UK police asked to probe Indian officials’ role in Kashmir

LONDON: A London-based legislation agency filed an utility with British police Tuesday in search of the arrest of India’s military chief and a senior Indian authorities official over their alleged roles in warfare crimes in disputed Kashmir.
Regulation agency Stoke White mentioned it submitted intensive proof to the Metropolitan Police’s Conflict Crimes Unit documenting how Indian forces headed by Gen. Manoj Mukund Naravane and Residence Affairs Minister Amit Shah have been answerable for the torture, kidnapping and killing of activists, journalists and civilians.
The legislation agency’s report was based mostly on over 2,000 testimonies taken between 2020 and 2021. It additionally accused eight unnamed senior Indian army officers of direct involvement in warfare crimes and torture in Kashmir.
“There’s robust motive to imagine that Indian authorities are conducting warfare crimes and different violence towards civilians in Jammu and Kashmir,” the report states, referring to territory that’s a part of the Himalayan area.
The request to London police was made beneath the precept of “common jurisdiction,” which supplies international locations authority to prosecute people accused of crimes towards humanity dedicated wherever on the planet.
The worldwide legislation agency in London mentioned it believes its utility is the primary time that authorized motion has been taken overseas towards Indian authorities over alleged warfare crimes in Kashmir.
Hakan Camuz, director of worldwide legislation at Stoke White, mentioned he hoped the report would persuade British police to open an investigation and finally arrest the officers once they set foot within the UK A number of the Indian officers have monetary belongings and different hyperlinks to Britain.
“We’re asking the UK authorities to do their responsibility and examine and arrest them for what they did based mostly on the proof we equipped to them. We would like them to be held accountable,” Camuz mentioned.
The police utility was made on behalf of the household of Zia Mustafa, a jailed militant whom Camuz mentioned was the sufferer of an extrajudicial killing by Indian authorities in 2021, and the behalf of human rights campaigner Muhammad Ahsan Untoo, who was allegedly tortured earlier than his arrest final week.
Kashmir is split between India and Pakistan, which each declare the area in its entirety. Muslim Kashmiris help rebels who wish to unite the area, both beneath Pakistani rule or as an impartial nation. In Indian-controlled Kashmir, tens of 1000’s of civilians, rebels and authorities forces have been killed previously twenty years.
Kashmiris and worldwide rights teams have lengthy accused Indian troops of finishing up systematic abuse and arrests of those that oppose rule from New Delhi.
In 2018, the UN human rights chief referred to as for an impartial worldwide investigation into experiences of rights violations in Kashmir, alleging “persistent impunity for violations dedicated by safety forces.”
India’s authorities has denied the alleged proper violations and maintains such claims are separatist propaganda meant to demonize Indian troops within the area.
The legislation agency’s investigation advised that the abuse has worsened in the course of the coronavirus pandemic.
Its report additionally included particulars concerning the arrest of Khurram Parvez, the area’s most distinguished rights activist, by India’s counterterrorism authorities final 12 months.
Parvez, 42, labored for the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society, which has written intensive experiences about Indian troops’ use of violence and torture.
Different accounts within the report focus on journalist Sajad Gul, who was arrested earlier this month after he posted a video of relations and kinfolk protesting the killing of a insurgent commander.
Human rights legal professionals have more and more used the common jurisdiction precept to hunt justice for individuals who have been unable to file legal complaints of their residence international locations or with the Worldwide Legal Court docket, situated in The Hague.
Final week, a German courtroom convicted a former Syrian secret police officer of crimes towards humanity for overseeing the abuse of 1000’s of detainees at a jail close to Damascus a decade in the past.
Camuz mentioned he hoped the request to British police in search of the arrest of Indian officers will probably be adopted by different authorized actions additionally specializing in Kashmir.
“We’re positive this isn’t going to be the final one, there’ll most likely be many extra functions,” he mentioned.