India: Urgent need for Government to act as death toll rises in Kashmir.

With an increasing death toll in protests in Kashmir, Amnesty International calls on the Indian authorities to take urgent steps to ensure respect for the right to life and to investigate past killings of demonstrators by police.
With two more protestors shot dead today, Amnesty International urges the Indian government to immediately instruct the security forces not to use firearms against demonstrators. Security forces should use the minimum force necessary to defend themselves or others against an imminent threat of death or serious injury. They should not employ intentional lethal use of firearms except where such use is strictly unavoidable in order to protect life.
Ninety-six people have been killed since June when protests broke out in Jammu and Kashmir after the killings of three young men, reportedly by the security forces, in March. The vast majority of these killings have been at the hands of police and paramilitary forces.
An inquiry ordered by the authorities into 11 of the deaths by shooting in July has failed to make headway. Amnesty International renews its call to the government to initiate an independent, impartial and thorough investigation into all the killings. Members of the security forces responsible for excessive use of force in demonstrations should be brought to justice.
In the last week alone, at least 23 people were killed and 80 others injured in shootings by the state police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) paramilitary personnel. Protestors defied curfew regulations, held demonstrations and often clashed with the security personnel.
Protests in several places turned violent as demonstrators hurled stones at the security forces in the last week. Reports about threats to burn the Quran in the United States increased tensions. Demonstrators attacked two Christian schools and a hospital, burning one of the schools.
At the same time human rights activists in Srinagar told Amnesty International that on a number of occasions the security forces shot protestors who were throwing stones at them.
A number of towns in the Kashmir valley including Srinagar have been under 24 hour curfew for the last five days.
Information about these events has been restricted as a result of strict enforcement of the curfew regulations. Journalists have informed Amnesty International that, despite possessing curfew passes issued by the authorities, they have been prevented by the police and the paramilitary personnel from leaving their homes. With journalists unable to report on the situation, a number of regional television stations and newspapers have suspended their work.
Any restrictions on the rights to freedom of movement or freedom of expression imposed for the protection of public order should only be such as are necessary and proportionate for that purpose and should be consistent with the state’s other human rights obligations. In view of the key role of journalists in facilitating exercise the right to freedom of expression, which includes the right to receive information. Amnesty International calls on the Indian authorities to ensure that journalists can obtain curfew passes and are not harassed or otherwise obstructed while carrying out their professional functions of reporting and imparting information on issues of public concern.
More public protests have been announced for 21 September by the All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC), one of the largest political formations in Jammu and Kashmir. This underlines the urgency for the Indian authorities to instruct the security forces not to use lethal force when dealing with demonstrations.
The demonstrations began in late May over the reported extrajudicial execution of three young men by the Army at Machil in Baramulla district. Protests increased after 17-year old Tufail Mattoo was killed by security forces in Srinagar during a demonstration on 11 June. They have intensified during repeated cycles of protests and further killings of demonstrators by security forces.
The demonstrators have raised various concerns about the lack of accountability of the security forces; the withdrawal of Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act (AFSPA) 1958; the removal of Army camps – along with an underlying demand of independence for Kashmir.
The AFSPA, which gives special powers of immunity to the security forces, has been in force in parts of Jammu and Kashmir since 1990. The Central Government is currently debating the withdrawal of the AFSPA from a few of its districts.
One of the key demands of the state authorities and protesting organizations, namely the withdrawal of the AFSPA, does not appear to figure in the agenda of the all-party team from Delhi scheduled to visit Srinagar on 20 September.
Under the AFSPA, soldiers are protected from any legal proceedings unless specifically sanctioned by the Central Government. This rarely happens in practice, allowing armed forces personnel to violate human rights with impunity.

India: Authorities should investigate torture, sexual assault and illegal detention of adivasis in Chhattisgarh.

The Indian authorities should order a prompt, impartial and independent investigation into reports of torture and ill-treatment, including rape and other sexual violence, against adivasis (indigenous people) illegally detained in Chhattisgarh, Amnesty International said today.

Adivasis from Pachangi and Aloor villages in Kanker district told Amnesty International that paramilitary Border Security Force (BSF) personnel and the Chhattisgarh state police rounded up 40 adivasi men from their villages on 5 and 6 September, stripped them and beat them with sticks. Five men – Narsingh Kumra, Sukram Netam, Premsingh Potayi, Raju Ram and Bidde Potayi were reportedly raped with sticks and are still being treated at the Kanker government hospital.

