"First-ever" UN human rights report on Kashmir calls for international inquiry into "violations" on both sides of LoC

By Our Representative
There is an urgent need to address "past and ongoing human rights violations and abuses" and deliver justice for all people in Kashmir, who for seven decades have "suffered" a conflict that has "claimed or ruined" numerous lives, a report by the UN Human Rights Office -- the first-ever seeking an international inquiry into "multiple violations" in both parts of Kashmir, controlled by Indian and Pakistan -- has said.
Releasing the report on June 14, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein has said, “The political dimensions of the dispute between India and Pakistan have long been centre-stage, but this is not a conflict frozen in time. It is a conflict that has robbed millions of their basic human rights, and continues to this day to inflict untold suffering.”
Insisting that a political situation in Kashmir must entail "a commitment to end the cycles of violence and ensure accountability for past and current violations and abuses by all parties, and provide redress for victims,” Zeid says, he proposes to urge the UN Human Rights Council to establish a commission of inquiry to conduct a "comprehensive independent international investigation into allegations of human rights violations in Kashmir.”
Talking of "excessive use of force by security forces in Kashmir,” the report regrets that the UN Human Rights Office, despite repeated requests to both India and Pakistan over the past two years, has not been given "unconditional access" to either side of the Line of Control. This led to a situation where it had to do "remote monitoring" to produce the report, covering both the sides.
Especially referring to Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) events starting July 2016 -- when "large and unprecedented demonstrations erupted after Indian security forces killed the leader of an armed group" -- the report blames Indian security forces for using "excessive force that led to unlawful killings and a very high number of injuries."
Citing civil society estimates, the report says, "Up to 145 civilians were killed by the security forces between mid-July 2016 and the end of March 2018, with up to 20 other civilians killed by armed groups in the same period", adding, "One of the most dangerous weapons used against protesters in 2016 – and which is still being employed by security forces – was the pellet-firing shotgun."
It adds, "According to official figures, 17 people were killed by shotgun pellets between July 2016 and August 2017, and 6,221 people were injured by the metal pellets between 2016 and March 2017. Civil society organizations believe that many of them have been partially or completely blinded."
The report notes, the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act 1990 (AFSPA) and the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act 1978 (PSA) have “created structures that obstruct the normal course of law, impede accountability and jeopardize the right to remedy for victims of human rights violations.”
Pointing out that the AFSPA prohibits prosecution of security forces personnel unless the Government of India grants prior permission to prosecute, the report says, “This gives security forces virtual immunity against prosecution for any human rights violation." It adds, "In the nearly 28 years that the law has been in force in J&K there has not been a single prosecution of armed forces personnel.”
Referring to what it calls "chronic impunity for sexual violence also remains a key concern in Kashmir", the report refers to "emblematic case is the Kunan-Poshpora mass rape 27 years ago when, according to survivors, soldiers gang-raped 23 women", and yet “attempts to seek justice have been denied and blocked over the years at different levels.”
At the same time, the report says, armed groups operating in Jammu & Kashmir since the late 1980s are equally responsible for "committing "a wide range of human rights abuses, including kidnappings and killings of civilians and sexual violence", adding, despite Pakistan denying any support for these groups, experts have confirmed, its military "continues to support their operations across the Line of Control."
Examining human rights violations in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) which are "of a more structural nature", the report says, here, there are restrictions on freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly and association. Pointing out that the situation is not very different in Gilgit-Baltistan, it adds, hundreds of people have been imprisoned in this region under an anti-terrorist law, misused against anyone raising "issues related to people’s human rights."
Asking India to "urgently repeal the AFSPA", the report seeks establishment of "independent, impartial and credible investigations to probe all civilian killings since July 2016", the report seeks "reparations and rehabilitation to all injured individuals and to the families of those killed in the context of security operations."
At the same time, it urges Pakistan to end the misuse of anti-terror legislation to persecute those engaging in peaceful political and civil activities and those who express dissent. Also, it says, PoK's interim constitution should be amended to allow rights to freedoms of expression and opinion, and peaceful assembly and association.

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Girl child education: 20 major states 'score' better than Gujarat, says GoI report

By Rajiv Shah
A Government of India report, released last month, has suggested that “model” Gujarat has failed to make any progress vis-à-vis other states in ensuring that girls continue to remain enrolled after they leave primary schools. The report finds that, in the age group 14-17, Gujarat’s 71% girls are enrolled at the secondary and higher secondary level, which is worse than 20 out of 22 major states for which data have been made available.

