A case in point is the Islamists allegation that a Srinagar youth Asrar Ahmed Dar was abducted by the security forces, gruesomely killed in Army’s custody and his mutilated body was dumped at a graveyard in July 2009. Widespread street violence and street protests demanding Army’s withdrawal from J&K followed after the boy’s decomposed body was found and brought to his home in a volatile locality of Srinagar. Public property was vandalised and police vehicles burnt. It later turned out to be a passion crime. Police investigations revealed that Israr was murdered by his friend, Imran Aslam Baba, out of jealousy over online friendship with a Delhi girl who had met neither of them but was perceived to be friendlier to Israr. Imran later confessed to the police that he was so enraged that he hit Israr on the head with an iron rod several times and dumped his body at a graveyard. Human rights outfits that had carried on a vicious campaign against the Army and the police have yet to apologise for misleading the police and demonizing the security forces. Further, the police have discovered that the allegations of the rape and murder of a local girl in Kupwara had nothing to do with the Army. Investigations show that the accused, Ashiq Hussain, who worked in a military unit, had a long-standing romantic relationship with the victim. Police believes that it was a case of honour killing and is investigating to find out whether she was murdered by her brothers. In yet another case in which it was alleged that a local citizen, Zahoor Ahmed Mir, had been kidnapped by the police was later found to be recovering from a drug overdose in a hospital. Even in the infamous Sophian rape and murder of two young women, serious doubts have been expressed about the genuineness of the allegations about the involvement of the Army and the police in the matter. One is reluctant to discuss this case as the Supreme Court of India is seized of the matter.
It is not surprising that most of the protests in the Valley over these cases were spearheaded by Syed Ali Shah Geelani—the Islamist patriarch heading the hard-line Hurriyat faction—who has at his command the cadres of the Jamaat-e-Islami. Last year, he did manage to bring to streets several thousand Islamists against the grant of land-use rights to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board by spreading the canard that it was a part of the conspiracy “hatched” by the then Governor SK Sinha to settle the non-Kashmiris on the said land.
Deeply concerned about the damage these allegations were causing to the image of the armed forces and morale of the soldiers, the Army set up a human rights cell in the Army headquarters and in the Northern Command. All allegations of excesses are referred to the cell that sets up inquiry committees comprising personnel belonging to units other than those against whom such allegations are made. Army insists on maintaining transparency in the inquiry and all witnesses, including village heads and respectable citizens, are examined. Police report and Army’s version is also taken into account before arriving at a final conclusion about the veracity of the allegations.
The Human Rights Cell of the Western Command has recently come out with a detailed report of all allegations of human rights violations against the Army in J&K during the last two decades. Its analysis shows that of the total 1,508 allegations of human rights violations received between 1990 and 2008, only 35 cases were found to be true, while the remaining 1,453 charges (97.70 per cent) were “baseless and without an element of truth”. The report mentions that strict actions were taken in all cases where Army personnel were found to be guilty of human rights violations. Thirty-nine officers and 61 personnel below officer rank (PBOR) were punished. Importantly, it was at Army’s own initiative and investigations conducted by it that these officers and men were punished and not under pressure from any statutory authority.
The report makes an interesting reading. One of its shocking revelations is that in several cases, inquiries revealed that it had not launched any operation in the area and on dates mentioned by the complainants. In numerous cases, persons mentioned as killed by the Army surfaced and admitted they were never taken into custody by the Army. The report also mentions specific cases in which persons who had filed FIRs against a missing person confessed that they were coerced by terrorists to file false complaints. In certain cases charges of torture and illegal detentions were made with the sole purpose of receiving compensation from the government. However, over-whelming evidence shows that most of the false allegations were made by persons actively associated with separatist groups with the evil design of maligning the Army and the country. These developments underline the need for the Army to handle terrorism in J&K and other disturbed areas with greater sensitivity for human rights to ensure that innocent citizens are not harassed in the process of combating terror, for what is involved is not only country’s security but also its dignity and honour.
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