Whither Democracy?

Bapu #208 : if you read what you posted carefully, you will see that 16-year olds are admitted to the National Defence Academy, they are in the military only after they graduate.

You should also note that the US enlistment age is 17 (with parental consent).

Neither India nor Pakistan has signed the protocol banning enlistment of under-18s. US has signed it but not ratified it. (http://www.child-soldiers.org/news_updates/rats2.html)

The people enlisting kids to fight are the so-called ``independence`` movements.

-Arun Gupta

Macgupta:

Oh yes sir India is perfect utopia... You people are angels especially your soldiers in Kashmir...

Satisfied.... now retreat to your custom made fool`s paradise.

-Yasser

`Also, I`ve noticed Pakistanis tend to be more honestly critical of the problems in their homeland than Indians`

Very right, and I must say `too critical` at times. This explains why naive minds like Gowardhan think that all is well in India....

Anyway, nice to see you here again.

Stuka

I just wanted to hear a condemnation of people like Jay from you. Your sentiments, and your positive attitude is not lost on me. Like Tahmed said, I have met much classier Indians in person to judge India and Indians by people like Gowardhan, Layman, Jay, etc. I am sure even saxena is a great guy, once he comes down from his pedestal and looks at things objectively.

In any event, I am not ignoring the good people. I am not going to ignore anything you, shammi, eklavya, dostmittar, zafar, studebaker, farzana, egalitarian brahmin, pankhaj, and most recently Sadna has to say.

As much as one should have the right to opinion, one also has to evolve in the subcontinent, a Politically correct view of history... and this has to happen on both sides, or we are just lost forever, for believe me we are not forgetting our histories. But more than that there has to be a realization that without mutual respect, and an agreement to disagree peacefuly, Pakistanis and Indians would only lead uncertain existences.

Let me put forth a quote from Jinnah `There are many on both sides that believe that the partition of India is a mistake, indeed that remains to be seen. However now that we have agreed upon it, let us accept it and abide by it as citizens of the sovereign states of Pakistan and India.`

Let us bury the ratchet, and while remembering our mutually intertwined histories, let us focus on the future by accepting the realities of the present times, the realities of two great neighbor states with much in common and in difference... and not on what ifs of History.

`Do me a favor. My favorite poster is SameerJB, but he may not be your type. Read Fuzair`s posts. A true gentleman, a wide breadth of knowledge, and class personified. Learn from him. Oh yeah, he was in the Army, so I doubt he`s a typical ``Hold hands and sing Kumbaya`` type bleedin heart.`

Fuzair is one of my favorite posters... his initial interactions with me were the ones that shaped my entire Political outlook.... Sameerjb is another great Pakistani who makes me proud... two other great posters from Pakistan are PM and tahmed.

-YLH

Reply to Stuka #203 :

Chomsky applies the same illogic to India as he does to the USA. Before going about charging him with sedition, etc., the first question is - is he right ? The answer is no. Every human has a face and also a behind, to put it politely. Chomsky looks at the face through a telescope reversed, and the behind through a microscope and claims that his view represents reality.

-Arun Gupta

Lajwanti ,

THIS FOR YOu,

you enjoy so much KHABRAINE that you paste every issue of Friday times ,that i thaught i show you better KHABRAINE of Human Right violations by India rather THAN, Gossip of Urdu sensatinal translatrion in Friday Times.

India’s Secret Army in Kashmir: New Patterns of



Abuse Emerge in the Conflict

In 1996, the conflict in Kashmir entered it seventh year, with little indication that parliamentary elections in May would either lead to peace or end the widespread human rights abuses that characterized the war. In the months preceding the elections, Indian security forces intensified their efforts against militant groups, stepping up cordon-and-search operations and summarily executing captured militant leaders. Alongside them, operating as a secret, illegal army, were state-sponsored paramilitary groups, composed of captured or surrendered former militants described as “renegades” by the Indian government. Many of these groups were responsible for grave human rights abuses, including summary executions, torture, and illegal detention as well as election-related intimidation of voters.

May 1, 1996 Report

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Communal Violence and the Denial of Justice



Three years after the deaths of more than 1,000 people in Bombay’s worst incident of communal violence since independence, the government of the Indian state of Maharashtra unexpectedly terminated the commission of inquiry that had been set up to investigate the riots. The focus of the Srikrishna Commission’s investigation was the violence that broke out in January 1993 and that was directed primarily against Bombay’s Muslims. The riots followed weeks of attacks on Muslims in north India in the aftermath of the destruction of a 16th-century mosque in Ayodhya. Labeled as “communal” because the violence involved communities identified by religious differences, the riots were in fact orchestrated events which depended on the connivance or outright participation of police and other officials and political leaders.

April 1, 1996 Report

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Rape for Profit: Trafficking of Nepali Girls and W



Women to India’s Brothels

Hundreds of thousands of women and children are employed in Indian brothels—many of them lured or kidnapped from Nepal and sold into conditions of virtual slavery. The victims of this international trafficking network routinely suffer serious physical abuse, including rape, beatings, arbitrary imprisonment and exposure to AIDS. Held in debt bondage for years at a time, these women and girls work under constant surveillance. Escape is virtually impossible. Both the Indian and Nepali governments are complicit in the abuses suffered by trafficking victims. These abuses are not only violations of internationally recognized human rights but are specifically prohibited under the domestic laws of both countries. The willingness of Indian and Nepali government officials to tolerate, and, in some cases, participate in the burgeoning flesh trade exacerbates abuse. Even when traffickers have been identified, there have been few arrests and fewer prosecutions. Rape for Profit focuses on the trafficking of girls and women from Nepal to brothels in Bombay, where they compose up to half of the city’s estimated 100,000 brothel workers.

