This is a report of a J&K State Human Rights Commission investigation on unmarked graves in North Kashmir. The police investigation (excluding the evidence presented by witnesses unwilling to go on record for security reasons) confirmed at least 2730 unidentified dead bodies in unmarked graves in North Kashmir. Most of these bodies where handed over by the local police to the local population for their burial and had bullet injuries, were defaced, 20 were charred , 5 dead bodies consisted only of skulls and in more than 18 graves more than one unidentified dead body is buried. The local police claimed the dead to be unidentified militants; however, 574 were identified as locals at the 38 places visited by Police Investigating Wing. The Government accounts for only 464 unidentified dead bodies in North Kashmir.

‍Topics: unmarked graves in North Kashmir

Terms: State Human Rights Commission (SHRC), unmarked graves, excessive use of force, extrajudicial killings, mass killings, mutilation of bodies, misidentification of dead, state disinformation, state propaganda, failure to investigate, failure to prosecute

This report covers the surge in repression and state violence beginning in June 2010 with a focus on mental health.

Topics: state violence, repression, mental health

Terms: street battles, killings, curfew, military presence, military convoys

This report by the IPTK (formed by Indian human rights activists for the purpose of probing human right violations in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir) analyzes fake encounters, whereby the state justifies escalated militarization by linking Kashmiri civilians to “foreign terror”. The report concludes that such claims enable state impunity.

Topics: Indian Armed Forces discourses of terrorism and fake encounters, extrajudicial executions at Machil, disappearance, murder, profit motive, investigation and obfuscation, recommendations, international humanitarian law and the use of force
Terms: extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention, excessive use of force, fake encounters, Village Defence Committees (VDCs), Machil Murders of Shahzad Ahmad, Riyaz Ahmad and Mohammad Shafi, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial kidnappings, Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), Disturbed Areas Act, Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act (PSA), Ranbir Penal Code, Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA)

This is a report of an international people's tribunal convened in February 2010 by the Human Rights Law Network and ANHAD and led by retired judges.  The tribunal was organized to provide a platform to the victims of the ongoing armed conflict (for violations suffered since 1990). The tribunal witnessed testimonies from all sections of Kashmiri society, including victims, their family members, social activists, journalists and academicians. In all, 37 testimonies came to be recorded during the two-day long
tribunal. The idea behind conducting such an event was to highlight the sufferings of all such victims and to formulate certain suggestions/ recommendations
in order to minimize the use of force against the common man in the name of national security by the security agencies.

Topics: custodial killings, enforced disappearances, rape cases, Amarnath land row, case of unidentified gunmen, cases of unprovoked firing, expert testimonies, militarization, draconian laws, disappearances, rape, plight of the disabled, failure of all democratic institutions and redressal mechanisms, recommendations, interim report of the tribunal, concluding observations of the UN Human Rights Committee on the Report of India

Terms: extrajudicial killings, custodial rape, judiciary failure, custodial torture, Amarnath land row, Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, Public Safety Act (PSA), Disturbed Areas Act, lack of accountability, legalized impunity, failure of judiciary, failure of State Human Rights Council, excessive use of force, harassment of human rights defenders, torture, rape as a weapon of war, enforced disappearances, fake encounters, firing on unarmed protestors, psychological trauma, post traumatic stress disorder

This report documents the impacts of militarization in Indian-Administered Kashmir (IAK) in considerable detail. Based on applied research conducted between November 2006-2009, this report documents 2,700 unknown, unmarked and mass graves containing 2,943+ bodies across 55 villages in Bandipora, Baramulla and Kupwara districts of IAK. The report also documents how military and paramilitary actions (6,67,000 personnel) act with legal impunity in IAK. Through organizing deception, Kashmiri Muslim men are posed as agents in cross-border armed militant negotiations, as harbingers of violence to Kashmiri Muslim women and the Indian nation.  Official state discourse conflates cross-border militancy with present nonviolent struggles by local Kashmiri groups (and separatist leaders with divergent positions), portraying local
resistance as “terrorist” activity.

‍Topics: graves, explanations - crimes against humanity, concerns, mass graves, political situation, people’s tribunal, kupwara, baramulla and bandipora districts, encounters and fake encounters- an index, recommendations

Terms: organized lying, state propaganda, fake encounters, encounter killings, psychological warfare, extrajudicial killings, mass graves, unmarked graves, legalized impunity, denial of access to justice, Central Reserve Police Force, Village Defence Committees, extrajudicial killing of minors, custodial torture, custodial rape, excessive use of force, illegal occupation of land, gendered violence, orphans