The Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances has raised concerns regarding alleged enforced disappearances in Jammu and Kashmir and the existence of unmarked graves containing the remains of unidentified individuals on multiple occasions including in General Allegations transmitted on 22 July 2009, 11 February 2011, 29 April 2013, and 28 March 2019. The Working Group regrets that no reply has been received to date, despite reminders being sent each year. The Working Group also currently has more than 400 cases of alleged enforced disappearances in India outstanding under the humanitarian procedure, many of which relate to Jammu and Kashmir.

The closure of the independent SHRC has left citizens, human rights defenders and civil society in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly Muslim and other minorities, with limited legal channels to seek redress and accountability. In addition, the sudden nature of its closure meant that many of its investigations and other processes were not completed. No information was provided by the local or national authorities about the total number of ongoing or pending cases at the time of its termination. The official website of the SHRC was also promptly taken down. 

The scale and geographic spread of the unmarked and mass graves that have reportedly been found in north Kashmir are particularly alarming, as is the government’s refusal to take measures to identify the remains discovered despite being directed by the SHRC to do so. We are further concerned that many families have now been waiting decades for information on the fate and whereabouts of their loved ones. 

Between 2008 and 2009, several reports were submitted to the SHRC documenting 940 unmarked graves in the Uri area of Baramulla district in north Kashmir, and 2,700 unknown and unmarked graves, containing over 2,943 bodies, across 55 villages in Baramulla, Bandipora and Kupwara districts in north Kashmir. Among the 2,700 graves in Baramulla, Bandipora and Kupwara, 154 graves contained two bodies each and 23 were mass graves containing more than two (ranging from 3 to 17). The SHRC subsequently conducted a comprehensive inquiry into these allegations. On 2 July 2011, it released an Inquiry Report in which it corroborated that, in the 38 locations where the investigation was carried out, there were 2730 unidentified dead bodies in various unmarked graves. 574 persons who had been buried as foreign militants were in fact identified as residents of Jammu and Kashmir, 2156 others remained un-identified.