June 1, 1995 Report

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ISBN: 1-56432-155-X

Arms and Abuses in Indian Punjab and Kashmir



The massive proliferation of small arms and light weapons in South Asia is directly linked to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, and the subsequent creation by the United States of a system, commonly known as the Afghan pipeline, to funnel weapons covertly to the Afghan resistance. The Afghan pipeline, set up by the CIA and Pakistan’s ISI, enabled the transfer of tens of thousands of tons of weaponry to the mujahidin, and then later, to the Sikh and Kashmiri militants. The human rights situations in Punjab and Kashmir have been acutely affected by the militants’ acquisition of weapons of all types, leading to numerous types of abuses against civilians.

September 1, 1994 Report

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Continuing Repression in Kashmir: Abuses Rise as



International Pressure on India Eases

As the conflict in Kashmir continues into its fifth year, the government of India appears to have stepped up its catch-and-kill campaign against Muslim insurgents, resulting in an escalation of human rights abuses since early 1994. Civilians continue to bear the brunt of the casualties, falling victim both to government forces and to the various factions, collectively known as “militants.”

August 1, 1994 Report

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Dead Silence:



The Legacy of Abuses in Punjab



The bloody conflict in the Indian state of Punjab drew to a close in 1993, but the restoration of an elected government has not meant the restoration of the rule of law. To the contrary, the Punjab police continue to torture, kill or cause their victims to disappear with impunity. The price of the government’s apparent success against the separatists is the legacy of these abuses: a corrupt and brutal police force whose recourse to murder and torture has been sanctioned by the state as an acceptable means of combatting political violence. Dead Silence documents incidents of torture, extrajudicial executions and disappearances by the police, which took place between 1991 and 1993. There is no indication that the government at the state or federal level has made any effort to investigate these abuses or prosecute the perpetrators, even though the identity of the latter is well-documented. In the course of the conflict, many civilians were also murdered in militant attacks. The report also documents abuses by militant Sikh organizations. In late 1993, India established a national human rights commission empowered to investigate reports of abuses and recommend prosecution or other punitive measures. Human Rights Watch/Asia and Physicians for Human Rights urge the commission to conduct a thorough investigation into the cases documented in these pages and call for the criminal prosecution and punishment of police responsible.

May 1, 1994 Report

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ISBN: ISBN 1-56432-130-4

The Human Rights Crisis in Kashmir: A Pattern of



Impunity

With the bloody conflict in Indian-controlled Kashmir now in its fourth year, Indian troops have embarked on a “catch and kill” campaign against Muslim militants, resulting in a sharp escalation of human rights abuses, including summary executions of hundreds of detainees in the custody of security forces. Troops have also engaged in reprisal attacks against civilians, assaults on medical workers, rape, torture and arson. Masroof Sultan (pictured on the cover), was detained by security forces in April 1993, beaten, tortured with electric shock, then shot and left for dead. His testimony follows: “They stood me up against a tree and told me, ‘Now we will release you forever.’ I heard them co!ck their guns. Someone said, ‘One, two, three,’ then they fired. I was shot in both legs. I heard someone say, ‘Make sure he’s dead.’ One of them kicked me in the head and said, ‘he’s still alive.’ The officer said, ‘Shoot him in the heart.’ Then the soldier shot me in the chest and arm. Someone kicked me again and said, ‘He’s still alive.’ Then a voice said, ‘Shoot him in the head.’ A bullet grazed the back of my neck. I held my breath. Someone kicked me again, then shouted, ‘He’s dead.’” The Human Rights Crisis in Kashmir provides comprehensive documentation of the consequences of India’s abusive policy in Kashmir. It also documents violations by armed militants, including killings, rape and indiscriminate attacks in populated areas, and concludes that these abuses and India’s policy of impunity toward its own security forces has helped fuel the conflict and create a human rights disaster in Kashmir.

July 1, 1993 Report

ISBN: ISBN 1-56432-104-5

Rape in Kashmir: A Crime of War



Since January 1990, the north Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir has been the site of a brutal conflict between Indian security forces and armed Muslim insurgents demanding independence or accession to Pakistan. This report documents the use of rape as a means of targeting women whom the security forces accuse of being militant sympathizers, and in raping them, how the forces attempt to punish and humiliate an entire community.

May 1, 1993 Report

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No End in Sight: Human Rights Violations in Assam

The Indian army has conducted massive search-and-arrest operations in thousands of villages in Assam, located south of Bhutan, and the site of separatist movements and violent insurgencies since India’s independence. Many victims of abuses committed during these operations are civilians, often relatives or neighbors of young men suspected of militant sympathies. Villagers have been threatened, harassed, raped, assaulted and killed by soldiers attempting to frighten them into identifying suspected militants.

April 1, 1993 Report

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Crackdown in Kashmir: Torture and Obstruction of H



ealth Care

The vicious conflict in Kashmir, now in its fourth year, is characterized by the Indian army’s and other security forces’ blatant disregard for international norms of medical neutrality. Security forces frequently detain and assault health professionals; beat and shoot ambulance drivers, preventing them from transporting injured people; and raid hospitals, forcing doctors at gunpoint to identify injured patients who are then arrested, in some cases after being disconnected from life-sustaining equipment. The security forces have also opened fire on hospital grounds, entered operating theaters and destroyed medical supplies. Virtually everyone taken into custody by the security forces in Kashmir is tortured by electric shock and severe beatings. Despite the fact that many health services have been curtailed, and hospitals are short-staffed and overcrowded, India refuses to permit international humanitarian organizations to assist with medical relief in Kashmir.

January 1, 1993 Report

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ISBN: ISBN 1-879707-13-6

Human Rights in India: Police Killings in Andhra



Pradesh

In Andhra Pradesh, one of India’s poorest and least developed states, conflict between government forces and an armed insurgent group known as the Peoples’ War Group, has resulted in massive human rights violations. In its campaign to crush the insurgency, the state government has condoned the torture and murder of suspected militants and ordinary civilians in staged “encounters” with the police. Journalists or human rights activists who have investigated these killings and other abuses have also been murdered by the police, and militants in the state have attacked and killed civilians.

