The United Nations Convention Against Torture (1984), Article 1.1 states: “Any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person, information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions.”
No matter how blind the world would act in its reaction towards the afflictions of Kashmiri people, the International Day of Victims of Torture — that is observed on June 26 every year — brings to mind the state of affairs of the innocuous Kashmiris in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK), who are subjected to the most brutal forms of torture in the name of law enforcement. Appallingly, the most vicious torture practices, as cataloged in the Istanbul Protocol of UN-OHCHR, have been employed by the Indian forces against innocent people.
Physical torture on the pretext of law enforcement has become a mundane practice by the Indian law enforcement authorities in Kashmir as it is quite rampant and indiscriminate. Torture, undoubtedly, is a horrendous criminal act which not only ruins the lives of its victims but also those who are directly or indirectly related to them. Besides causing the irreversible physical damage, the phenomenon has indelible psychological impact over its victims disrupting the normalcy of their lives. Nevertheless, these physical and psychological effects get exacerbated by trauma and depression which is consequent upon the previously experienced helplessness and the humiliation of the victims at the hands of their torturers.
It is to one’s great disappointment and disgust that the physical torture is ‘state sponsored’ in Kashmir as the law enforcement personnel get away scot-free even though torture cases are reported against them, by virtue of the legal provisions of the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act 1990 (AFSPA). Section 7 of AFSPA bars the initiation of any legal proceedings against security officials without the prior approval or “sanction” of the Government of India. Which is why, not even a single officer has ever been tried and convicted in a court of law in the past 30 years, despite the fact that there have been numerous torture and killing incidents reported in the media and registered formally with the police stations.
Many precious lives — like that of Rizwan Pandit, a young teacher hailing from the Pulwama district — were finished when the ingenuous ordinary people were subjected to ferociously horrible physical torture. Taken into custody by the National Investigation Agency, Pandit was declared “dead” grotesquely by the Jammu and Kashmir Police the very next day. Despite the fact that a magisterial inquiry was ordered to probe into the facts relating to his death amid claims of his family that his body was blotched with torture marks, nothing worthwhile popped up.
It is noteworthy to mention here that under Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, state authorities are responsible for guaranteeing that all precautionary measures are taken to avert the exercise of discretionary powers causing loss of life or ripping off the fundamental rights of the citizenry, by law enforcement officers. These troops also fall into this category under the said article who have been tasked with law enforcement missions and are held liable for any violations thereupon. As a matter of fact, the functioning of law enforcement departments is subject to compliance of the pertinent provisions of international standards which include and are not limited to the extent of the Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials (General Assembly resolution 34/169) (1979) and the Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials (1990) to which India is a signatory.
Notwithstanding the legally and morally binding law provisions, apparently precluding physical torture, Indian security forces carry on using the most barbaric tactics of physical torture to suppress the voice of the common people in IOK. For instance, the use of pellet-firing 12-gauge pump-action shotgun used by forces is declared as one of the most threatening and perilous weapons by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) June 2018 report. The continuous use of the firearm as a crowd dispersing mechanism has led to a shockingly significant number of casualties and amputative injuries. Since many casualties resulting from the torture-related injuries are not quick, these go unaccounted for as consequent upon physical torture.
Unquestionably, the pervasive infringement of human rights, involving the excessive and frequent use of physical torture, is a stratagem to shatter the will of the Kashmiri people. The lopsided presence of 650,000 to 700,000 troops in IOK is a practical demonstration of the implicit fact that the Indian state wants to maintain its hegemony over the indigenous population against their wishes: the Indian Army’s Doctrine on Sub-Conventional Operations states while corroborating this very fact, “The endeavour should be to bring about a realisation that fighting a government is a ‘no win’ situation and that anti-government stance will only delay the process of restoration of peace and normalcy.”
It is high time that India realised that its security personnel cannot continue inflicting physical torture on harmless Kashmiris in all forms and get away with state-sponsored crimes. The need of the hour is that the Kashmir issue is resolved through a civilised manner by taking all parties on board. In this regard, it is inevitable that AFSPA should be repealed altogether or at least those provisions be amended which put the law enforcement authorities above the law by giving them impunity against the use of extreme torture.
The International Day of Victims of Torture reminds the whole world that Kashmir is a living wound within the core of this region, and without resolving the issue it is impossible to restore regional peace and development or counter any common challenges such as the reigning Covid-19 pandemic.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 3rd, 2020.
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