These violations followed the 29 August ambush of a BSF-police patrol by members of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) in which three BSF personnel and two policemen were killed.

Seventeen people from the two villages were also detained– blindfolded, split into batches and taken to the BSF camp at Durgkondal in closed trucks. Amnesty International has been informed that at least two of those detained - Dhansu Khemra and Sarita Tulavi – were 16 year old girls while another four were women and girls between 16 and 20.

During their detention, security forces beat the detainees in an attempt to force them to confess that they were Maoists involved in the 29 August ambush. The interrogators gave electric shocks to at least 10 detainees and sexually assaulted two female detainees.

Villagers said that on the morning of 7 September the Kanker police released one female detainee Sunita, as she was suffering from malaria, and her father, Punnim Tulavi, a school-teacher, but then arrested two more men.

The five remaining female detainees were taken to a local court along with two of the adivasi men on 8 September, while the remaining ten male detainees were taken to court on 10 September. All of the adivasis were charged with involvement in the 29 August ambush by the banned Maoist armed group and are presently in Kanker and Jagdalpur prisons, after being denied bail.

Indian law requires that arrested persons be produced before a court within 24 hours of the arrest. In an attempt to circumvent this requirement, the police claimed the two groups of detainees were arrested only one day before their respective appearances in court.

Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including sexual violence, are prohibited in all circumstances, including war or other emergency under international law, and in particular the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Geneva Conventions. India is also a signatory to the United Nations’ Convention Against Torture and the Indian Parliament is currently engaged in passing a new law against torture in accordance with the provisions of the Convention before its ratification.

Amnesty International calls upon the Indian authorities to:

• Ensure a prompt, impartial, independent and effective investigation into the allegations of torture and other ill-treatment, including sexual assault, and the illegal detention of adivasis. Those suspected of involvement in the violations, including persons bearing command responsibility, should immediately be suspended from positions where they may repeat such offences, and brought to justice;

• Award the victims of torture and other ill-treatment full reparations. In particular, immediately ensure that all victims of torture and other ill-treatment, including sexual violence, are provided with proper medical care, both physical and psychological, by professionals trained and sensitised to treat such victims; and

• Ensure that, if – as a measure of last resort – those under the age of 18 are kept in prison, they are held separately from adults and otherwise treated in accordance with India’s juvenile justice legislation and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which India is a state party.

Over the last five years, Chhattisgarh has witnessed an escalation of violence between the banned Maoists who claim to be fighting on behalf of the adivasis and India’s paramilitary forces. At least 600 people have been killed and some 30,000 adivasis continue to be displaced from their homes in the state.

Update on my J-life.

I haven't written anything except for my column in so, so long. Only yesterday I penned this opinion piece about how advertisements in general and ads for the beauty sector in particular have a tremendous influence on an age group below the one they are targetted at. This influence is entirely negative to my way of thinking. For one, they construct images of an indeal form of beauty that simply cannot be acheived except with a team of chefs and dentists and dermatologists and chiropodists at your disposal. Secondly, it draws attention away from what adolescent girls are supposed to be doing, which remains in the twenty first century, acquiring an education. Mike liked it. He's going to put it in The Statesman pujo issue. It's going to be there in print, with my name, alongside pieces by veteran politicians and scientists and economists. I'm a few light years over the moon.
I am just now writing two very different kinds of pieces- one is an academic paper about Tagore and his education schemes, which I'm critiquing more than crticizing, and this is completely irrelevant to my journalistic life. The other is an imaginary interview with Coutere Rani Anamika Khanna, as part of an application to Vogue India as a fashion writer. I've already written a mini-autobiography about my style life thus far, and a comment on the tribal trend that's been a pet of international designers this last year. I'm trying to do it all as nicely as I can, but surprisingly, I found I like writing about "serious" issues somewhat better. I mean, I write because I love to, but surely it's more worthwhile if I write to make a difference, and not a difference on the level of rich women's appearances.
Also, a letter writing marathon event is on the planning stage, and I'm trying to involve as many people as I can. Here's a link to the project description-www.amnesty.ca/writeathon

Indian authorities must investigate online video of Kashmir detainee abuse.

Several people have been killed during recent protests in Kashmir.

Amnesty International has urged Indian authorities to carry out an effective investigation into a video clip that appears to show detainees in Kashmir being stripped and humiliated by security forces.

The three-minute clip, described on social networking sites as "Kashmir’s Abu Ghraib video", apparently shows Jammu and Kashmir police and Central Reserve Police Force personnel herding at least four naked young men to a nearby police station.

