If we do our political work right, India will come to regret that special police assaulted 18 Kashmiris in Tihar jail on the night of November 21st. Leading Kashmiri activists have already appealed to international human rights groups, including Amnesty International, to respond to the Abu Ghraib-style violence. The Delhi High Court–certainly no bastion of justice–has responded to the political pressure by ordering special medical treatment for the 18 victims & by calling for an enquiry into the incident.
This isn’t just an isolated incident in the treatment of Kashmiris who oppose the occupation & demand self-determination. In the last nearly 30 years, an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 Kashmiris have been forcibly disappeared. That means thousands spent time in the Indian gulag, were certainly tortured & ended up in mass graves. The Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society is doing monumental work in investigating & demanding accountability for the 2,080 mass graves in Kashmir. Many may still be in the gulag sustaining torture since there are several torture centers in Kashmir & many are imprisoned in Indian jails. Many of those who have been released suffer permanent disability, including dismemberment, & psychological trauma.
This is a particularly cogent article on the issue of Kashmiri activists jailed & tortured. We need to educate ourselves about the scale of human rights criminality & denounce these monstrous practices far & wide to put optimal political pressure on India & to stand in active solidarity with the Kashmiri freedom struggle.