Daily Times

International treaties and agreements formulated under the supervision and support of United Nations are the conventions which are considered to be the primary actors in international law. They might be of different natures including general conventions and specific conventions with various kinds including bilateral conventions and multilateral conventions. Conventions are to be ratified for the protection of social, political, civil and various other rights of people. These conventions are required to be respected by all the nation-states, particularly all the states who have ratified the conventions.

This article is an attempt to analyse the violations and disrespect of these conventions by India in Kashmir. International peace is closely associated with the behaviour of states towards the masses. After World War-II, the establishment of United Nations and the introduction of an International law which was set forth by the various conventions was the robust attempt to avoid the further catastrophe among the states and to discourage the malpractice of abuse of human rights. For that matter, international conventions are deemed to be a guaranty with the signature and support of several states to ensure the international peace.

The environment of South Asia has been strained from the very beginning due to disregard of the conventions by India in Kashmir. India has consistently been violating the spirit of various conventionsby demonstrating the brutality and kerbing the independence movement in Kashmir despite the fact that India has ratified the conventions in United Nations. Armed forces of India kept on the course of atrocities despite the series of condemnation from across the world.

The UN Convention “Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide” was introduced in 1949 and ratified by all the major states including India on November 29, 1949. In this convention, the genocide was declared the crime whereas India is following the course of genocide in a very structured way. According to the Article II and III of this Convention, genocide includes killing members of a group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group, and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. However, the57th battalion of Indian army in Kashmir has been violating provisions mentioned above of this convention. According to International Media, unmarked graves of unidentified bodies were discovered in various parts of Kashmir which explicitly implied the structured course of genocide being carried by India armed forces.

After that, the Geneva Convention was introduced and ratified by more than 170 nation-states including India. In article II of Convention, it was reinforced explicitly that this convention will always have an application on all kind of armed conflicts, including internal armed conflict and international armed conflict. Article III of this Convention implies that “All the persons who are not taking an active part in conflict shall be treated humanely including the sick, wounded and detainee.” However, Indian forces continued to carry the summarily executions of detainees. Moreover, certain acts would remain prohibited all the time which include: violence to life and person, in particular, murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture; taking of hostages and outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment. India did not ever consider these provisions in the treatment of Kashmiri people. According to Asian Human Rights Watch, thousands of Kashmiri people have been killed and injured by the Indian forces contrary to provisions mentioned above in the last couple of decades.

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) introduced in 1966, was considered to be the primary actor in International Human Rights Law. India also ratified this convention. Article 7 of this convention ensures the protection against inhuman treatment and Article 12 of this Convention provides freedom of movement, whereas Kashmiris are witnessing the grave violations of these provisions. In recent uprising, both local and international media reported that the Indian forces are using the pellet guns against Kashmiris which are lethal enough to cause the permanent disruption of the eye-sight of the victim. Freedom of movement is also being suppressed by the law enforcement agencies in Kashmir.

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) was also introduced in 1966 and ratified by India. In the article I of this Convention, the right of self-determination is ensured. Whereas, this fundamentalright is also not given to Kashmiris so far despite the fact the United Nations Security Council also has passed the resolution for the self-determination right of Kashmiris. Besides, there are various provisions of various Conventions are being massively violated by the India armed forces. The International community, particularly the states that have ratified these conventions are required to play their role for the respect of conventions so that international law could be exercisedin all its spirit and international peace could last as long as possible.

The writer is Islamabad based columnist and can be reached at live.baber@gmail.com