June 1, 1992 Report

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ISBN: ISBN 1-56432-071-5

Punjab in Crisis

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Violence between separatist Sikh militants and government forces in Punjab has escalated to unprecedented levels, claiming thousands of civilian lives. Since 1984, the security forces have adopted increasingly brutal methods to stem the militant movement, resulting in widespread human rights violations. Countless civilians and suspected militants have been summarily executed in staged “encounter” killings or have “disappeared” while in police custody; thousands have been detained without trial and subjected to torture. The evidence Asia Watch gathered indicates that these abuses are not random but have been carried out as a matter of state policy. At the same time, Sikh militants have pursued their campaign for a separate state through acts of violence against Hindu and Sikh civilians. The killings include assassinations of civil servants, political candidates, and journalists. Militant groups have also engaged in indiscriminate attacks designed to cause extensive civilian casualties and some operate as criminal gangs, profiting by extortion and arms smuggling.

Ironic isnt it that Gowardhan still repeats his old line of argument... ylh is educated in Zia times... where and when did that happen? You hate us because you are taught to hate Gowardhan, by an educational system run by communal murderers...

The inconsistency in Gowardhan`s argument is beyond my comprehension. He criticizes Zia`s educational system, which I criticize too for its portrayal and islamicization of the Pakistan Demand, whereas Gowardhan and Zia saw eye to eye on that issue ... fundamentally the view that Gowardhan takes was shared by Zia and his ilk. Yet he turns around and criticizes us for saying Pakistan was created as a secular state and claims that we are brainwashed by the Islamic fundamentalists.... I am confused.

Let me repeat this again. Until people like Gowardhan, his daddyo Bal Thackerey and his Muslim cousin Bin Laden are not eliminated there cant be peace in the world.

-YLH

Sadna

Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and Kashmir Pakistan gave away to China to lick Chinese boots in return for nuclear help is already *Azad *!

The same way as the rest of Pakistan is a democracy and Afganistan is a secular country.

HA HA HA HA

When Pakistanis cry about giving Kashmir *freedom * they mean allow Pakistanis to control Kashmir.

Though I hate Pakistan there are some honest Pakistanis I find at chowk, though they dont like me and I make them angry. When there are more honest Pakistanis I will not have to hate Pakistan. I dont like hating but with Zia Ul Haque education Pakistanis like ylh, sarwari and crude perverts as Urstruly, Naakbandi, Ali1, Aamir and snake oil sellers as hobbyty, hating them is the only way of dealing with them.

Banjaraa #177 I am merely toughening up ylh for leadership days ahead...

shankar #175 Always good to see your post. Actually we have our share of morons in pakistan too, they just dont know how to write in english yet...:-)

jay #174 just to prove what an ignorant ass you are, i shall respond to your post ``it is not known who coined the word pakistan`` by asking you to go pick up any history book. i wont spoil your joy of learning by telling you the answer. seems like they are mixing some medicine with your feed nowadays since your references to pakillistan are no longer as vehement as before. or are you simply become too old for this hindutva stuff...

India`s Minorities Are Targets of Government-



Abetted Violence

By By Smita Narula( * *)

Published March 20, 2000 in International Herald Tribune

NEW YORK - The international community protested loudly last month against the inclusion of an extremist right-wing party in Austria`s coalition government. But the policies espoused by India`s governing Bharatiya Janata Party, the BJP, and its sister organizations are equally insidious. They have already resulted in much violence against India`s Christian, Muslim and Dalit, or ``untouchable,`` minorities.





Related Materials

Broken People: Caste Violence Against India`s ``Untouchables,``

HRW Report, April 1999





When President Bill Clinton meets with India`s leaders, he must put pressure on the government to reverse this dangerous trend: The BJP , are dedicated to recruiting young boys and men. They give them extensive physical and ideological training, creating disciples full of ``Hindu fervor`` and military-like discipline.

Caste violence is also increasing. On March 12, seven Dalits were burned to death in a rural village in Karnataka, reportedly in retaliation for the killing of an upper-caste youth.

Although ``untouchability`` was abolished by the Indian constitution in 1950, some 160 million Dalits are denied access to land, forced to work in degrading conditions and routinely abused or even killed by the police and higher-caste groups that enjoy the state`s protection. In what has been called India`s ``hidden apartheid,`` entire villages remain completely segregated by caste.

This issue is as critical in India today as was the movement for racial equality and civil rights in the United States in the 1960s. The United States should use every opportunity to raise the problem of caste-based violence and discrimination. Mr. Clinton should also pressure the Indian government to prosecute both state and private actors responsible for attacks on religious minorities and Dalits.

Kashmir is a key issue for Washington on this visit. But here again, the BJP`s jingoistic policies are playing a role. Indian security forces use brutality and terror to reign over Indian-controlled Kashmir, while Pakistan continues to support and train militant groups that target and assassinate security personnel and innocent civilians.

India and the United States recently formed a joint working group on counterterrorism. But before he considers any joint strategies, the president should be aware that the government has introduced controversial anti-terrorism legislation that circumvents due process in the name of national security.

India has been down this road before. The current criminal law amendment bill is a modified version of a 1985 law that led to tens of thousands of unjustified arrests, political abuses, torture and other violations against political opposition and human rights defenders. That law was repealed in 1995, but if the new bill is passed, it is likely to be similarly misused.

Mr. Clinton`s trip is properly highlighting regional security concerns, from nuclear proliferation to the conflict in Kashmir to the military coup in Pakistan. But far too little attention has been paid to the dangers for both India and its neighbors of the divisive Hindu nationalist policies that are subverting Indian democracy from within.



* * The writer, a researcher on South Asia for Human Rights Watch in New York, contributed this comment to the International Herald Tribune.

