Mass graves of Jammu and Kashmir are mass grave sites in Jammu and Kashmir that were created as a result of extra-judicial killings during the Insurgency in Kashmir.[1] An ad-hoc inquiry led by human rights lawyer, Parvez Imroz, has found more than 6,000 unmarked and mass graves.[2]
In 2009, International People’s Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice, a human rights group, released a report saying that 2,700 ‘unknown, unmarked, and mass graves,’ containing at least 2,900 bodies, in 55 villages in North Kashmir's three districts — Bandipora, Baramulla, and Kupwara — were probed. The group demanded an independent investigation into the unmarked mass graves in J&K and an immediate halt of such crimes.[3][4][5]
In 2011, a Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission report titled Enquiry Report of Unmarked Graves in North Kashmir said that it found bullet-riddled remains of 2,730 people in dozens of unmarked mass graves after a three-year inquiry.[6][7] Many of those were civilians with 574 being identified as local residents. According to the report, these unidentified dead bodies buried in various unmarked graves at thirty-eight places of north Kashmir’s Baramulla, Bandipora, Handwara, and Kupwara districts, "may contain the dead bodies of enforced disappearances".[8] The Human Rights Watch (HRW) demanded Indian authorities to "immediately open an independent, transparent, and credible investigation into the unmarked graves discovered" in J&K. Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at HRW said that "these graves suggest the possibility of mass murder".[9] Following the report, Amnesty International also asked the Government of India to "initiate thorough investigations into unmarked graves".[10][11]
In 2017, J&K's human rights commission asked the government in Kashmir to investigate the discovery of at least 2,080 unmarked mass graves. Khurram Parvez of the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), a human rights group in Kashmir, demanded "an independent commission to do a credible probe on the mass graves".[12] The NGO estimates the number of enforced disappearances in Kashmir's insurgency at around 8,000 men and boys.[13]
References
edit- ^ "Kashmir graves to be investigated". BBC News. 12 October 2011.
- ^ "The mass graves of Kashmir". The Guardian. 9 July 2012.
- ^ Chatterji, Angana P. (2009). Buried Evidence: Unknown, Unmarked, and Mass Graves in Indian-administered Kashmir: A Preliminary Report, International People's Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Indian-administered Kashmir. International People's Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Indian-administered Kashmir. ISBN 9780615326481. SSRN 3240987.
- ^ "Mass graves found in North Kashmir containing 2,900 unmarked bodies". The Hindu. 3 December 2009.
- ^ "Kashmir: Thousands of Bodies Discovered in Unmarked Graves, Rights Group Says". New York Times. 2 December 2009.
- ^ "Kashmir unmarked graves hold thousands of bodies". The Guardian. 21 August 2011.
- ^ "Indian Government Confirms Mass Graves in Kashmir". VOA. 20 August 2011.
India's Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission released a report Sunday saying a three-year investigation has uncovered 2,156 unidentified bodies in 38 sites in the region.
- ^ "Mass Graves Hold Thousands, Kashmir Inquiry Finds". The New York Times. 22 August 2011.
- ^ "India: Investigate Unmarked Graves in Jammu and Kashmir". Human Right Watch. 24 August 2011.
- ^ "Thousands of unmarked graves discovered in Kashmir". Amnesty International. 23 August 2011.
- ^ "Amnesty Calls for Investigation into Mass Graves in Kashmir". VOA. 22 August 2011.
- ^ "India ordered to probe 2,080 mass graves in Kashmir". Al Jazeera. 3 November 2017.
- ^ Peer, Basharat (22 September 2011). "What Lies Beneath". Foreign Policy.