Enforced disappearances: APDP holds silent protest in Kashmir
Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), Friday held a silent protest in summer capital Srinagar against what it termed the state and Indian governments’ “hypocritical approach” in tracing out their family members who were subjected to enforced disappearance since 1989 in Kashmir.
The family members of disappeared youth, mostly women during their silent-sit in at Pratap Park in Srinagar castigated the successive governments for being indifferent towards their pain and agony. “Neither National Conference nor PDP did anything for them to trace their missing loved one,” said an elderly woman whose son was picked by Border Security Forces during a crackdown 19 years and subjected to enforced disappearance.
Wearing white head bands with names of disappeared people written in black, the relatives participated in APDP’s sit-in program to draw attention of the newly formed government and the media to seek information about their loved ones, who have vanished, presumed dead or imprisoned without trial or record.
The family members of the disappeared persons alleged that their kin have been subjected to enforced disappearances by the Indian forces and their related agencies from their homes, streets and even roads. They vowed to continue her struggle for truth, justice and accountability till both the state and central governments accept their demand of impartial probe into the enforced disappearances and custodial killings.
APDP Chairperson Parveena Ahangar said that the main aim of their protest is to make the world community aware of the plight of people of Kashmir. “We want to draw the attention of international rights groups for intervening and mounting pressure on India to provide whereabouts of our missing family members,” she said.
She said that despite being a signatory to the international conventions against human rights violations, India seems less bothered to deliver justice to those families whose loved ones were arrested and then subjected to enforced disappearances by security agencies here.
Ahangar whose son Javid Ahmed is missing from last 24 years added that, “from Shopian, Pathribal to Macchil intimidation of eyewitnesses, fudging of DNA samples and complete denial of the involvement of the Indian Armed Forces in such crimes have been the tactics that the state has continuously employed to shield the perpetrators.”
She demanded that India must comply with its obligations under international human rights laws.
She said the state must consider the recommendations of Universal Periodic Review-2 (UPR-2) and ratify the International Convention for Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance, besides repealing Armed Forces Special Powers Act.