INDIS RECRUITS YOUNG AS MUCH AS 16yrs OLD ,NOT ELIGIBLE TO VOTE TILL18yrs of age BUT MADE TO FIGHT FOR THE OCCUPATION OF KASHMIR

HUMAN RIGHT GROUP REPORT 2001

INDIA



REPUBLIC OF INDIA

POPULATION: 998,056,000 total, 398,306,000 under-18s

GOVERNMENT ARMED FORCES: 1,303,000 active, 535,000 reserves, 1,069,000 paramilitary

COMPULSORY RECRUITMENT AGE: no conscription

VOLUNTARY RECRUITMENT AGE: 16

VOTING AGE (GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS): 18

CHILD SOLDIERS: indicated in government armed forces and armed opposition groups

CRC-OP-CAC: not signed

OTHER TREATIES RATIFIED: CRC; GC

There are indications of under-18s in government armed forces as voluntary recruitment is possible from 16. There is widespread use of child soldiers, some as young as 11, by armed groups in various regions.



CONTEXT

Jammu and Kashmir has been the focus of armed conflict between India and Pakistan, as well as internally between security forces and various armed factions, some of which favour accession of the area to Pakistan, while others advocate independence for a reunified Kashmir. Northeast India has also been beset by internal conflicts for decades. Several other states have seen conflict involving leftist Naxalite armed groups, communal and caste-based movements and other private militias.



GOVERNMENT

National Recruitment Legislation

The 1950 Constitution (art. 51A) states: ``It shall be the duty of every citizen of India … to defend the country and render national service when called upon to do so.``[1] However there is currently no compulsory recruitment in India.[2] According to the 1972 National Service Act, certain persons can be called to perform national service but no minimum age is specified. The Armed Forces are governed by the Army Act, the Air Force Act, and the Navy Act, respectively,[3] none of which regulate minimum enlistment age.

Information provided by the Indian Government indicates that the minimum age of recruitment into the Army is 16. ``Persons who are recruited at the age of 16 years undergo basic military training for up to two and a half years from the date of enrollment and are then inducted into regular service``.[4] In its report to the Committee in the Rights of the Child, India claimed that, ``children are not inducted into the armed forces and hence do not take a direct part in hostilities.``[5] During the 1998 session of the UN Working Group negotiating the Optional Protocol, the representative of India reported that: ``discussion was going on within the Government about the possibility of raising the age limit for voluntary recruitment from 16.``[6] Minimum age requirements for various programmes are as follows: National Defence Academy (NDA) – 16.; Selection Boards 18/19; University Entry – final/pre-final-year students; short-service commission (technical entry scheme) – 19; Women officers – 19 and restricted to officer cadre on short-service commission in certain branches. Less information is available on the recruitment of other (non-commissioned) ranks of the Indian armed forces. Recruitment into the Armed Forces is reportedly open to Indian nationals irrespective of caste, creed, community, religion, and region.

India also has a Territorial Army (TA) – a voluntary part-time civilian force consisting of departmental and non-departmental units raised from among the employees of government departments and the public sector. The TA is reportedly used in support of the armed forces in areas of insurgency.

Military Training and Military Schools

There are a number of military schools and other institutions such as the Sainik schools which provide preliminary training for school age students wishing to join the army at a later stage.

All regular students of schools and colleges may join the National Cadets Corps (NCC) on a voluntary basis.[7] The NCC has 1,160,000 boys and girls in the Senior and Junior Divisions in the Army, Navy and Air Force wings.[8] Cadets receive intensive practical and theoretical training in the use of arms and military subjects at NCC camps conducted throughout the academic year.[9] A total of 499,677 cadets were reported to have attended Annual Training Camps during 1997.[10] It is claimed that NCC cadets have ``no liability for active military service.``[11] In August 1999 it was reported that the Indian Government ordered some NCC cadets to be deployed during elections, a task normally left to paramilitary forces. It was claimed that only students aged between 18 and 22 were authorised to participate in this activity, and that they were to be used ``only at non-sensitive booths.``[12]

Child Recruitment and Deployment

The Indian Government claims that even though children can join the armed forces, they are not formally enrolled into regular service before the age of 18. Since there is no systematic birth registration in some rural areas it is sometimes difficult to prove one’s real age. Therefore it is possible for children to be recruited into defence and paramilitary forces.[13]

In Jammu and Kashmir, the Indian army has armed local Village Defence Committees (VDC) – primarily Hindus – in Doda, Udhampur and the border districts to assist security forces in anti-insurgency operations.[14] So far more than 15,000 inhabitants, reportedly including teenagers, have joined these self-defence groups.[15] At the Asia-Pacific Conference on the Use of Children as Soldiers in May 2000 the representative of the state government of Jammu and Kashmir denied the involvement of children in VDCs. He acknowledged that there may have been some instances of young boys taking up arms to defend themselves under attack, but that there was ``no policy to encourage young boys to become members of the Village Defence Committees.``

Government Treatment of Suspected Child Soldiers

The presence of children in armed groups has led to the targeting of children, ``especially boys… by [government] soldiers who believe that these boys might be supporters or future members of armed groups.``[16] Criminalisation of suspected dissident children has been problematic particularly in the north-eastern region. The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture reported the arrest of a 15-year-old student from Manipur in February 1997 by members of the 57th Mountain Division of the armed forces, ``on suspicion of having links with an armed opposition group. He was then allegedly handed over to the police on 19 February 1997 and kept in incommunicado detention. Late in the evening, his condition supposedly deteriorated and he was taken to hospital where he died the next day.``[17] In February 1998, 15-year-old Yumlembam Sanamacha was arrested and allegedly tortured by members of the 17th Rajputana Rifles. Two others -- Bimol Singh (aged 15) and Inao Singh (aged 22) who were also arrested were later released.[18] A local survey presented to the Asia-Pacific Conference on the Use of Children as Soldiers reported 28 children arrested or injured and 10 children killed in Manipur between January and May 2000.



OPPOSITION

Child Recruitment and Deployment

Armed groups in Jammu and Kashmir

A number of armed groups are active in Jammu and Kashmir, some of which favour accession of the area to Pakistan, while others advocate independence for a reunified Kashmir. The main groups include Lashkar-e-Taiba (Army of the Pure); Hizb-ul-Mujahideen; the Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM; formerly Harkat-ul-Ansar, HUA), the Al-Badr, and the Tehrik-e-Jehad.

