This report by PHR and a division of Human Rights Watch documents human rights abuses and violations of the laws of war by Indian security forces. They also investigated incidents of abuse by armed militant groups who have also attacked civilians. As the conflict enters its fourth year, Indian troops have increasingly targeted civilians in an effort to crush support for the guerrilla forces. Summary executions, rape, torture and deliberate assaults on health care workers have been part of this campaign, which has largely gone unnoticed by the outside world.
Topics: response of government of India, historical background, applicable international law, violations of medical neutrality by government forces, preventing medical personnel from transporting wounded, refusal by security forces to provide or permit medical care for wounded, raids on hospitals, detentions, harassment and assaults on healthcare workers, torture: medical evidence, other medical consequences of the conflict, militant abuses, conclusions and recommendations, comments provided by the Government of India
Terms: failure of international accountability, terrorizing civilians, summary executions, indiscriminate attacks, violation of the right of habeas corpus, violation of right to healthcare, interference with the provision of care to the sick and wounded, assault, detention and harrassment of healthcare workers, extrajudicial killing of healthcare workers, custodial torture, beatings, electric shock, suspension by the feet or hands, stretching the legs apart, burning, sexual molestation, crushing with wooden rollers, acute renal failure, curfews, violation of neutrality of medical transport, militant attacks on healthcare workers opposed to militants, abuse of medical personnel, violation of international law, extrajudicial killings, right to medical care, right to life, arbitrary detention, excessive use of force, violations of international human rights law, violations of international humanitarian law, impunity, Indian state disinformation
In some of the worst incidents of abuse, the security forces have deliberately prevented ambulance drivers from transporting injured persons to hospitals for emergency care. In several cases investigated by PHR and Asia Watch, security forces beat, shot or strafed ambulance drivers who were attempting to provide care to the wounded, and shot dead one driver while he was on duty. In other cases, security forces detained injured persons for prolonged periods before allowing them to seek medical care. In violation of international humanitarian law, the security forces themselves rarely provided medical assistance to the wounded.
Security forces have also repeatedly raided hospitals and other medical facilities, even pediatric and obstetric hospitals. During these raids, the security personnel have forced doctors at gunpoint to identify recent trauma patients.
Many of those seeking medical care are released detainees who have been subjected to torture. In fact, virtually everyone taken into custody by the security forces in Kashmir is tortured. Torture is practiced to coerce detainees to reveal information about suspected militants or to confess to militant activity. It is also used to punish detainees who are believed to support or sympathize with the militants and to create a climate of political repression. The practice of torture is facilitated by the fact that detainees are generally held in temporary detention centers, controlled by the various security forces, without access to the courts, relatives or medical care.
By focusing on the medical profession in this first report, Asia Watch and Physicians for Human Rights hope to draw the attention of the international community to the urgency of the medical crisis in Kashmir -- a crisis due in large part to the failure of government forces to abide by international law. This report concludes with our recommendations for action to be taken by the government of Prime Minister Rao to address the medical crisis in Kashmir. The most important of these is to grant access to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), a neutral humanitarian organization which operates confidentially, to assist in providing medical care and other humanitarian services in Kashmir.
In its response to this report, as in other official statements, the government of India has attempted to minimize these concerns and dismiss reports on widespread abuses by its security forces as "biased." Asia Watch and PHR have summarized the government's comments, together with a statement of the reasons why we believe such responses fail to justify the actions of government security forces.
February 1993
Originally published
Photo creditDownload (PDF)Download Here