Thursday, March 09, 2006

Human Rights in South Asia - very little to be proud of

The U.S. State Department 2005 Report on Human Rights
For country-wise reports (South Asia) click the title above:

Highlights:
Daily Times, March 10, 2006
US worried by Kashmir HR abuses

ISLAMABAD: The US State Department took exception to the continued killings, custodial deaths and disappearances in Jammu and Kashmir in its annual report on human rights for the year 2005. The report issued in Washington said that anti-terrorism legislation was used to disguise the excessive use of force and Indian troops committing human rights abuses enjoyed impunity, reported PTV World on Thursday. Indian policemen and troops raped women after their arrest, it said. People were detained without any charge and lodged in miserable prison conditions, it added. The report pointed out that teenaged boys were killed by troops who described them as ‘Mujahideen’. The Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons in a statement in Srinagar demanded that an independent and impartial inquiry be launched into the instances of disappearances so that the world community could know the ground situation prevailing in Kashmir. Also, J&K CM Ghulam Nabbi Azad admitted in a written reply to a question in the parliament that 50 custodial killings occurred in the territory from January 2004 to mid February 2006. APP

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