This report by FIDH provides a partial summary of the main human rights violations that reported between August 5, 2019 and September 26, 2019. These violations include mass detentions, use of torture, forced labour, extrajudicial killings, prevention access to medical care, internet blockade, and the infringement of religious rights.

Topics: Mass arrests, allegations of torture by armed forces, forced labour by army personnel, several killed in protests amid severe restrictions on assemblies, Indian MPs denied access, communications shut down, journalists arrested, prayers forbidden, right to health threatened by blockade
Terms: abrogation of Article 370, arbitrary detention, violation of constitutional rights, violation of democratic rights, Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act of 2019, imposition of curfew, excessive use of force, mass arrests, arbitrary detention, custodial torture, use of forced labour, extrajudicial killings, lack of freedom of speech, lack of freedom of assembly, lack of freedom of movement, informational and internet blockade, prevention of access to healthcare, violation of freedom of religion, violation of freedom of conscience

A team of 5 women visited Kashmir from September 17th-21st 2019 to see how the then 43-day lockdown had affected the people, particularly women and children. They find that “those claiming that the situation is slowly returning to normalcy are making false claims based on distorted facts” and some of their demands include the restoration of article 370 and 35A, and the restoration of all communication lines in Kashmir. 

Topics: 2019 Kashmir information blockade, abrogation of Article 370 and 35A, state of women and children in Kashmir, human rights violations, desire for independence

Terms: enforced disappearances, half-widows, extrajudicial killings, custodial torture, torture of minors, custodial rape, excessive use of force, right to self determination

This is a ground report by Himal Southasian (a news magazine, which covers politics and culture in South Asia). The ground report covers the situation in the Kashmir Valley in the weeks following the lockdown that began on August 4, 2019.

Topics: Hindutva, testimonies, internet shutdown, information blockade, arbitrary detention

Terms: hindutva, Khurram Parvez, Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act (PSA), Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA)

NWMI is an organisation that aims to provide a forum for women in media professions to share information and resources, exchange ideas, promote media awareness and ethics. The FreeSpeechCollective aims to protect the right to freedom of expression and vigorously promote free speech and the right to dissent.

Topics: censorship and control of news, detention and threat of arrest, undermining of local media, three decades of covering the conflict, dealing with the internet ban, internet shutdown, closure of publications and websites, job losses, salary cuts, precarity for freelancers, women journalists chip away at the barricades, the untold stories

Terms: information blockade, abrogation of Article 370, media censorship, arbitrary arrest, lack of freedom of speech, internet shutdown, denial of the right to a free press and information

This is a communication from the Working Group on arbitrary detention, Working Group on enforced or involuntary disappearances, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; and Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders to the Indian Government concerning severe restrictions on freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly and of association in Indian-Administered Jammu and Kashmir, as well as the arbitrary arrests and detention of political figures, journalists, members of civil society and human rights defenders in the state, and violations of the right to life.

Topics: denial of free expression, denial of free assembly, arbitrary detention

Terms: The Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 2019, article 370, article 35A, Jammu and Kashmir (Reorganisation) Bill, 2019, Section 144 Code of Criminal Procedure, communication blackout, August 5, 2019, live ammunition, rubber bullets, pellet guns, tear gas, raids of homes, abductions,enforced disappearances