Press Trust of India Posted online: Tuesday, September 12, 2006 at 1521 hours IST Updated: Tuesday, September 12, 2006 at 1702 hours IST
Srinagar, September 12: There is considerable evidence of Pakistan's support to militants in Jammu and Kashmir even as the human rights situation in the state has shown improvement since the Congress-PDP government came into power in 2002, a leading New York-based human rights group has said.
In its report on the human rights situation in the state, Human Rights Watch said there is ‘considerable’ evidence that Pakistan has given Kashmiri militants "training, weapons, funding and sanctuary over the last many years."
"The militants and their backers must end the bombings and the targeting of civilians. Continued abuses ensure that the cycle of violence will continue and these abuses only add to suffering of people in which name militants are ostensibly fighting," the report, released here by executive director of Human Rights Watch (HRW) for Asia Brad Adams, said.
Under pressure from the US after the September 11 attacks, Pakistan banned several militant groups in January 2002 including the Jaish-e-Muhammad and Lashkar-e-Toiba but these groups continued to operate after changing their
It said Pakistan appears to be keeping its options open should peace talks collapse by continuing to support these groups and that Islamabad remains accountable for abuses committed by militants that it has armed and trained.
After releasing the report in Srinagar for the first time, Adams said the human rights situation in the state has improved since the Congress-PDP coalition government came to power in 2002.
"Things on the ground are getting better but that is not enough. It is good news that the Congress-PDP government has taken seriously the issue of disappearances of people but these disappearances have to be accounted for and the guilty punished," the HRW official said.
The report said the militants have been responsible for bomb attacks that target civilians. They have attacked religious minorities in Kashmir such as Hindus and Sikhs as well as ethnic minorities such as Gujjars.
Although many of the militant groups currently operating in Jammu and Kashmir have become increasingly unpopular, Kashmiris are afraid to speak out against them, it said.
A conflict over Kashmiri identity and independence has slowly but visibly mutated into a fight under the banner of religion, pitting Islam against Hinduism and drawing religious radicals into its heart, it said.
The report said militant groups have targeted civilians including women and children, whom they consider to be traitors to the cause or for expressing views to those of one or the another armed group.
Alleged militants have murdered nearly 600 Kashmiri politicians since the conflict began, usually as a retribution for joining the electoral process. Officials conducting the polls have been killed or tortured, some with their noses or ears chopped off, it added.
Unless the human rights crisis is addressed in Jammu and Kashmir, a political settlement of the conflict will remain illusory, Adams said.
HRW will release its report on human rights situation in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in Islamabad on September 21.
Srinagar, September 12: There is considerable evidence of Pakistan's support to militants in Jammu and Kashmir even as the human rights situation in the state has shown improvement since the Congress-PDP government came into power in 2002, a leading New York-based human rights group has said.
