By Ahmad Adil
SRINAGAR, Indian-held Kashmir
Rights groups in Indian-held Kashmir have said top Indian army and paramilitary officers were the "alleged perpetrators" of human rights violations in the disputed Himalayan region.
The International Peoples’ Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Kashmir (IPTK), a group backed by senior Indian human rights activists, released a report on Wednesday analyzing more than 300 cases of alleged human rights abuses.
Supported by a non-governmental organization representing families of disappeared people, the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), the 804-page report looked into allegations of extra-judicial killings, sexual violence and enforced disappearances.
“A major general, seven brigadiers, 31 colonels, four Lt colonels, 115 majors and 40 captains are included in the 972 alleged perpetrators,” Kartik Murukutla, an Indian human rights lawyer and author of the report said at the report's launch, adding that several current and former police chiefs were also identified.
The IPTK's convener Gautam Navlakha said a copy of the report would be sent to U.N.'s Human Rights Council and Security Council and they would request an investigation into the alleged abuses.
Khurram Parvez, a human rights activist with the Kashmir-based Coalition of Civil Society, who moderated the release event, told Anadolu Agency: “the report is written by Kashmiri people to tell India that Kashmir will never forget what they have done with the people here.”
An army spokesman said they had not yet seen the report so could not comment on its contents.
Waheed ur Rahman Para, a spokesperson of the Peoples Democratic Party, part of Jammu & Kashmir's ruling coalition, told Anadolu Agency that the party is looking into the report.
"Our party is looking into it. We are committed to providing justice to all those families who have suffered in the past," he said.
Both local and international human rights groups have accused the Indian army of human rights violations since the start of an armed insurgency in the region in 1989.
In July, Amnesty International released a report criticizing the use of the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, which "grants virtual immunity to members of the security forces from prosecution for alleged human rights violations."
Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full.
The two countries have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- since they were partitioned in 1947, two of which were fought over Kashmir.
Since 1989, Kashmiri resistance groups in Indian-held Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.
More than 70,000 Kashmiris have been killed so far in the violence, most of them by Indian forces. India maintains over half a million soldiers in the Indian-held Kashmir. A part of Kashmir is also held by China.
