Srinagar, August 30, 2021 (PPI-OT):In Indian illegally occupied Kashmir, Indian troops and police personnel subjected thousands of Kashmiri youth to enforced disappearance during custody over the last thirty two years. According to a report released by the Research Section of the Kashmir Media Service on the occasion of the International Day of Disappeared, today, Jammu and Kashmir being the most militarized zone in the world has witnessed killings, enforced disappearances, torture, rape and other brutalities by the Indian forces over the last three decades. Over 8,000 youth vanished in the custody after they were picked up by the troops, police and paramilitary forces since 1990.
The report revealed that more than 200,000 relatives of victims of the enforced disappearances have been working tirelessly to trace their missing ones. Also the families of the disappeared people suffer economically because in most cases, the breadwinner of the family was targeted.
The report maintained that disappearances not only silence opponents but also create uncertainty and fear in the wider community. This inhuman, savage and insensate act has been committed by all the tributaries of so-called security apparatus comprising Indian army, paramilitary forces, and special task forces as well as counterinsurgents working under the superintendence, control and direction of the security forces.
The cruel practice of enforced disappearances has given rise to a new class of people called half-widows and half orphans, now common phrases used in Kashmir. The impunity provided to the troops through draconian laws like Armed Forces Special Powers Act, Disturbed Areas Act and Public Safety Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act gave them the licence to kill, terrorize, arrest and harass the people and ransack their property without being questioned.
Meanwhile, Hurriyat leaders and human rights activists including Muhammad Ahsan Untoo, Zamrooda Habib, and Yasmeen Raja, Fareeda Behanji, Shabbir Ahmad Dar, Jammu and Kashmir Social Justice League and several other organizations in their statements in Srinagar expressed solidarity with the families of the enforced disappeared persons. They appealed to the world community to play its role in tracing the whereabouts of the thousands of enforced disappeared Kashmiris.
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