During the Asia-Pacific Conference on the Use of Children as Soldiers, a representative of the Jammu and Kashmir state government claimed that none of the armed groups had been using young children and that during the entire insurgency there had only been a few instances of children being ‘bribed’ to commit violence or being intercepted at the border by security forces. Sources in Pakistan suggest that while armed groups might identify prospective recruits at 15 or 16 (often from poor and disadvantaged families), they are generally over 18 by the time they infiltrate Indian territory or engage in operations. Zaki-ur-Rehman, chief of the Lashkar-e-Taiba says there is no shortage of recruits: ``We train 600 to 700 men every month in the summer, and we have to turn many more away because we just don`t have the facilities.`` [19]

However, press reports indicate that some armed groups have recruited ``teenagers`` for the conflict in Kashmir. In April 2000, Kashmir’s first suicide bomber turned out to be 18 years old and the number of young Kashmiris crossing the line to receive training in Pakistan apparently rose sharply in 1999.[20] In August 1998 alone, more than 50 teenagers headed toward Pakistani-held Kashmir were reportedly intercepted by security forces and the state police. Two groups of 23 teenagers between the ages of 14 to 18 were intercepted by the army in Kupwara and Gure sectors, while the state police detained a group of nine from Poonch sector in Jammu region.[21]

In May 1999 Reuters reported on 250 young recruits at a Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistani-held Kashmir: ``All are Pakistanis from villages and small towns in Punjab and the North Western Frontier Province. ... The training is divided into three stages: 21 days of small weapons training, wilderness skills and fitness. The boys are then sent home, where they are monitored by party elders to see if they are spiritually and physically fit enough to continue.``[22] During the Kargil conflict in 1999, The Guardian described a young Hizb-ul-Mujahideen recruit, ``baby-faced Mohammed Aijaz … who puts his age at an improbable 18, is unwilling to admit that he did not make the cut for Kargil.``[23] According to the Lashkar-e-Taiba, recruits need parental consent to join.[24] Young British Muslims have reportedly been recruited in Britain for training at camps run by the Lashkar-e-Taiba, although there is no evidence of these recruits being under 18.[25]

``I pray to Allah in all my prayers to give me a martyr’s death, but not before I have killed at least one Indian.``

16 year old Lashkar-e-Taiba recruit

North-Eastern conflicts

For decades armed groups in Northeast India have been fighting Indian security forces and each other, in often overlapping conflicts and with competing demands for independence or autonomy. Children under 18 have reportedly been used by many of these groups as fighters, spies, messengers and in other support roles. One local survey estimated that up to half of all combatants in most groups are children, with the recruitment of girls increasing – sometimes for sexual services and domestic labour – to about 6 or 7 per cent of these children. The lowest age reported is 11.[26] Government mistreatment of children suspected of being involved in these opposition groups has also been reported (see above). Children have also been victims of armed opposition groups themselves. In mid-June 1998, for example, ULFA fighters reportedly killed a 16-year-old girl alleging that she had been an army informant.[27]

Assam: Armed groups active in Assam include the Bodoland Liberation Tigers Force (BLTF), Bodo Security Force (BSF) and United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA). One participant in a state level seminar reported that ``hundreds of children have been separated from their families, physically abused, exploited and abducted into militant groups.``[28]

Manipur: Different separatist armed groups, mainly from the Naga and Kuki communities, have been fighting state security forces or each other in Manipur since the beginning of the 1990s. The Maoist Revolutionary People’s Front (RPF) and its armed wing, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), as well as other Maoist groups such as the United National Liberation Front (UNLF), the People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak and the Kangleipak Communist Party, have been fighting for Manipur’s independence. The Kuki National Front (KNF) and its armed wing, the Kuki National Army (KNA), lead a separatist fight for the constitution of a ``Kukiland``, which would have autonomy within the Indian Union. The Zomi Revolutionary Organisation (ZRO) is a Pait armed group mainly opposed to the KNF/KNA. According to a local research project ``there are child soldiers in every insurgent group in Manipur.`` [29]

Nagaland: Armed groups include the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN). The Nagas, a majority of whom are Christian, have been engaged in a separatist war since 1953. Photos taken by the Political Editor of the North East Sun, who spent fours days inside council Headquarters of the NSCN-M, indicate that children are among the Nagas fighters.[30] A journalist who spent two weeks in April-May 2000 with the NSCN-M faction reported that of the 250-300 troops in the group, ``the vast majority were children between 13 and 17 years of age``[31]

Tripura: Armed groups including the Tripura National Volunteers Force (TNVF), the All Tripura Tribal Force (ATTF), and the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) are fighting in Tripura against the immigration of Bengali people. Children have reportedly been used as soldiers by armed groups in Tripura. [32]

Naxalite conflicts, including in Andhra Pradesh

The Naxalite movement, inspired by Maoism, started in 1968 as an armed response to the oppression of peasants, workers and lower castes by the landlord class and upper castes. Although Naxalite insurgents are reportedly weak in numbers, the geographical spread of their activities is wide. The most active groups are the Marxist Communist Centre (MCC), the Revolutionary Youth Forum, the Parakala Dalam and the People’s War Group (PWG). According to local human rights groups, 174 persons were killed in police ``encounters`` in Andhra Pradesh in the first eight months of 1998, many allegedly extra-judicial executions.

