Title	India: 'If they are dead, tell us' - "Disappearances" in Jammu and Kashmir
Publisher	Amnesty International
Publication Date	2 March 1999
Country	India
Topics	Abduction | Anti-terrorism law | Arbitrary arrest and detention | Armed groups / Militias / Paramilitary forces / Resistance movements | Children's rights | Children-at-risk | Constitutional law | Death in custody | Disappeared persons | Freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment | Habeas corpus | Human rights activists | Human rights courts | Impunity | Independence of judiciary | Police | Political situation | Security forces | Security situation
Citation / Document Symbol	ASA 20/002/1999
Cite as	Amnesty International, India: 'If they are dead, tell us' - "Disappearances" in Jammu and Kashmir, 2 March 1999, ASA 20/002/1999, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6a9ee4.html [accessed 30 May 2023]
Comments	Wherever movements for autonomy or secession have appeared to threaten the Indian state, the Government of India has responded with harsh and repressive methods, ignoring its duty to protect and promote human rights. These measures have included arbitrary arrests, torture, deaths in custody and 'disappearances' of those suspected to be involved in or to sympathise with insurgency. The legacy of this policy is now coming to light in Punjab where hundreds of unidentified bodies cremated by police between 1992 and 1994 have been discovered.' 'Disappearances' have also in the recent past been reported from the country's Northeastern states. In Jammu and Kashmir, where opposition groups over the last seven years have intensified their struggle -- whether by peaceful or violent means -- for the region's accession to Pakistan or independence, human rights abuses committed both by agents of the state and by armed opposition groups have been grave and widespread. Since 1990, some 700 to 800 people have 'disappeared' after being arrested by police or armed or paramilitary forces. The victims have included men of all ages, including juveniles and the very old, and all professions, including businessmen, lawyers, labourers and many teachers. Almost all of them appear to be ordinary citizens picked up at random, without any connection to the armed struggle. Over the past year, less people than in previous years have 'disappeared' -- but the whereabouts of hundreds of people who 'disappeared' earlier have not be established. This includes the vast majority of over 100 cases which Amnesty International documented in its 1993 report (India: ?An unnatural fate' - ?Disappearances' and impunity in the Indian States of Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab, AI Index: ASA 20/42/93). These 'disappeared' persons -- if they are still alive -- still face violations of their rights to life, liberty and security of the person. Their families still live between hope and despair, unaware of the fate of their loved ones and unable to obtain redress from the institutions that are there to protect and promote human rights: police, the security forces, the courts and statutory human rights bodies. Often they are threatened and abused by the perpetrators to give up the search for their 'disappeared' family members. The current report describes the different facets of 'disappearances' against the backdrop of recent political developments in Jammu and Kashmir. It seeks to identify the legal, institutional and political factors which facilitate 'disappearances' and impede redress. The report concludes with a list of recommendations to prevent 'disappearances' and to provide adequate redress. In this month which celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Amnesty International appeals to the Government of India to ensure that all its citizens can enjoy all the basic right laid down in it, including: - Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person (Article 3) - No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile (Article 9) - Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him (Article 10). The 'disappeared' in Jammu and Kashmir have been deprived of these basic rights for too long.
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