Human Rights violations in Indian admin. #Kashmir (THREAD). This is a collection of news articles and reports from human rights agencies that I could find. None of this is my own reporting hence I felt it appropriate as a thread rather than on my site (1/n) #IndependenceDayIndia

Let’s get one thing straight: I’m not calling for Kashmir to be administered by Pak or for it to be independent. Kashmir is Indian, and so are it’s residents. The point I’m making here is that the human rights abuses by the people in power are unacceptable and needs to end. (2/n)

I don’t want to hear what human rights abuses Pak inflicts on its citizens. I’m sympathetic to them but that’s not my concern in this thread. You don’t need to point out your neighbours' faults to justify your own. Being “better than Pakistan” isn’t a moral victory for us (3/n)

We shouldn’t be satisfied with mediocrity (even though a case can be argued for calling it sub standard) If we want to be a superpower, we have to strive to be greater than we are now, not better than others. Point is: don't give me a "whatabout blah blah" (4/n) #IndependenceDay

The same applies for acts committed by militants and terrorists. There's a reason we call them that. Their acts are horrifying and need to be punished. But this doesn't excuse the acts committed by those we trust to protect us. No one should be above the law. (5/n) #Kashmiri

I’ll try my best to source and fact check everything but If I get something wrong, feel free to inform me and I’ll correct it with an addition to the thread. (6/n)

1. RAPE BY THE BSF AND THE ARMY
A 1995 Human Rights Watch report documented extensive cases of rape committed by the BSF and Army. Often these occur during interrogations and searches for militants. The full report is here: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/INDIA935.PDF

Even though the government has claimed launched enquiries into these cases, they "have not made public any prosecutions or punishments of security personnel in any of these cases". This sends a message that rape is tolerated, if not an official tactic of war. (8/n)

A 2008 study by Médecins Sans Frontières reported kashmiri women as one of the worst victims of sexual violence in the world. (Note that this also includes by militants). The full report has interesting data: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/1752-1505-2-10.pdf (9/n) (SS from hrw article)

TL:DR Indian armed personnel have a history of sexual violence against kashmiris. And most of them get a free reign to do so. No one should be immune to the law, no matter how important their role. (10/n)

I have to work on some other stuff now, but I’ll update the thread later in the day. #indianIndependenceDay2020 #Kashmiri