Amnesty International has found that Naxalites have ``reportedly begun recruiting boys aged between 8 and 15. The boys usually come from scheduled castes or tribes, or socially or economically disadvantaged classes. Boys are recruited to the Bala Sangham, a militant children’s organisation based in district towns such as North Telengana … There are reportedly around 75 Bala Sanghams in Andhra Pradesh with over 800 children in their ranks. The People’s War Group (PWG) founded the Bala Sanghams believing that they could train children more effectively than women to resist police interrogation. Tribal girls are reportedly used as couriers in areas of Adilabad and Dandakarnya. Organisations such as the PWG also reportedly use children to provide food and to deliver ransom notes without arousing police suspicion.``[33]

Other groups

Several Indian states have also seen violence between Hindus and Muslims, resulting in the creation of Hindu extremist paramilitary self-defence groups linked with the Bharatiya Janata Party (the political wing of the Hindu ultra-nationalist movement) as well as Muslim self-defence militias such as the Jamaat-i-Islami-Hind and the Islamist Sevak Sangh.[34]

Human Rights Watch documented the workings of one such group, the sangh parivar, a collective of Hindu nationalist organisations. The sangh recruits young boys and men for local cells known as shakhas and provides them with extensive physical and ideological training for the purpose of instilling ``Hindu fervour`` and military-like discipline. The sangh has set up approximately 300,000 shakhas across the country, each with an estimated fifty to one hundred participants. Training reportedly involves physical fitness, patriotic songs, prayer and discussion of national events, but also the use of lathis (batons). One activist responsible for recruiting and training new members in Ahwa town, Dangs district, Gujurat from 1990 to 1995 reported, ``There could be fifteen to 150 boys at a time, as young as pre-school children, ages five and six, up to college and above.``[35]



DEVELOPMENTS

Committee on the Rights of the Child

In discussions with the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) the representative of India claimed ``it was the militant groups which recruited children under 18 for military purposes, thereby violating Article 38 of the Convention.``[36] Shortly after, in its concluding observations on the Initial State Report submitted by India, the CRC expressed ``its very serious concern at reports of children who are involved in and are victims of these conflicts. Moreover, it is concerned at reports of involvement of the security forces in disappearances of children in these conflict areas.``[37]



[1]

CURBING HUMAN RIGHTS IN NAME OF FICTITIOUS SECURITY ISSUE IS QUACKERY OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAWS.Would you want medical care from million compunders posing as quack doctors ?

HRW World Report 2001: India FREE Join the HRW Mailing List

India: Proposed Anti-Terror Law Should Be Rejected



(New York, October 18, 2001) - New anti-terrorism legislation approved by the Indian cabinet on Tuesday would give Indian police sweeping powers of arrest and detention, Human Rights watch warned today.



Related Material

September 11 Attacks: Crimes Against Humanity

Human Rights Watch Q&A on International Law

HRW Press Release, October 16, 2001



``We`re concerned that the proposed law could open the door to police abuse. One can understand renewed concern with terrorism in light of recent events, but the new provisions are a throwback to earlier laws that caused nothing but trouble. In its haste to act, India should not repeat past mistakes.``

Joe Saunders, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch

The broadly worded ``Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance,`` which likely will be considered by the Indian parliament during its winter session beginning in November, sets forth a broad definition of terrorism that includes acts of violence or disruption of essential services carried out with ``intent to threaten the unity and integrity of India or to strike terror in any part of the people.`` It also extends existing law by making it a crime not to provide authorities with ``information relating to any terrorist activity.``

``We`re concerned that the proposed law could open the door to police abuse,`` said Joe Saunders, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. ``One can understand renewed concern with terrorism in light of recent events, but the new provisions are a throwback to earlier laws that caused nothing but trouble. In its haste to act, India should not repeat past mistakes.``

If enacted, the ordinance would reinstate a modified version of the notorious Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), repealed in 1995 after widespread public protest. TADA facilitated tens of thousands of arrests, detentions, and acts of torture in violation of international law, and was used to crack down on political opponents, social activists, and human rights defenders.

The newly proposed law contains certain safeguards not included in TADA, including immediate notification of family members following arrest and restrictions on the use of confessions extracted by torture, but it is more stringent than a criminal law bill that had been in the works to replace TADA. In putting forward the new proposal, the Indian cabinet rejected the pending criminal law bill, deeming it ``too weak to provide a legal framework for combating terrorism.``

Human Rights Watch has also criticized proposed changes to U.S. law and policy since September 11 that would unduly increase police powers and restrict the rights of refugees, asylum-seekers, and other foreigners.

In a letter to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft dated September 28, Human Rights Watch cautioned that the ``danger to the United States posed by terrorist activities should not be used as a justification to expand [police] powers in ways that undermine the rights to liberty and due process of law possessed by citizen and non-citizen alike.`` The organization is also closely following developments in the UK, where amendments to existing anti-terrorism legislation are likely to be announced shortly.

Human Rights Watch has also criticized opportunistic changes to legislation in several other countries.

Human Rights Developments

Defending Human Rights

The Role of the International The Hindu nationalist policies espoused by India`s governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its affiliate organizations undermined the country`s historical commitment to secular democracy. Violence against Christian, Muslim, and Dalit, or ``untouchable,`` populations was one result. Areas of separatist violence such as Kashmir and northeast India were marked by grave human rights abuses on the part of Indian security forces and armed rebel groups. Violence against women continued, from infanticide to dowry-related deaths to attacks on women whose male relatives were sought by the police. A major campaign on Dalit rights gathered strength, but some human rights defenders were targets of a state-sponsored backlash against their activism.

Human Rights Developments

Abuses by all parties to the conflict were a critical factor behind the fighting in Kashmir. Emboldened by the successful hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane in December 1999 that secured the release of three jailed associates, pro-independence guerrillas or ``militants`` in the region stepped up their attacks on civilians, as well as on camps and barracks of government forces. The Indian army, operating under the Jammu and Kashmir Disturbed Areas Act and the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, continued to conduct cordon-and-search operations in Muslim neighborhoods and villages, detaining young men, assaulting other family members, and summarily executing suspected militants. Many Kashmiri civilians were killed or injured as a result of being caught in a crossfire between soldiers and militants, or in skirmishes and shelling between Indian and Pakistani troops across their countries` common border, known as the Line of Control.

In January, the Indian army, after its own investigation, announced that fifty-six of its personnel in Kashmir would be punished for committing human rights violations. The punishments ranged from discharge to denial of promotion. National and state human rights commissions, however, were barred from investigating army and paramilitary personnel.

