Srinagar, Aug 30: Amid gloom the International Day of Disappeared was observed in Kashmir on Friday with families of the missing persons asking the state government to institute an independent Commission of Inquiry into complaints of enforced disappearances and other human rights violations. ‘It is our right to know whether our beloved are dead or alive,” said relatives of the disappeared persons who had assembled at Pratap Park here under the banner of Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP). Emotional scenes were witnessed at the Park when families narrated their woeful tale. Many of them broke down while narrating sequence of events leading to custodial disappearance of their loved ones. “Army shattered my happy family,” said Begum Jan of Dara on city outskirts as tears trickled down her eyes. Unfazed by hustle and bustle of nearby posh Residency Road, Begum Jan’s little daughter Aisha continued to console her mother. Life was going on smoothly for Begum Jan till the fateful night of August 2, 2005 when troopers of 28 RR allegedly detained her husband Manya Tancha. “The troopers barged into our house and asked my husband to accompany them to their camp. When he refused they forcibly took him along,” Begum Jan recounted. To seek her husband’s release, Begum Jan alongwith her relatives rushed to the local Army camp. “I pleaded before the troopers that my husband is innocent, but my pleas met with deaf ears,” she said. Few days later, she said the troopers asked her brother Syed Ali to accompany them to an area in nearby forests “to know whereabouts” of Tancha. “However, the troopers threatened to kill my brother if we insisted on seeking whereabouts of my husband,” she said. Begum Jan said she had also approached the police and administration. “Police even refused to register an FIR against the accused.” In absence of her husband, who was a carpenter by profession and only earning hand of the family, Begum Jan has to do menial jobs to support her family of five children including three daughters. “Only hope that keeps me going is that one day my husband will return. But I don’t know when that day will come. I have lived every moment in last eight years in memory of my husband and thinking about future of my children,” she said and broke down. According to the APDP, nearly 10,000 people have vanished without a trace in custody of various security agencies since 1989 with the onset of armed militancy in Kashmir. Donning black clothes and holding photographs of missing relatives, these hapless families sat in a circle to protest against what they said continued denial of whereabouts of their beloved ones. Holding photograph of her missing son Bakhti Begum of Tragpora Rafiabad in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district sought his whereabouts. “I want to see my son once before my death,” Bakhti said. She recounts every sequence of events leading to enforced disappeared of her son Manzoor Ahmad Wani. “Major Bhattacharya of 28 RR in collusion with two government gunmen kidnapped my son from Tragpora bus stand in December 2002 and subjected him to enforced disappearance,” she alleged. Bakhti’s unflinching commitment did not go well with the accused who threatened her of dire consequences. “I approached Court which gave me protection. I am guarded by two PSOs but I don’t care for my life. I want to live for the day when I could hug and kiss my beloved son,” she said. On the occasion, Chairperson of a faction of APDP Parveena Ahangar vowed to continue the cause of families of missing persons. “For past over two decades we have been fighting a lone battle braving all challenges. We will fight till our last breath for locating whereabouts of my loved ones,” Parveena told Greater Kashmir. Parveena’s son Javed Ahmed Ahangar disappeared after being allegedly arrested by troopers of National Security Guards (NSG) in 1990. She was instrumental in formation of APDP in early nineties. “The state should institute an independent commission of inquiry into the complaint of enforced disappearance, extra judicial killing, torture, rapes and other human rights violations and provide supportive environment to facilitate access to justice of the human rights defenders. ADPD calls upon the state to comply with the obligations under international human rights laws and also provide adequate compensation to families of disappeared families,” Parveena said. “Security forces operating in the state have been given impunity to kill, disappear and harass people. Role of international community to help our cause has been deplorable,” she said. Parveena demanded that India should implement recommendations of Universal Periodic Review and ratify the International Convention for the Protection of all persons from enforced disappearance and repeal AFSPA. To lend support to the cause of families of disappeared families, a large number of students, civil society members, HR defenders participated in the programme. Some youth used various forms of art to depict the sufferings of families of disappeared persons. A duo painted their whole body with white color. “This is our way to register our protest against the enforced disappearances,” they said.
Posted on: Sat, 31 Aug 2013 04:00:56 +0000
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