India must release all political prisoners, end IOK information blockade: Amnesty International

'Detentions not only violate international law but clearly indicate stifling of freedom of expression in IOK'

Amnesty International India has called on the Indian government to release all political prisoners in the occupied valley and “put an end to the deliberate silencing of voices in the region”.

In a statement issued on Monday, Head of Amnesty International in India Aakar Patel said: “For the 22nd day in a row, life has been derailed for the people of Jammu and Kashmir.”

Condemning the communication blockade and security clampdown, Patel added that the detention of political leaders and restrictions on media to report has created an information black hole in Jammu and Kashmir - a region which has witnessed serious human rights violations in the past.

“Depriving an entire population of their right to freedom of expression, opinion, and movement for an indefinite period run squarely counter to international norms and standards. Worse, it gives the Government of India a near-total control over the information coming out of the region,” added Patel.

“In the aftermath of the unilateral revocation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution that guaranteed special status to Jammu and Kashmir by the Government of India, authorities have allegedly detained many political leaders including former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti; former bureaucrat-turned-politician Shah Faesal and Ravinder Sharma amongst others,” reads the statement.“No official information is available on the number of people detained, their access to a lawyer or their family members, where they are being held and under what charges, if any.”

The global body previously documented the use of administrative detention by the occupying forces where a person was held without a charge or trial to “curb political mobilization”.

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“These detentions not only violate international law but clearly indicate the stifling of freedom of expression in the region,” underscores Amnesty International India.

The human rights body also expressed concerns over the wider human rights impact of the communication clampdown.“While access to information to the people of [occupied] Jammu and Kashmir remains hindered in times of crises, their access to emergency services, and other information and services, including healthcare and education also remains highly restricted.”

“While landline telephones were partially restored over 17-18 August, unsurprisingly, their redundancy and sketchy availability in the region has not helped in facilitating communication, with access remaining limited outside Srinagar,” notes Amnesty International India.

“The clampdown has also restricted journalists and activists from documenting and sharing information about the situation in the region, including allegations of human rights abuses. The local media websites of the region remain last updated on 5 August and print version of the newspapers have not been carrying editorial opinions,” it said. “Besides hindering the public’s right to know, it also puts the lives of journalists at risk, increasing their chances of being harassed, arrested on politically motivated charges and prosecuted in connection with their work.”

The statement cited the United Nations Human Rights Council’s call for the Narendra Modi-led government to end the crackdown terming. The council had termed New Delhi’s move a “form of collective punishment” for the people of the occupied Himalayan region that is “inconsistent with the fundamental norms of necessity and proportionality”.

Amnesty International also highlighted that the UN Special Rapporteurs and Working Groups had raised concerns over “allegations that the whereabouts of some of those detained is not known as well as the general heightened risk of enforced disappearances, which may proliferate against the backdrop of mass arrests and restricted access to the internet and other communications networks”.

“This turns the fear of human rights violations that may occur yet remain unreported into a reality which only stands to perpetuate impunity and diminish accountability in Jammu and Kashmir – a culture the Government of India continues to extend in spite of its promises of development and change,” concluded Patel.