On March 20, just before U.S. President Clinton`s visit to South Asia, thirty-six Sikh men were shot dead in Chithisinghpora, Anantnag district, by unidentified gunmen reportedly dressed in army uniforms. In the weeks that followed, Sikh residents took to the streets demanding protection, while hundreds of Muslim villagers staged protests against Indian security forces. They alleged that in the aftermath of the Sikh massacre, blamed by the army on militants, many Muslim civilians had been ``disappeared`` or killed.

In early April, at least seven people were killed when police opened fire on Muslim protestors demanding the exhumation of the bodies of five men killed by members of the Indian army`s Special Operations Group in Anantnag district. The protestors claimed that the men hadbeen detained in the aftermath of the Chithisinghpora massacre and killed in a ``staged`` encounter. On April 6, the charred and disfigured bodies were exhumed. DNA tests were performed to confirm their identities, but as of this writing, the government had not released the results.

On June 26, the Jammu-Kashmir state assembly approved a controversial autonomy plan that was subsequently rejected by the Indian federal cabinet. On July 24, the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Kashmir`s largest armed guerilla group, declared a unilateral ceasefire and announced its willingness to enter into negotiations with Indian authorities. On July 29, India suspended its offensive against the group, but hopes of a peaceful resolution to the conflict were dashed by a series of massacres on August 1 and 2 that left ninety Hindu pilgrims dead in Pahalgam, in the Kashmir valley. The massacres were believed to have been carried out by militant factions opposed to the ceasefire, but reports suggested that some of the victims were killed by fire from Indian security forces. On August 8, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen called off the ceasefire, citing the Indian government`s refusal to include Pakistan in three-way peace talks. Indian Home Minister L.K. Advani on August 22 rejected calls for an immediate judicial inquiry into the Pahalgam massacre.

Militants were believed responsible for several attacks against Hindus, who form a minority in the state. On August 19, a group of men carrying assault rifles entered two houses in the village of Ind, Udhampur district, and opened fire on the occupants, killing four. Two nights earlier, another group of gunmen had raided several Hindu homes in the village of Kot Dara, killing six. Some of those killed in the Kot Dara attack were reported to have been members of the local Village Defense Committee (VDC), established by the state government in the hill districts ostensibly to protect all of the region`s inhabitants. The VDCs recruited their members almost exclusively from local Hindu communities, however, and were seen by militants as adjuncts of the Indian security forces.

Caste violence continued to divide the impoverished state of Bihar. There, the Ranvir Sena, a banned private militia of upper-caste landlords that had been operating with impunity since 1994, waged war on various Maoist guerrilla factions, such as the People`s War Group (PWG). These guerrilla groups advocated higher wages and more equitable land distribution for lower-caste laborers. The cycle of retaliatory attacks claimed many civilian lives.

On April 25, upper-caste Rajputs shot and killed four Dalits and seriously injured three in Rohtas district, Bihar. Rajputs subsequently burned down the entire Dalit hamlet, leaving all twenty-five families homeless. The attack was reportedly in retaliation for the killing of two Rajputs a few days earlier by members of the outlawed PWG. On June 16, in Miapur village in Bihar`s Aurangabad district, the Ranvir Sena slaughtered thirty-four lower-caste men, women, and children. Survivors reported that police left the scene when the attacking mob entered the village. The massacre was reportedly to avenge the killings by Maoist guerrillas of twelve upper-caste Bhumihars the week before, and thirty-four Bhumihars in March 1999. Some Ranvir Sena members were arrested in the weeks that followed, but there was no precedent for successful prosecutions in such cases.

Police blamed the July 13 killings of four upper-caste Hindus in Garwah district on the PWG. On September 13 the Maoist Communist Centre, another armed group, slit nine people`s throats in Ranchi district. The victims included Muslims and tribespeople.

Bihar was not the only state affected by caste violence. On March 12, seven members of a Dalit family were burned alive in their homes by an upper-caste mob in Kolar district, Karnataka state. The attack was preceded by the stabbing of an upper-caste man in a nearby village. Although police were aware of escalating tensions in the area, they failed to take preventive action.

Attacks against Christians, which have increased significantly since the BJP came to power in March 1998, continued. By mid-year over thirty-five anti-Christian attacks had been reported throughout the country, with the states of Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh-both BJP-led-particularly hard hit.

Activists belonging to militant Hindu extremist groups such as the Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council, VHP) were often blamed for the violence. Both groups are members of the sangh parivar, an umbrella Hindu organization that boasts the ruling BJP as its political wing. These Hindu groups blamed the violence on popular anger over Christian efforts to convert Hindus. While government officials at the state and central level condemned the attacks, they did little to prosecute those responsible.

On January 31 a year-long manhunt came to an end with the arrest in Orissa of Bajrang Dal activist Dara Singh. Singh was wanted in connection with several murders, including those of Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his two sons in 1999. Christian relief at the arrest was tempered, however, by a state government order, believed to be aimed at limiting the activities of Christian missionaries, requiring a police inquiry before anyone adopted a new faith.

The state governments of Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh lifted a ban against civil servants joining the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (National Volunteer Corps, RSS), a sangh parivar member. In Gujarat, Delhi, and Orissa, district administrations conducted surveys to assess the activities and whereabouts of minority community members and leaders. Meanwhile, the BJP and its allies continued to implement their agenda for the ``Hinduization`` of education, mandating Hindu prayers in certain state-sponsored schools and revising history books to include what amounted to propaganda against Islamic and Christian communities.

On April 11, three Christian missionary schools were ransacked and six people beaten in related attacks by the Bajrang Dal in Mathura, in BJP-led Uttar Pradesh. The group sought to justify its actions by calling the schools ``machines for conversion.`` On April 21, a group of Christians was attacked near the city of Agra. These attacks followed the beating to death of two tribal Christians in Hazaribagh, and an attack on two nuns and a priest in Mathura.

