent cases. For example, the murder of Jalil Andrabi and the ongoing problem of child labour and bonded child labour led a number of countries to raise concerns with the government of India, both publicly and privately. However, the long-standing issue of impunity for the military in Kashmir and elsewhere in the country and the endemic problem of custodial violence received virtually no attention from the international community.