Savarkar in Ahmedabad "declared support" to two-nation theory in 1937, followed by Jinnah three years later

By Our Representative
One of the top freedom fighters whom BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi revere the most, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, was also a great supporter of the two nation theory for India, one for Hindus another for Muslims, claims a new expose on the man who is also known to be the original proponent of the concept of Hindutva.

Congress 'promises' cancellation of Adani power project: Jharkhand elections

Counterview Desk
Pointing out that people's issues take a backseat in Jharkhand's 2019 assembly elections, the state's civil rights organization, the Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha, a coalition of activists and people’s organisations, has said that political parties have largely ignored in their electoral manifestos the need to implement the fifth schedule of the Constitution in a predominantly tribal district.

Hindutva founders 'borrowed' Nazi, fascist idea of one flag, one leader, one ideology

By Shamsul Islam*
With the unleashing of the reign of terror by the RSS/BJP rulers against working-class, peasant organizations, women organizations, student movements, intellectuals, writers, poets and progressive social/political activists, India also witnessed a series of resistance programmes organized by the pro-people cultural organizations in different parts of the country. My address in some of these programmes is reproduced here...
*** Before sharing my views on the tasks of artists-writers-intellectuals in the times of fascism, let me briefly define fascism and how it is different from totalitarianism. Totalitarianism is political concept, a dictatorship of an individual, family or group which prohibits opposition in any form, and exercises an extremely high degree of control over public and private life. It is also described as authoritarianism.
Whereas fascism, while retaining all these repressive characteristics, also believes in god-ordained superiority of race, cultur…

Ex-World Bank chief economist doubts spurt in India's ease of doing business rank

By Rajiv Shah
This is in continuation of my previous blog where I had quoted from a commentary which top economist Prof Kaushik Basu had written in the New York Times (NYT) a little less than a month ago, on November 6, to be exact. He recalled this article through a tweet on November 29, soon after it was made known that India's growth rate had slumped (officially!) to 4.5%.

With RSS around, does India need foreign enemy to undo its democratic-secular fabric?

By Shamsul Islam*
Many well-meaning liberal and secular political analysts are highly perturbed by sectarian policy decisions of RSS/BJP rulers led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, especially after starting his second inning. They are vocal in red-flagging lynching incidents, policies of the Modi government on Kashmir, the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the demand for 'Bharat Ratna' to Savarkar who submitted 6-7 mercy petitions to the British masters (getting remission of 40 years out of 50 years' sentence), and the murder of constitutional norms in Goa, Karnataka and now in Maharashtra.

Post-Balakot, danger that events might spiral out of control is 'greater, not less'

By Tapan Bose*
The fear of war in South Asia is increasing. Tensions are escalating between India and Pakistan after the Indian defence minister's announcement in August this year that India may revoke its current commitment to only use nuclear weapons in retaliation for a nuclear attack, known as ‘no first use’. According to some experts who are watching the situation the risk of a conflict between the two countries has never been greater since they both tested nuclear weapons in 1998.

Rushdie, Pamuk, 260 writers tell Modi: Aatish episode casts chill on public discourse

Counterview Desk
As many as 260 writers, journalists, artists, academics and activists across the world, including Salman Rushdie, British Indian novelist, Orhan Pamuk, Turkish novelist and recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in literature, and Margaret Atwood, Canadian poet and novelist, have called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to review the decision to strip British Indian writer Aatish Taseer of his overseas Indian citizenship.

Worrying signs in BJP: Modi, Shah begin 'cold-shouldering' Gujarat CM, party chief

By RK Misra*
The political developments in neighbouring Maharashtra where a Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government assumed office has had a trickle down effect in Gujarat with both the ruling BJP and the Congress opposition going into revamp mode.

Ships recycling Bill 'allows' India to be turned into a landfill for foreign hazardous waste

Counterview Desk
In a letter to M Venkaiah Naidu, chairman, Rajya Sabha, senior activist Gopal Krishna of the Toxics Watch Alliance has said that the Recycling of Ships Bill, 2019 should be referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate Change to "safeguard country’s maritime environment from harmful and hazardous wastes and materials".

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