Strasbourg, July 10 (KMS): The European Parliament has expressed grave concern over the discovery of nameless mass graves in occupied Kashmir.

The EU Parliament comprising 27 countries at its plenary session in Strasbourg overwhelmingly passed a strongly worded urgency resolution on Thursday calling upon the Government of India to urgently ensure an independent and impartial investigation into all suspected sites of mass graves in the territory.

The urgency resolution came about on account of the report prepared by the Srinagar based Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), which was endorsed by the Amnesty International and advocated by the Kashmir-Centre EU through the All Party Group for Kashmir in the European Parliament. On the strength of the documentary evidence, it has been the stated position of the Chair of the Kashmir-Centre EU, Barrister Abdul Majeed Tramboo that most of these graveyards were constituted by the inhabitants of the villages on the orders of Jammu and Kashmir police and most of the persons buried in such graves were local Kashmiris.

The urgency resolution noted that hundreds of unidentified graves have been discovered since 2006 in Jammu and Kashmir and at least 940 bodies have reportedly been found in 18 villages in the Uri district alone. The resolution apprehended that the grave-sites contained the remains of victims of unlawful killings, enforced disappearances, torture and other abuses, which occurred in the context of armed conflict persisting in Jammu and Kashmir since 1989. The resolution quoted association of families of victims who estimate that the number of persons having gone missing since 1989 exceeds 8000. It also referred to the allegations of human rights violations that continue despite Government of India’s commitment in September 2005 not to tolerate human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir any longer.

The resolution called on the Indian Government to investigate all allegations of enforced disappearances. It urged to assign a civilian prosecutor's office with the jurisdiction for all cases in which military, security or law enforcement agents are suspected of being involved, and to create a single public database of all persons who have gone missing and of all bodies who have been recovered. It called on EU Member states to facilitate and support all possible cooperation between the Indian and Pakistan governments in relation to this investigation. The resolution strongly condemned unlawful killings, enforced disappearances, torture, rape and other human rights abuses, which have occurred in Jammu and Kashmir since the beginning of the armed conflict in 1989.

The urgency resolution called on all governments (including the Government of India) to ratify and implement the UN Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance without reservations, including declarations pursuant to Articles 31 and 32 to recognize the competence of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances, and to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

The urgency resolution also called for full access to be granted to both sides of the Line of Control for the UN Special Rapporteurs under the terms of reference of the UN Special Procedures, notably the Special Rapporteur on Torture, on Extra judicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions and the UN Working Group on Enforced or Voluntary Disappearances.

The urgency resolution expressed its concern over the safety of human rights activists who are investigating the unmarked graves and other allegations of human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir. It called on the Indian authorities to ensure their protection and allow them to operate without fear of harassment and violence. The resolution urged the authorities to conduct a prompt and impartial investigation into the attack by Indian troops on human rights defender, Pervez Imroz to make the results public and to bring the responsible to justice.

The Executive Director of Kashmir Centre EU, Barrister Abdul Majeed Tramboo hailed the adoption of the urgency resolution and emphasised that the European Parliament in real sense is the parliament of human rights. He hoped that the Government of India adheres to the 27 countries European Parliament demand to investigate and identify the nameless and mass graves forthwith.