International rights group urges India to probe unidentified graves in Kashmir

Kashmir
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The Associated Press

SRINAGAR, India: An international human rights group urged India on Monday to launch an immediate probe into hundreds of unidentified graves discovered in Indian-controlled Kashmir, saying they may be those of innocent people killed by Indian forces.

The plea from the London-based Amnesty International comes after a local rights group said it discovered nearly 1,000 unidentified graves scattered in cemeteries around the town of Uri, one of the most violent parts of Kashmir. Uri is near the Line of Control, the de facto frontier that divides Indian- and Pakistani-controlled Kashmir.

"The grave sites are believed to contain the remains of victims of unlawful killings, enforced disappearances, torture and other abuses which occurred in the context of armed conflict persisting in the state since 1989," Amnesty said in a statement.

More than a dozen Islamic groups have been fighting mainly Hindu India in Kashmir since 1989, demanding independence or a union with mostly Muslim Pakistan. Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, but claimed by both in its entirety.

"As an immediate step, the grave sites must be secured in order to preserve the evidence," Amnesty said, calling on the Indian government to allow outside experts to probe the graves.

Last month, Association of Parents of Disappeared People, a prominent local rights group, issued a report saying it found 940 unmarked graves near Uri.

Human rights workers have complained for years that innocent people have disappeared, have been killed by government forces in staged gunbattles, and suspected rebels have been arrested and never heard from again.

Rights groups say there have been an estimated 8,000-10,000 disappearances since the violence erupted.

Last year, authorities charged seven policemen with murdering five civilians in staged gunbattles and trying to pass them off as foreign militants to claim rewards and earn promotions.

The government says most of the people who disappeared are Kashmiri youths who crossed into neighboring Pakistan for weapons training, while the Indian army has dismissed the initial report as an attempt to malign the military.

Meanwhile, more than 100 activists of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, the region's main political separatist group, held a silent protest in Srinagar on Monday demanding an independent probe into the graves.

The protesters carried banners and placards that read, "Nameless graves: Stop mass killings in Kashmir" and "We want freedom."

More than 68,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in the conflict.

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This page contains a single entry by Marga Lacabe published on 7 de Abril 2008 5:39 PM.

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