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US flays India on human rights, targets J&K

The United States has highlighted murders and crimes committed by pro-government counter-militants in Jammu and Kashmir and criticised New Delhi for using them in its anti-insurgency operations in the trouble-torn Kashmir valley.

"In sponsoring and condoning counter-militant activity, which takes place outside the legal system, the government (of India) cannot avoid responsibility for killings, abductions and other abuses committed by these irregulars,'' according to the state department's annual report of 'Human Rights Practices' around the world.

The report, which was released in Washington on Friday, after it was made available to Congress under a statutory requirement, says ''killings and abductions of suspected militants and other persons by pro-government militants continued as a significant pattern in Jammu and Kashmir.''

It describes counter-militants as former separatist militants who have surrendered to government forces but have retained their arms and paramilitary organisation.

Although precise numbers are unavailable, the state department document alleges that pro-government counter-militants may have committed 100 or 200 extrajudicial killings in Jammu and Kashmir during 1997. Human rights groups believe the number was slightly less than in 1996.

The report says government agencies fund, exchange intelligence with, and direct operations of counter-militants as part of the counter-insurgency efforts.

''Perhaps, as many as 3,000 continue to operate in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly in the countryside, outside major towns,'' the report adds.

The state department's document also says that ''during the year (1997), the government took steps to organise Kashmiri counter-militants as a battalion in the paramilitary forces as a means of bringing them under enhanced control and military discipline.''

Dealing with India's overall human rights record in 1997, it records ''continued'' and ''significant'' human rights abuses in the country, despite extensive constitutional and statutory safeguards.

"Many of these abuses are generated by intense social tensions, violent secessionist movements and the authorities's attempts to repress them and deficient police methods and training,'' it adds.

The report says these problems are acute in Jammu and Kashmir, due to the judicial tolerance of the government's heavy-handed anti-militant tactics, and by the refusal of security forces to obey court orders.

Separatist insurgent violence in the North-Eastern states increased, along with reported incidents of security force abuses, it notes.

The report also takes note of the progress that India had made last year in resolving human rights problems. In Punjab, serious abuses of the early 1990s were acknowledged and condemned by the Supreme Court.

The report also noted that continuing International Committee of the Red Cross prison visits in Jammu and Kashmir demonstrated some government transparency on human rights problems. However, its complaint is that researchers for international human rights organisations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are not permitted to visit Jammu and Kashmir or the North-East.

While welcoming India's signing of the United Nations Convention Against Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, New Delhi's decision not to accept its Article 20, 21 and 22 meant that the UN Human Rights Commission will not be able to investigate allegations of torture in India.

Earlier, Assistant Secretary of State for democracy and human rights John Shattuck, who briefed the press on the report said, ''In India, we continue to be concerned about abuses by the government forces, but we acknowledge the effective work of the National Human Rights Commission.''

Asked why India had been singled out for criticism, he said, ''I have painted a picture of progress sometimes simultaneously, in countries's progress and problems. That's certainly the case in India.''

He denied a suggestion that the report accorded Pakistan kid glove treatment in the human rights sphere. ''There are many issues that are addressed involving significant religious persecution in Pakistan.''

He told another questioner that the establishment of human rights commissions in India and Sri Lanka were ''positive developments'' but they had to be weighed against other situations, involving human rights abuses in the two countries.

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