Relatives asked to investigate 1,000 unmarked graves in Indian Kashmir

New Delhi, April 2, 2008. - Relatives of the disappeared in Kashmir reported the discovery of 1,000 unmarked graves in that territory, that India is disputed with Pakistan, and demanded an international investigation such as that made ​​in mass graves in the Balkans .
The Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), which has reported the discovery, told Efe that also has been in contact with Argentine forensics to assist in the exhumation.
"We found 18 cemeteries with unmarked graves. Three of them are more than 200 unmarked graves. So we ask the government to allow an international investigation to know who rely on them, as in Kosovo or Bosnia, "he said by telephone the leader of the APDP, Pervez Imroz.
The association initiated the study of cemeteries in November 2006 and announced its conclusions these days, but have not been echoed in the Indian press (yes in Pakistan) "because there is a blockage of the matter".
Kashmir, a predominantly Muslim region in dispute since independence and partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, is a region with large military presence on both sides of the border and an active independence movement in the Indian side.
Imroz estimated that since 1989, when the situation worsened in the region, between 8,000 and 10,000 people have been arrested by Indian security forces without having known anything about his whereabouts.
The disappearances have been reduced in recent years, but his organization calls for an international inquiry to find out what happened to the disappeared, as said, the Indian government has not taken any action.
Although the activist claims that the troops get rid of the bodies when they are killing a civilian, the Indian Army has always maintained that kills foreign insurgents (referring to raids by Pakistani) or "misguided militants."
"We have nothing to do with the missing. What would kill innocents? We tend to be careful and not even consider enemies to the insurgents. For us, they are simply misguided, "said military spokesman told Efe in Kashmir, Lieutenant Colonel Anil Mathur.
"It was June 10, 1994 and my brother waited for a bus. At that time, the troops of XXX Battalion arrested him and took him away. But later denied that he had in his possession. We visited camps and offices. Disappeared, "he told Efe by telephone Shahi cashmere.
"I keep hoping? Yes ... only to some extent ", deprecated.
Since 1989 at least 65,000 people have died in Kashmir victims of a revolt that has been heavily answered by the Army of India, a country that controls 45 percent of the territory, mostly in the center and south of the historic region.
In Kashmir insurgent groups operate several positions from fundamentalists to maintain independence and are, according to Mathur, the real perpetrators of disappearances, killings and kidnappings of innocent people.
Unbeliever with the military version and himself the victim of an assassination attempt, Imroz said that the graves were dug by unnamed villagers themselves, who then revealed that the bodies were not foreign militants, but Kashmiri.
The APDP has contacted Argentine forensic experts to participate in the task of naming the victims, but they need a permit from the Indian government, he said.
In Indian-controlled area in the region of Jammu and Kashmir is scheduled to take place later this year of legislative elections, which, according to a regional government, "will continue its normal course" despite the massive military deployment.
Whatever the outcome of these elections, Kashmir will remain a maze game between India, Pakistan, which controls the north and west, and China, present in the eastern area of Cashmere "Aksai Chin" key to control Tibet .
Scene of two wars and numerous skirmishes India and Pakistan, the region was described by former U.S. President Bill Clinton (who brokered the last one in 1999) as the place "most dangerous place on Earth" because the three countries involved in the dispute have nuclear weapons.

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Thematic area:

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2. India and Pakistan open historic trade routes in Kashmir
3. Indian Kashmir morning full process to renew the Regional Assembly
4. The National Conference is imposed at the polls in Kashmir
5. Kashmir, life under curfew