Kin of missing seek probe by credible panel
Wailing and sobbing, dozens of men, women and children had gathered in city’s municipal park on Thursday, seeking some forward movement on the sensitive issue of involuntary custodial disappearances.
By Masood Hussain, TNN |
SRINAGAR: Wailing and sobbing, dozens of men, women and children had gathered in city’s municipal park on Thursday, seeking some forward movement on the sensitive issue of involuntary custodial disappearances. Carrying photographs of missing family members, a lot of official records and tonnes of memories and pain, they said the government by exhibiting inertia has willingly chosen to side with the perpetrators.
“We want a credible commission to look into these cases,” said Hafizullah Mir, office-bearer of the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP). “We believe the Armed Forces’ Special Powers Act has been the root cause for the custodial disappearances. The Indian Penal Code has no section to take care of disappearances,” he added.
Bilquis Manzoor is a young city girl, who has been skipping school frequently since January 16, 2002 to follow the case of her father Manzoor Dar, a trader from Rawalopora. “Major Malhotra of 35-Rashtriya Rifles arrested my father and set free all others, who were picked up along with him. He even promised to free him, but we are still waiting,” said Bilquis, who is second of the siblings.
Her young mother, who does not know if she is a widow or not, says, “There is a police case, and a petition in the court. Everybody has established the involvement of the major, but there is no action. We just follow the cases for our satisfaction,” the young lady, who is organising the lot having similar tragedies in their families.
People had come from all over Kashmir. “I started at seven and reached here by 12 noon. I am yet to breakfast,” said Rehti of Kupwara. “But for my son, I can fast for whole of my life. Nobody is telling me if he is alive or dead,” she added. A middle-aged woman was talking about her kids asking her about their father and broke down.
The tragedies are painful and harrowing. Hajira Begum of Onagam (Bandipora) has four sons — three were lost to different encounters with the security forces and the fourth, a baker, was picked up by 14-RR in June 1995. Bed-ridden, Begam and her husband are still waiting for his return. Suraiya is 41, but is yet to give up her hope that her son Javed would return.
“We want a credible commission to look into these cases,” said Hafizullah Mir, office-bearer of the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP). “We believe the Armed Forces’ Special Powers Act has been the root cause for the custodial disappearances. The Indian Penal Code has no section to take care of disappearances,” he added.
Bilquis Manzoor is a young city girl, who has been skipping school frequently since January 16, 2002 to follow the case of her father Manzoor Dar, a trader from Rawalopora. “Major Malhotra of 35-Rashtriya Rifles arrested my father and set free all others, who were picked up along with him. He even promised to free him, but we are still waiting,” said Bilquis, who is second of the siblings.
Her young mother, who does not know if she is a widow or not, says, “There is a police case, and a petition in the court. Everybody has established the involvement of the major, but there is no action. We just follow the cases for our satisfaction,” the young lady, who is organising the lot having similar tragedies in their families.
People had come from all over Kashmir. “I started at seven and reached here by 12 noon. I am yet to breakfast,” said Rehti of Kupwara. “But for my son, I can fast for whole of my life. Nobody is telling me if he is alive or dead,” she added. A middle-aged woman was talking about her kids asking her about their father and broke down.
The tragedies are painful and harrowing. Hajira Begum of Onagam (Bandipora) has four sons — three were lost to different encounters with the security forces and the fourth, a baker, was picked up by 14-RR in June 1995. Bed-ridden, Begam and her husband are still waiting for his return. Suraiya is 41, but is yet to give up her hope that her son Javed would return.
ADVERTISEMENT
He was the youngest to be picked up by the CRPF men at the age of eight in October 1990 from Srinagar’s zero bridge. There was a driver, who went missing along with his vehicle in 2002. Nobody helped the family even after they brought witnesses saying they saw him with the security forces soon after he was missing.
The government has all along accepted the phenomenon, but never came clean. In fact, it has been offering different statistics every time the issue crops up — 3,257 in April 1999, 748 in October 2000, 2,174 in February 2001, 1,745 in March 2001, 3,184 in July 2002, 3,744 in February 2003, 693 in March 2006 and 1,017 in January 2007.
A couple of the disappeared did return in the last couple of years after being set free, indicating many more may come one day. A few, like a Pulwama sixth-grade handicap who had fled Kashmir to skip the school and returned home after nine years, were simple cases of voluntary disappearances. Though Mufti Mohammed Sayeed had started probing cases at police level, it did not sustain as the establishment used it for ‘counter-propaganda’.
“There are more than 100 cases in which judicial and magisterial probes have established the cases, but there is no follow-up,” said Parveena Ahanger, APDP chairperson and mother of a young boy whose cases has been debated world-wide. Of the three NSG officials found responsible for his arrest, one has passed away, but there has been no action. This summer, the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances has registered its first case from Kashmir of Manzoor Wani, a driver from Tragpora (Rafiabad).
On Thursday, the APDP fixed a new spot to meet and formal beginning was made by prayers of two kids who were born after their fathers disappeared in custody.
ADVERTISEMENT
Interestingly, on the International Day of Enforced Involuntary Disappearances there was no mention of the crisis in the state legislature. Barring comrade Yusuf Tarigami, who wanted the government to accept the reality and come with a proper mechanism to address the issue during zero hour, there were no more voices. Download
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
Download
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
ADVERTISEMENT
