Amnesty urges India to probe unmarked Kashmir graves

By IINA

Sri Nagar, India : Amnesty International has appealed to Indian authorities to urgently investigate nearly a thousand unmarked graves in Kashmir discovered by a local human rights group over the past year. The graves were found in cemeteries in 18 villages close to the Line of Control, the military control line dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan, according to the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), an independent group in Kashmir. “Amnesty International urges the Government of India to launch urgent investigations into hundreds of unidentified graves discovered since 2006 in Jammu and Kashmir,” a statement from Amnesty International said.

The APDP estimates around 10,000 people went missing – presumed kidnapped and murdered by security forces - during the nearly two-decade-old separatist revolt in Kashmir, and says many of the missing could have ended up in these unmarked graves. “The grave sites are believed to contain the remains of victims of unlawful killings, enforced disappearances, torture and other abuses which occurred in the context of armed conflict persisting in the state since 1989,” Amnesty’s statement added. Indian authorities have denied the allegations, saying such reports were intended to malign Indian security forces.

Amnesty’s appeal came after Kashmir’s main separatist alliance, All Parties Hurriyat Conference, urged the group to help identify the human remains in the unmarked graves.

Yesterday, at least 200 demonstrators led by senior leaders of Hurriyat held a sit-down protest in Srinagar, against what they called gross human rights violations by security forces.

Police say 331 people have died in custody and another 111 have disappeared after being arrested since the insurgency erupted in the region claimed by India and Pakistan, AFP reported. Local human rights groups, however, say 8,000 people are missing, with the majority having been arrested by Indian security forces. The insurgency has left more than 43,000 people dead by official count, while rights groups put the toll at 70,000 dead and disappeared