Govt should act to stop murders in custody in Kashmir: HRW

Srinagar, Jan 31 (UNI) The US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) today urged the Indian government to thoroughly investigate and prosecute members of the security forces responsible for ''extra-judicial execution'' of a carpenter and two labourers in Jammu and Kashmir.

The investigation and prosecution must be impartial and transparent for justice to be done, the HRW said in a statement to UNI here from its headquarters in New York.

The HRW, an independent and non-governmental organisation dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world, condemned the alleged killing of carpenter Abdul Rehman Padder and two labourers Nazir Ahmad Deka and Ghulam Nabi Wani in fake encounters after branding them as foreign militants.

''This epidemic of fake encounter killings by the security forces has plagued Kashmir for too long. The police must stop their standard operating procedure of killing people in custody, HRW Asia Director Brad Adams said in the statement.

He said the real test of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad's commitment to investigate the killing of Padder was whether all those responsible, including senior officials who authorised it, were successfully prosecuted.

''Too often we find that India's security forces are deemed 'above the law' and are spared criminal prosecution despite committing grave human rights abuses,'' Mr Adams said.

The HRW released a report - ''Everyone Lives in Fear: Patterns of Impunity in Jammu and Kashmir'' - here in September last year.

In the report, it called on the Centre and the state government to investigate the problem of fake encounter killings and hold appropriate officials responsible.

The report said the impunity provisions in Indian law offer a remarkable amount of legal protection to members of the armed forces and civilian officials implicated in criminal offences.

''The law makes it mandatory to obtain permission from the government to initiate criminal proceedings against public servants, including armed forces personnel. Such permission is seldom forthcoming,'' it added.

The HRW said if the authorities had addressed government abuses earlier in the conflict, public confidence in them would have increased and future abuses may have been substantially reduced.

''The people of Kashmir are waiting for the governments to end this system of impunity. Human rights abuses and the failure of justice create despair in the Valley and continue to fuel the conflict,'' Mr Adams said.

UNI