New Delhi: Five years since Jammu and Kashmir has been without an elected government and four years after the revocation of its special status under Article 370, human rights violations have continued in the region, making it imperative for the Union government to hold assembly elections, a new report has said.The Forum for Human Rights in Jammu and Kashmir, an independent body of concerned citizens, released its fourth annual report on Thursday titled “Five Years Without an Elected Administration: Human Rights in Jammu and Kashmir, August 2022 – July 2023”.The report was launched by the Forum along with National Conference president Farooq Abdullah, and members of parliament Manoj Jha (RJD), Supriya Sule (NCP), Kanimozhi (DMK), Shashi Tharoor (Congress), Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M) and Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami (PAGD).The co-chairs of the Forum include Gopal Pillai, former home secretary, Government of India and Radha Kumar, former member, Group of Interlocutors for Jammu and Kashmir.What the report foundThe report said that while the Ministry of Home Affairs has said in the Supreme Court in a counter affidavit filed last month that the reading down of Article 370 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act of August 9, 2019, had brought “unprecedented development, progress, security and stability to the region”, the facts suggest otherwise.The report has found that while there has been improvement on some parameters, human rights violations continue on most.While the number of lives lost due to armed attacks and counter-insurgency operations was lower than in the previous year, the number of police personnel who died, including Central Reserve Police Forces (CRPF), continues to be high.“71 CRPF troops were killed in the four years between 2019-2022, twice as many as in the previous four years, 2014-2018, when 35 died. By comparison, in the four years between 2012-2015, which can be categorised as an uneasy interregnum between the post-peace process years and the rise of conflict in the BJP-PDP coalition, 27 CRPF troops were killed,” it said.The report has also drawn attention to the resurgence of militancy in Jammu after decades of peace.“The 2022 delimitation of fresh legislative constituencies, adding Poonch and Rajouri to Kashmir’s Anantnag, may have added to the alienation that these Muslim-majority areas face with the sharpening of communal divides in Jammu,” it said.The report added that there has been no improvement in gross violations of the freedom of expression and movement, especially the rights of the media, and pointed to the arrests under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Public Safety Act (PSA).Along with Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir has the highest rate of undertrials as a proportion of its prison population at 91%, against the national average of 76%, it said.The region’s prisons can house a total of 3,629 inmates, but they lodged 5,300 as of June 2023, it added.The report said that at 23.1% in March 2023, unemployment was almost three times the national average of 7.8%.It added that while a record year of tourism in 2022 has boosted the economy, it still lags behind the national average on per capita income and rates of growth.Need to hold electionsThe main demand of the report is to highlight the need for holding assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir as well as a legislative assembly in Ladakh.“It has been nine years since the last legislative election in Jammu and Kashmir. The union administration accepted the delimitation commission’s report a year ago and it is eight months since fresh electoral rolls were prepared.“All the preparations for an election have thus been completed, but the election commission has yet to announce dates for it,” it said.Kumar said that the report highlights the need to hold elections because the right to vote is a fundamental right.“Right to vote and periodic and regular elections is a fundamental right,” she said while releasing the report.“Hence we have focused on elections,” she said.“The other big concern is the resurgence of militancy in Jammu. Why has this resurgence happened after decades?”Abdullah said that there is a need to bridge the trust deficit that exists between the people of Jammu and Kashmir and the rulers in Delhi.“There is a trust deficit between Delhi and people of Jammu and Kashmir. If this nation has to survive we have to survive together, we cannot survive by dividing each other,” he said.Highlighting the findings of the report, Tharoor said the figures of the killing of CRPF jawans reflects the tension in the region.“This is a reflection of the persistence of tension in Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.“One part of India which is used to having elections hasn’t had polls in nine years. There is a need to initiate action against those who violate human rights as well as intimidation of journalists.“The government must work in cooperation with local groups to ensure the return of Kashmiri Pandits,” he added.The report release in Delhi. Photo: Atul Ashok HowaleJha said that the question of Kashmir needs to be seen as a whole and without any “ifs and buts”.“We need to hold elections immediately. There is a huge difference between the idea of normalcy in Delhi and that in Kashmir. What we saw in Manipur also shows that the idea (of the government) is to use polarisation and majoritarian ethos to win elections,” he said.Sule said that the report highlights the failed promise of home minister Amit Shah who had promised to hold elections a year after revoking Article 370.“Amit Shah had promised elections in a year when he brought the bill in parliament. Now four years on that has not happened,” she said.Yechury said that if the government’s claims are to be believed, it is now an opportune moment to hold elections in Jammu and Kashmir.“Government claims peace has been restored and there are conditions for elections. If that’s the case today the conditions are perfect to hold elections and there’s no militancy according to them, there is peace and tranquility-Then why are elections not being held?“Restoration of democratic participation of people will go a long way. Pressure must be mounted for immediate holding of elections.”Other key recommendationsAlong with the need to hold elections in Jammu and Kashmir, the report has recommended that the government should accept and implement the tribal welfare ministry’s recommendation that Ladakh be included in the sixth schedule.It added that the executive authority of the Kargil and Leh hill councils should be restored and the prospect of statehood should be discussed with concerned stakeholders in Ladakh and in Jammu and Kashmir.The report has also recommended the release of all political prisoners who were taken into detention on or after August 4, 2019, repeal of the PSA and other preventive detention legislation and the release of journalists and activists including Irfan Mehraj, Fahad Shah, Aasif Sultan and Khurram Pervez, amongst others.It has also recommended the local communities be involved in facilitating the return of Kashmiri Pandits, reinstating all the former state’s statutory oversight bodies, especially those monitoring human rights.It said there is also a need to ensure that the army’s additional directorate for human rights is given full freedom in the role it can play investigating alleged human rights abuses and monitoring adherence to the humanitarian guidelines to be followed when conducting cordon and search operations (CASO), to prevent civilian deaths, injuries or any other damage or loss.The members of the Forum include Justice A.P. Shah, former chief justice of the Madras and Delhi high courts, Justice Bilal Nazki, former chief justice of the Orissa high court, Justice Ruma Pal, former judge of the Supreme Court of India, Justice Hasnain Masoodi, former judge of the Jammu and Kashmir high court, Justice Anjana Prakash, former judge of the Patna high court, Gopal Pillai, former home secretary, Government of India, Nirupama Rao, former foreign secretary, Government of India, Probir Sen, former secretary-general, National Human Rights Commission, Amitabha Pande, former secretary, Inter-State Council, Government of India, Moosa Raza, former chief secretary, Government of Jammu and Kashmir, Shantha Sinha, former chairperson, National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights, Major-General Ashok Mehta (retd), Air Vice-Marshal Kapil Kak (retd), Lieutenant-General H.S. Panag (retd), Colonel Yoginder Kandhari (retd), Enakshi Ganguly, co-founder and former co-director, HAQ Centre for Child Rights, Ramachandra Guha, writer and historian, and Anand Sahay, columnist.
