Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances

Cover

Table of Contents

Editorial
- Families of the Disappeared Unite!

Cover Story
-They do not ask for Charity… They demand Justice!

Country Situations

New Hopes for Ending Impunity in China

And Disappearances Continue…

Four-Year Effort To Reveal Disappearances: A Reflection

An Individual Tragedy With Universal Pain

The Human Rights Commission in
Sri Lanka

Photos:
Forum and Leadership Training

Legal Analysis
The UN Negotiation on the Draft Treaty…

Political Analysis
Showdown in Baghdad

Features
Daddy’s Diary

News Features
The Nilo Valerio Foundation’s Coming Into Being

No Closure ‘till Justice is Achieved

The Formation of Indonesian Association…

Year-End Report
– A Summary
2002 Revisited

Literary
Warning

COUNTRY SITUATION
INDIA

And Disappearances Continue…

By: Atty. Parvez Imroz 1

On February 25, 2003, the Chief of Jammu and Kashmir, Mufti Muhammad Sayeed informed the state assembly that 3,734 persons were reportedly missing since 2000. Mufti Muhammad Sayeed said that 1,553 persons disappeared in 2000. The ex gratia relief has been issued only in 132 cases. Ninety of these were from Kashmir and 42 were from Jammu region. The government assured that it would soon evolved a mechanism to ascertain the fate of missing persons.

This was for the first time the statement regarding enforced or involuntary disappearances was made by an executive head of the state. On July 18, 2002, State Home Minister Khalid Najeeb Soharwardy had also admitted that 3,184 persons are missing in the valley after the outbreak of militancy.

The statement was startling as the figures quoted relate to only cases of the last three years, while disappearances are a continuing problem in Jammu and Kashmir since 1989. The Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) apprehends that the number could somewhere between 8,000 and 10,000, affecting more than two hundred relatives directly.

It is a customary practice that whenever a new government comes to power, it expresses grave concern over the disappearances and blames the previous regime for it. Even when the National Conference took power in1996, it also blamed the governor Raj for the enforced disappearances and for doing nothing worthwhile to address the phenomenon.

The Minister of State for Home on July 11, 2000 has on record, stated that their government would appoint the District Screening and Coordinating Committee, which would be dealing with the cases of the missing persons in their respective districts and decide if the missing persons be presumed dead. The committee ordered circular No. Home 62/98-62 reliefs dated 12-07-1999, that it will take the circumstance surrounding every case and the available evidence into the consideration taking their views. The district Magistrate will place such cases before the Coordinating Committee where the representative of the committee should decide, “if it can be presumed that the person is dead and the ex gratia relief be shall be refunded in the event of any subsequent event, which would prove that death had not taken place.

However, APDP objected this committee, which comprised of the very perpetrators. The committee has hitherto not met and subsequently has not solved or decide any case.

Even the present regime, while making human rights a major election issue, has assured the punishment of the perpetrators and provision of healing touch the people, has not brought any relief since it came to power on November 2, 2002. The government seems no different from its predecessors. And, until February 2, 2003, when this government completed 100 days in office, 16 cases of enforced or involuntary disappearances have been reported by the APDP.

Would there be a halt to the phenomenon of enforced disappearances in Jammu and Kashmir? Will the perpetrators be taken to justice and the laws of impunity be revoked? Will the families be indemnified by the state? These are few questions, which the human rights groups are concerned with. It is unlikely that the phenomenon will stop as the state government is helpless and has literally no control over more than five hundred thousands military and para military forces deployed at every nook and corner of the states to neutralize the “3,000”. The federal government, which is in full control of the forces, is apparently unwilling to repeal the laws of impunity. It urges that any action against the armed forces would have “demoralizing effect” on them while fighting the “proxy war”.

The APDP has been campaigning since 1994 for stopping the enforced disappearances like other organizations campaigning in their respective countries. The incessant campaign made by the relatives of the desaparecidos notwithstanding, has been able to make enforced or involuntary disappearances an issue regionally, nationally and internationally. Though the figures of the enforced or involuntary disappearances have come down, still it is far from being over. The encouraging thing is that disempowerment and impoverished families of the victims of the enforced or involuntary disappearances have come under one banner for the collective action, braving the implicit and explicit threats from the law enforcing agencies. The impediments found by the survey conducted by the organization is that due to economical constraints, these families are unable to do what their counterparts in different countries are doing, which are being supported by missionaries and by the previous governments and other philanthropic bodies. After the disappearances of the earning members of the family, the financially incapacitated families capitulated. Almost 85 percent of the families are after the pittance (ex gratia relief), which they expect from the government for the sustenance of their families including the pressing educational needs of their children. The financial support from outside is not possible because grants and funding have been regulated by the legislation called FCRA (Foreign Contribution Regulation Act) and the federal government is unlikely to issue registration to such organizations. Even the normal registration of the voluntary organization under the Registrations of the Societies Act is unlikely because a No Objection Certificate (NOC) is needed. The purpose is to be provided by the intelligence agencies. The registration of The APDP, which does not accepts grants from the political and government agencies, would embarrass the government.

As the position of the association is to seek justice i.e. the perpetrators be punished for the crimes against humanity, consequently the association is against the ex gratia relief which it considers as a bribe to silence the relatives of the victims of enforced or involuntary disappearances (EID). The association considers the ex gratia policy as sheer exploitation of the poverty-stricken relatives. The government, which is vociferous about these relief packages, has not even provided it to just one percent of victims.

The APDP’s consistent and constant demand of probe into all the enforced or involuntary disappearances is unlikely in the foreseeable future. The government hesitates because the probe will expose itself and can cause the serious international humanitarian concern. This is true despite the fact that the association itself, with the support of international organization and civil socieity groups is mounting pressure on the government to address the phenomenon of enforced or involuntary disappearances and seek justice for the concerned families. Truly, it is a long-drawn fight. But whatever it takes, the association will never retreat from its chosen path. In the immediate, the association likely to go for a hunger strike along with the relatives of desaparecidos in different countries in the near future. This will be one of the many steps towards the struggle for truth, justice and redress.

1 Atty. Parvez Imroz is a human rights lawyer and a member of the Bar in the state of Jammu and Kashmir (JK), India. He also handles cases of victims of involuntary disappearances. Atty. Imroz is the patron of the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons in Jammu and Kashmir, India and is the president of the JK Coalition Civil Society.

VOICE April 2003