On June 7, a Catholic priest was battered to death while sleeping outside his school in Uttar Pradesh. Government officials were quick to rule out any religious motive, attributing it to burglary. Within days the sole witness to the attack, Vijay Ekka, died in police custody. Ekka had told parishioners who visited him in detention that he was being tortured by the police and that he feared for his life. Two policemen were arrested and a magisterial probe was ordered after a Christian organization filed a complaint.

In May, the National Commission for Minorities (NCM), a government agency, issued a report stating that attacks against Christians were either accidental or the unrelated actions of petty criminals. Outraged Christian activists said the report showed that the government condoned attacks on Christians. Earlier reports by the NCM, issued before it was overhauled by the central government in January, had recommended prosecutions for such attacks and accused the government of willful neglect at all levels.

In June, a series of blasts damaged Christian churches in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Goa. A month later, crude bombs were set off in two more churches in Karnataka. In August, police charged members of a Muslim sect, allegedly based in Pakistan, with masterminding the attacks. Human rights activists maintained that the arrests were meant to deflect attention from Hindu hardliners` campaign of anti-Christian violence.

On July 14, the Maharashtra state government announced its intention to prosecute Bal Thackeray, leader of the right-wing Hindu organization Shiv Sena, for his role in inciting Bombay`s 1992-1993 riots in which over 700 people, the vast majority of them Muslims, were killed. The decision to prosecute came two years after a government-appointed judicial commission had named Thackeray as one of those responsible for the violence. On July 25, amid rioting by Shiv Sena supporters, Thackeray was arrested only to be released a few hours later after a judge ordered the case closed on the grounds that the statute of limitations relating to the incitement charges had expired.

Violence in the northeastern states, particularly Assam, continued throughout the year, claiming many civilian casualties. Members of the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), a militant group seeking Assam`s independence from India, repeatedly clashed with the police and with surrendered ULFA members working with the government, known as ``SULFA.`` The Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT) fighting for a separate homeland for the Bodo tribal people extended their ceasefire by one year beginning September 15.

In April, the Law Commission of India recommended the introduction of the Prevention of Terrorism Bill into parliament. If enacted, the bill would reinstate a modified version of the notorious Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), repealed in 1995. TADA had facilitated tens of thousands of unjustified arrests, torture, and other violations against political opponents, social activists, and human rights defenders. Human rights organizations protested against the bill arguing that, if enacted, it would have similar effects.

In a positive move, the law commission also called for sweeping changes to the country`s rape laws following an increase in the incidence of sexual violence. Women`s rights activists welcomed this recommendation. Female infanticide persisted as the female to male ratio continued to drop-a reflection of the lower status of women and girls, who were more likely to be deprived of food, education, or health services, or to be seen as an economic liability under the dowry system.

Women whose relatives were sought by the police continued to be detained. In February, in Tamil Nadu, twelve women were illegally detained and tortured and repeatedly sexually assaulted in custody because of their ties to a suspected robber who had himself died in police custody. The National Human Rights Commission, a government-appointed body, also took particular note of alarming numbers of deaths in police custody.

Police brutality against Muslim students of the Jamia Millia Islamia, an institution of higher education in Delhi, made national headlines. On April 9, while searching for two criminal suspects, hundreds of police broke into one of the institution`s dormitories and physically assaulted Muslim students, destroyed their property, and vandalized the campus mosque.

Two days earlier, members of the State Reserve Police beat and arrested up to forty-six demonstrators following a protest against the proposed Maroli-Umbergaon Port Project in Gujarat. While all were released on bail within forty-eight hours, six of the protesters were beaten in custody by police. One, Col. (retired) Pratap Save, suffered a brain hemorrhage, went into a coma, and died from his injuries on April 20.

In June, the Indian navy alerted Sri Lankan authorities to the presence of forty-seven Sri Lankan refugees who had become stranded on an island between the two countries while fleeing to India. A Sri Lankan naval vessel then picked them up and took them back to Sri Lanka. In August, Indian authorities in Mizoram state forcibly repatriated over one hundred ethnic minority Chin refugees who had fled from Burma.

YLH

``Isnt it ironic that Layman can get away with such provocative not to mention totally BS statement, but if I was to come back at this moment condoning any of the various Independence movements within India, not only you, but even some Pakistanis like tahmed and hamidm will be down my throat.``

You are proving my point. Yes, Layman made a dumb remark. You gave him hell. Did I support him? No. Did I keep quite? NO. I said that if Pakistan can merge with India, so can India with Pakistan. Am I a Pakistani? No.

Yes, just as TAhmed gives hell to Pakistanis who are rude to Indians, there are some Indians who do it to Indians. I am not a good example, but others are. Recently, I gave hell to Jay for writing a very obnoxious statement about Pakistan. He came back with a reply about Khadi Dhotis or somesuch, and I let it go. What do you expect me to do? Fly to Kerala and hit him on the head with a chappal? Invent a software that gives him galis whenever he`s obnoxious? Like I said before, and any rational person would understand, there are good posters and bad. Feel free to give hell to the bad, but if you completely ignore the good, you only do yourself a disservice.

Do me a favor. My favorite poster is SameerJB, but he may not be your type. Read Fuzair`s posts. A true gentleman, a wide breadth of knowledge, and class personified. Learn from him. Oh yeah, he was in the Army, so I doubt he`s a typical ``Hold hands and sing Kumbaya`` type bleedin heart.

Scout:

``excuse me? are you calling me anti-Semitic because i posted a link to an ESSAY? where did i express my admiration of Duke and his anti-Semitic ideas? ``

I was equally shocked at your even bringing up a link to David Duke. If you refer to David Duke, a self avowed Anti-Semite, then yes, you do open yourself to such an accustaion. It would be like my quoting a Kahane website, to make a point about Muslims.

I have read the Mein Kampf, cover to cover, and there was enough that appeals to the reasoned mind. But, Bigotry is not a buffet, that you pick and choose what you want and reject what you don`t. It`s an all or nothing game, with the reasonable followed by the questionable, in turn followed by the horrendous.