Nearly 40,000 Kashmiris have fallen to the bullets in the Valley. Activists say official truths do not match the ground realities.
SRINAGAR: Shazia was forced to take on the reins of her huge family at a young age of 18. She lost her father to a massive cardiac arrest three years ago. He could not bear the loss of his son, her brother Basharat Ahmed, who was caught in the security forces-militant cross fire.
After her father, the onus of looking after her three younger sisters, two brothers and her widowed mother fell on Shazia, who was forced to learn the art of tailoring to earn a living.
“Life has been tough for us. Basharat was murdered in cold blood and my poor father could not bear the loss. I had no other option but to go out and work for my family,” says Shazia, who besides working in a boutique, is pursuing her graduation.
Shazia’s is not an isolated case. Many such heart-rending tales will tumble out of the Kashmir closet and the people here feel that the World Human Rights Day, which was observed on Sunday, is mere “tokenism and holds no promise”. With nearly 41,000 innocent victims and 10,000 missing persons ‘human rights’ is still a luxury for the common man in strife-torn Kashmir.
Tahira’s tragedy is another case in point. The 30-year-old has sold all her jewellery and ornaments to meet expenditures concurred in tracing her missing husband. Tariq Ahmed Raather, a mason, had left his home in 2002 for Delhi, but has not returned till date. “Whatever I had I sold it to find my husband. I visited a number of jails, but could not trace him. I have not given up and I continue my search,” she says. With three children to look after, she lives in a rented house and earns her living by sewing sweaters and stitching cloths. “My in-laws have spurned me and there is no one to take care of us. We have been left to fend for ourselves,” she says.
Sailing in the same boat is 60-year-old Rahti of Tengpora district. She refused to take aid from the government after her son Mushtaq Ahmed disappeared while in custody. She has left no stone unturned to find her son. “I will continue my struggle till my last breath. Money does not thrill me and I want my son,” she says.
Human rights activists say the official truth does not match with the ground realities in violence-plagued Kashmir. “The CBMs and peace processes have not brought any change in the ground situation. The human rights situation is pretty grim. And civil society has not led a sustained campaign to like their counterparts throughout the world, to make their voices heard,” says Parvez Imroz, patron of Coalition of Civil Society.
The J&K government constituted the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) in 1999 to check the human rights abuses. But it too failed to deliver the goods because the law prohibits them to investigate the case pertaining to central security agencies.
The SHRC has received 3546 complaints of human rights since its inception and it claims to have disposed off 2381. Around 606 cases were recommended for compensation.
“We need more cooperation from the government in accepting our recommendations pertaining to different cases of human rights abuses. We are already doing our best to deliver the justice in an effective manner,” says Justice (retd) MY Kawosa, chairman of SHRC.
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