The New Delhi-based Asian Centre for Human Rights in its recent report said that minors were being detained without trial as they were not produced before courts in Indian occupied Kashmir. The report maintained that juvenile justice system was rotten in the occupied territory while the minor girls were sent to police lock ups or prisons in absence of a juvenile home for girls. The fact-finding report released by the ACHR after field visits to Srinagar, Budgam, Shopian, Pulwama, Islamabad, Kulgam, Ganderbal and Jammu districts from May to July 2010 followed up by updates said that a large number of children were detained under the draconian law, Public Safety Act, during the mass uprising in 2010. It further pointed out that the minors in pre-trial detention were assumed to be adults and were routinely lodged with adult criminals, placing them at very high risk of abuse, in clear violation of Indian national laws and international human rights standards.
Ironically, India claims itself the largest democracy of the world but its actions in occupied Kashmir speak the otherwise. Its forces are committing all sorts of atrocities to intimidate the Kashmiris into submission. Elderly people, young boys and even children are not spared from victimization for resisting India's illegal occupation of their soil. The occupation authorities target the children to inflict psychological fear among them, as they are the future of Jammu and Kashmir.
The continued Indian state terrorism has resulted in the killing of nearly one hundred thousand Kashmiris since 1989 after the liberation struggle was intensified. Hundreds have been languishing in jails and thousands have been subjected to custodial disappearance. And all these brutalities have been let loose by trigger happy occupation forces operating under the protection of draconian laws like Armed Forces Special Powers Act, Public Safety Act and Disturbed Areas Act.
Another report released on November 20, 2011, on the occasion of the Universal Children's Day, revealed that Kashmiri children had been the worst victims of Indian military violence in Jammu and Kashmir that had rendered 107,434 children orphaned during the past 22 years. The report said that 754 children were among those 93,709 civilians, who were killed by Indian troops in the territory during the period.
It is unfortunate that the international community and the human rights organizations like UNICEF have failed to hold the government of India accountable for its brutalities against common Kashmiris and their effect on the children. Furthermore, New Delhi has not paid any heed to the concerns, raised by the organizations working in the country or those operating in other parts of the world about such issues. India needs to understand that such tactics have not been able to break the resolve of Kashmiri people to continue their liberation rather they have strengthened their determination towards the cause.
The world community must take solid steps to impress upon New Delhi to abide by the international covenants to save the future of civilian population particularly the children in Jammu and Kashmir.
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