London, July 28: Dr Angana Chatterji,
co-convenor of the International Peoples Tribunal on Human Rights and
Justice in Jammu and Kashmir narrated human rights excesses in Occupied
Kashmir and called for improving the monitoring of humanitarian
situation in the valley.
Dr Angana Chatterji, while addressing a composite gathering at
Kashmir Centre London, said that the disturbing concept of zero
tolerance for non-violent dissent evolved round fear, surveillance of
the ordinary Kashmiri irrespective of age or gender, discipline and
punishment.
This has proved to be a sustained and widespread offensive with mass
and extra judicial killings in Kashmir by the military and paramilitary
institutions as brought out in evidence in the report ‘Buried Evidence’
by the International People’s Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in
Indian administered Kashmir, she added.
Dr Chatterji reported that the disproportionate number of special
forces in the occupied territory gave the impression that the armed
forces were more powerful than the occupation authorities and that the
reality in Kashmir was one of militarised controls and that Kashmir was
not a dispute but a conflict zone.
She stressed the importance of cultivating alliances with credible
institutions and organisations, adding these needed to be formed and
developed as there was at present no monitoring was going on in Jammu
and Kashmir, therefore, no sustained visibility.
Dr Chatterji emphasised that there needed to be a sustained outcry
from the international media and that the international community needed
to play a proactive role in establishing alliances with organisations,
which were seen to be acceptable.
Representatives from Amnesty International, the Economist,
Conciliation Resources, Asian Affairs and community activists also spoke
on the occasion.
At the end, the Executive Director of Kashmir Centre London,
Professor Nazir Ahmad Shawl presented his book ‘Speaking Silence’ to
her.(Writer-South Asia)
