This report is based on information collected by OHCHR through monitoring the situation in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-Administered Kashmir. In Indian-Administered Kashmir, “Cordon and search operations”, were reintroduced in the Kashmir Valley in 2017. Additionally, around 160 civilians were killed in 2018, which is believed to be the highest number in over one decade. A widely followed Indian civil society group that tracks internet shutdowns reports that 65 of the 134 incidents of internet shutdowns recorded in the country in 2018 were in Jammu and Kashmir. In the first four months of 2019, Jammu and Kashmir experienced 25 instances of internet shutdown. Legally backed ongoing arbitrary detention, censorship, killings and torture continued, as did conflict with between the state and militant groups.
Topics: update on political situation, human rights violations in Indian-Administered Jammu and Kashmir, civilian killings and excessive use of force, continued use of pellet-firing shotguns, cordon and search operations, arbitrary detentions, impunity for human rights violations, restrictions on freedom of expression, censorship, attack on press freedoms, restrictions on freedom of assembly and association, torture, targeting of Kashmiri Muslims outside Jammu and Kashmir, abuses by armed groups, human rights violations in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, Jammu and Kashmir, constitutional and legal structures impacting enjoyment of human rights, restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression and association, business and human rights, impact of counter-terrorism on human rights, restrictions on the freedom of religion or belief, enforced or involuntary disappearances, arbitrary internet shutdown
Terms: Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act (PSA), the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act 1990 (AFSPA), custodial killing, March 2019 custodial killing of Rizwan Pandit, torture, July 2018 amendment of PSA, internet shutdowns, kidnappings, civilian killings, rape, killing of minors, February 2019 Pulwama suicide bombing, cordon and search operations, excessive use of force, impunity, June 2018 governer’s rule, annulment of Article 35A of Indian Constitution, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), 2019 Pulwama airstrike, December 2018 Pulwama extrajudicial protestor killings, falsifying information, violation of haebus corpus, use of human shields, June 2018 Anantnag killings during Eid, November 2018 arrest of Masrat Alam, 2000 Pathribal fake encounter, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), impunity for 2010 Macchil fake encounter killings, June 2018 assault of journalist Muheet Ul Aslam, June 2018 killing of journalist Shujaat Bukhari, August 2018 detention of journalist Aasif Sultan, 2018 foreign media restrictions, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967 (UAPA), 2019 arrests of Yasin Malik, attacks and assaults on Kashmiris in India, abductions, killings of political workers
Select excerpts:
According to the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), around 160 civilians were killed in 2018, which is believed to be the highest number in over one decade….The 14 February 2019 suicide car bomb attack on Indian security forces in Pulwama triggered major protests across India. Following the attack several reports emerged of mobs targeting Kashmiri Muslims living and working in different parts of India. There were several reports of Kashmiri students and traders being beaten, threatened, and intimidated in different states of India.
…“cordon and search operations”, a much-criticized military strategy employed by the Indian security forces in the early 1990s, was reintroduced in the Kashmir Valley in 2017.
Half of all internet shutdowns in India were reported from the Kashmir Valley.. 65 of the 134 incidents of internet shutdowns recorded in the country in 2018. In the first four months of 2019, Jammu and Kashmir experienced 25 instances of internet shutdown.
In July 2018, the Government of Jammu and Kashmir amended section 10 of the PSA, removing the prohibition on detaining permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir outside the state.
India did not make any request for or suggest any specific factual corrections to the content of the report nor did it address any of the allegations contained in it. However, it rejected the report on the basis it was “fallacious, tendentious and [politically] motivated” –similar to its rejection of the first report on Kashmir issued in June 2018. India stated that the report should focus on “cross-border terrorism” which it claimed was at the “heart of the issue” claiming that OHCHR had overlooked this issue in the report. It added that the report had ignored its “sustained and comprehensive socio-economic development efforts”. India requested OHCHR not to publish the report.
July 2019
Originally published
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