"This behaviour is in clear violation of the universal and absolute right to freedom from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment," said Donna Guest, Deputy Director of Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific programme.

The video, apparently recorded by one of the security personnel, has since been removed from social networking sites, including Facebook and YouTube, after the Jammu and Kashmir police reportedly began legal action against the publishers of what it termed a “baseless and malicious clip”.

It is unclear when the clip was recorded, although it was reportedly taken in the north-western town of Sopore.

The recorded conversation in Hindi-Urdu suggests that the security force personnel suspected the young men of being involved in throwing stones at the security forces, and that they had been caught after a long chase.

Amnesty International has consistently received reports of torture and other ill-treatment of detainees in various police stations and interrogation centres in Jammu and Kashmir. Such accounts have often included men being stripped naked and humiliated by security force personnel.

The Indian Parliament is currently debating new legislation criminalizing torture and the Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram has said the video will be investigated.

However, a statement by Jammu and Kashmir Police to local media indicated that a formal case had been registered against the clip's distributors.

“The approach of the local police raises serious concerns. Instead of investigating and identifying the perpetrators of the humiliating treatment, the police appear to be more concerned about who uploaded and circulated the video clip," said Donna Guest.

"The Indian and Jammu and Kashmir authorities must ensure that the content of the clip is subjected to an independent, impartial and effective investigation. Any officials who are suspected of offences involving human rights violations should be prosecuted in fair trials.”

In Defence of the Indian Family of Journalists. With special refernce to a certain breed of professionals.

My editor is the world's best. I've always believed that conversations are some of the best learning experiences, and talks with Mike Flannery are the creme de la creme of the kind. The latest pearl of wisdom that came my way from his was that journalism is the world's second oldest profession- that's how history itself is constructed, through recording of facts and images, and stories kings and knaves have had to tell. It's reason for celebration that the storytelling element in the journalist's job hasn't evaporated yet, but the fact that most stories our breed have to tell the world are ugly invites plenty of unwanted censure, chastizement, and plain meanness from people who hav no idea how a journalist, and journalism, works.
Militants, lawyers and lately doctors have too much to vent- their firm belief is that journalists persent them in a negative light without fail, and phrase their stories such that they, and their professions, become objects of aspersion to the populace. They beleive too, that representatives of the media will go to any length for a neat "scoop" and distort facts to expose them to ridicule, denigration and attack.
In India, or in a narrower cointext, Bengal, doctors are rounded up by protesters every now and then. A sick man has to die, and an angry mob appears out of nowhere and proceeds to damage health center property, its staff and its administrative body. Doctors hold they never let people die; they strive till the end, upon oath, although they might be geographically removed from their patient by miles. This is from personal experience. A certain RMO I met at a small, not-very-expensive private hospital, joted down the time of admission as 2.10 P.M, when the night sky was picth dark, and the streets of Kolkata resonant only with the sounds of barking dogs. Moving to nurses, at the hospital I just mentioned, they have arangements for sleeping by turns through the night, right in the ICU, when the law holds that each patient must be under surveilance, and individually.
Doctors have all, without exception, this notion that they are some of the most brilliant people in the country, to have gotten through, and survived, medical school. Some don't wait to attach the title to their name before they're awarded their Bachelor's Degrees. Given that in India, popular notions put down students of humanities as nitwits and doctors and engineers as unfailingly intelligent, some doctors will go to the extent of labelling us journalists "barely literate", "unsympathetic", and "ruthless". As if they themselves devote over five minutes to each patient on hospital rounds, or refuse to accept charges in cases of medical failure. As if doctors are by some natural law free from humane frailty and partisanship. As if they are never driven to pursue their profession with economic motives. As if they take any personal interest in the people who have come to them to buy time. And as if some of them aren't idiots who became what they are by dint of the ability to learn by rote.
In the wake of the recent assailment on four junior doctors attending someone who free fell through three storeys, doctors have been complaining of exploitation. They choose to completely ignore the fact that the media in fact details assaults on doctors in print and broadcast, and that in reportage of kinds like this, it is unethical to take sides. What has the media to gain by tarnishing doctors? How does it benefit them? Is there a single doctor who can vouch for the fact that they have never been guilty of oversight? Rhetorical questions all, and I'm all geared to do a story on that class of professionals often described as the noblest, but displaying more often than nobility traits of insensitivity, pompousness, supreme over-confidence and egotism, and sky-high levels of callousness.