Srinagar, May 28, 2018 (PPI-OT): In occupied Kashmir, Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) in association with Indian Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL) has called upon India to investigate the cases of enforced disappearances, ensure speedy justice to victims and prosecute the perpetrators of enforced disappearances.
On the eve of the International Week of the Disappeared, the APDP in a statement said, “Following the commission of widespread and systematic enforced disappearances of more than 8,000 persons in Jammu and Kashmir, the government has chosen to protect itself and its own forces by disregarding the very existence of the crime itself.”
Despite repeated recommendations from the Human Rights Commission for a comprehensive forensic investigation into more than 7,000 unknown, unmarked and mass graves found across various districts of Jammu and Kashmir, the administration seems to be unwilling to initiate any such effective inquiry, the APDP deplored.
“Due to the continued denial, the families of disappeared particularly half widows and their children continues to suffer endlessly,” the APDP said and called upon Indian civil society and international community to intervene and hold the government of India, a claimant for permanent seat in the UN Security Council, accountable for more than 8,000 enforced disappearances and existence of 7000 unknown, unmarked and mass graves in J and K.” The International Week of the Disappeared is observed between May 29 to June 4, ever year.
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