HRs violation: JKLF takes out torch light procession

Srinagar/New Delhi, Dec 10: Activists of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) took out a torch light procession on Sunday evening to protest against the alleged human rights violations taking place in the Kashmir Valley.

Carrying placards and banners, the protestors staged a sit-in demo against suspected custodial killings.

"This year, when Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh came to Kashmir, he made a promise to the people of the state that there will be zero tolerance for human rights violation. But this year, the number of custodial killings is 44, the total killings are 677 and 210 houses have been destroyed," claimed Yasin Malik, a senior JKLF leader.

Displaced Kashmiri Pandits also staged a demonstration in New Delhi to highlight their woeful plight.

According to the National Human Rights Commission, about 300,000 Kashmiri Pandits have been forced to leave Kashmir because of militancy. Kashmiri groups, however, peg the number of migrants as being closer to 500,000.

According to officials, the exodus began at the start of 1990 due to a sudden rise in the killings of Hindus and attacks by Muslim militants on homes belonging to the Pandit community.

While some of the displaced made their way to Delhi and to other parts of the country, about 200,000 bitter and disillusioned Pandits are still languishing in relief camps in Jammu.

ANI>