RPF elaborates alleged racism of India-I
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, March 08 2019: Highlighting the selective targeting of Kashmiri people in different parts of India in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack of February 14, the proscribed RPF has alleged that racism is deeply ingrained in the minds of mainland Indians and their leaders.

A lengthy statement issued by the outfit's Publicity Secretary Roben Khuman asserted that a large number of innocent Kashmiri people particularly students and traders were subjected to severe harassment in different parts of India after one Jaish-e-Mohammed member killed 40 CRPF personnel in a suicide attack.

A number of Kashmiri students were also expelled from several educational institutions but Indian rulers, political leaders and the people of mainland India did not speak a word against harassment of Kashmiri people.

It was only after the Supreme Court directed the Government of India to protect Kashmiri people that Indian leaders stated that their fight was against terrorism, not against the people of Kashmir, remarked the outfit.

But these incidents clearly testified that Indian people do not see Kashmiris as fellow Indians and what the mainland Indians have been craving is the territory of Kashmir to build a big Hindustan, it alleged.

Since the then Hindu king Hari Singh merged Muslim majority Kashmir with India in 1947, violence and turmoil became permanent features of Kashmir.

The United Nations recognised Jammu and Kashmir which existed on August 14, 1947 and more than one lakh Kashmiri people have been killed in the course of their movement for restoration of the lost independence of Jammu and Kashmir.

Hijbul Mujahiddin leader Burhan Wani was killed by the Indian army along with two of his friends on July 8, 2016, said RPF and added that the killing of Burhan Wani and his friends evoked massive and sustained protest across Kashmir valley.

Young students, both boys and girls, confronted security forces for days and they even defied curfew imposed by the State.

Live bullets, pellet guns and tear gas could not subdue the mass protest for weeks and months, Roben Khuman said.

The young Kashmiri students, driven by their yearning for independence, fought pitched battles only with stones and sticks against security forces armed with pellet guns which were introduced in 2010 with the primary objective of suppressing people's movements in Kashmir.

Out of 1314 people injured by pellet guns between 2016 and 2018, 1253 have lost their eye sight.

Maximum people sustained injuries in the eyes because security forces aimed their pellet guns at chests and heads rather than below waist.

Taking strong exception to the huge casualties, the Amnesty International asked India to stop using pellet guns.

According to doctors, 41 per cent of Kashmiri youth have been suffering from stress and anxiety while maximum people have been affected by conflict.

The outfit alleged that the Indian army has decided to target militants as well as Kashmiri youth on the ground that young Kashmiris have been taking pivotal role in the people's movement by forming political organisations and taking up political activities.

As such, Indian army has started targeting innocent Kashmiri people regardless of whether their political protest is violent or not, it continued.

Apart from contorting the freedom of Kashmiri people, Indian military forces are instrumental in the involuntary disappearance of a large number of innocent Kashmiri people, it alleged.

Although involuntary disappearance of people after they are arrested by security forces is not heard of nowadays in developed countries, Government of India has been systematically orchestrating a series of involuntary disappearances in WESEA including Manipur and Kashmir.

There are many graveyards built by security forces in Kashmir.

The number of people who have disappeared involuntarily after they were arrested by security forces in Kashmir ranges between 8000 to 10,000.Even though majority of people were not aware of these cases of involuntary disappearances, a large number of secret graveyards were discovered in 2011, Roben said.

A special investigation team (SIT) of the State (Kashmir) Human Rights Commission had brought out a report after investigation.

The Government at first tried to keep at bay any investigation into the issue but finally SIT carried out an investigation spanning over three years after persistent insistence by the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) and the Indian People's Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Kashmir (IPTK) .

The SIT's report was later made available to general public under the Right to Information Act and it was also published widely in local media, Roben said.

According to the report, the 11-member SIT team went to Bandipora, Baramulla, Kupwara and Handwara districts and probed 38 mass graves which were unknown to public.

The report also mentioned that 2730 bodies were found in the 38 mass graves as stated by grave diggers.

The grave diggers said that they buried the bodies at the instruction of the army and they kept silent on the matter as they feared for their lives.

While 574 bodies were later identified to be those of local people, 2156 bodies could not be identified at the time of the investigation.

The SIT report also mentioned that many of the bodies buried at different such secret graveyards might turn out to be those victims of involuntary disappearance.

As reported by SIT, most bodies had decomposed and it was almost impossible to be identified.

Nonetheless, most of these bodies were males and they bore bullet marks, it continued.

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