The Daily Etalaat Srinagar: EU Parliament HR subcommittee convenes hearing on Kashmir

EU Parliament HR subcommittee convenes hearing on Kashmir
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feroz ahmad on 18 July, 2008 
 
Srinagar, July 17: In the hearing on Kashmir, the European Parliament (EP)
subcommittee on human rights (EPHR) convened a meeting in Brussels, Belgium on
Wednesday with an agenda titled “Exchange of views on Kashmir, follow-up to EP
resolution of 24 May 2007 and to reports from massacres in the region.”
The following persons were invited to address the EPHR in this order: Dr.
Angana Chatterji, co-convener of the International People's Tribunal on Human
Rights and Justice in Kashmir (Tribunal), who was present in person; Advocate
Pervez Imroz, on behalf of Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP),
was on the video link from Srinagar but unfortunately audio system did not work.
Consequently, his written statement was distributed to the Subcommittee. Imroz
is denied a passport by India and cannot travel abroad. Marjan Lucas from IKV
Pax Christi also addressed the gathering.
The Members of the European Parliament present at the hearing were: MEP Phillip
Bushill-Mathews, MEP R. Evans, MEP Neena Gill, MEP Gene Lambert, MEP Sara
Ludford, MEP Liz Lynn, MEP Baroness Emma Nicholson, MEP Tannock.
At the hearing, Dr. Chatterji descried the Tribunal's mandate, structure, and
work and offered detailed testimony of the gravity of the human rights situation
in Kashmir in the present. She described the Tribunal's investigation of nearly
800 mass graves in June 2008, and showed video clips of mass graves from
Baramulla and Kupwara district.
Dr. Chatterji described the continued militarization, and impunity with which
military and paramilitary forces function in Kashmir, of the rule of exception
and draconian laws, and the history of “genocidal” violence. She also spoke
of the Tribunal's investigations into enforced disappearances, torture, and
sexualized violence. She detailed the harassment and intimidation Advocate Imroz
and she herself have faced in undertaking this work, as well as Tribunal Liaison
Khurram Parvez, and of the attempted attack on Advocate Imroz on 30 June. She
stressed the importance of continuing the Tribunal's work.
Through his written statement, Advocate Imroz described the earlier work on
APDP, and their investigation of the mass graves.  He mentioned the climate of
fear and threat that human rights defenders experience on a regular basis in
Kashmir, and of the severe breakdown of law and order in Kashmir. He described
the attack on him of 30 June, and how Tribunal members are being humiliated and
surveiled. He appealed to the international community to carefully track the
human rights situation in Kashmir and the need for a mechanism that addresses
these issues seriously.
Lucas spoke of the greater need for international alliance with human rights
defenders in Kashmir, and stated the importance of the work of the International
People's Tribunal. She appealed that there cannot be reconciliation without
truth and justice. She underlined the importance of ongoing attention of the
International Community in casu European Parliament to Kashmir's ground reality:
the adoption of the Resolution in Strasbourgh on 10 July and the EPHR hearing of
16 July are essential first steps on a long road forward. She underlined the
importance of the installment of an impartial and independent investigation of
the unmarked graves, which, she reiterated, needs a strong and visible
international component.
The EPHR and MEPs listed with care and concern, and engaged the panel for
almost 2.5 hours. European Commission (EC) representative, Rensje Teerink, spoke
as well and appreciated the evidence presented and stated her concern, and that
of the EC Secretariat in New Delhi, over the situation, and attack and
targeting. Her presence and active participation evidenced the seriousness with
which EPHR is approaching this issue.
As per protocol, the Indian Embassy was invited to speak but did not
participate. This, according to those familiar with diplomatic strategic
dynamics in Europe, was viewed as a protest by the Indian authorities against
this subject being accorded a prominent place on the European Parliament's
agenda.
Geoffrey Harris, Head of Human Rights Unit of the European Parliament, and
Helene Flautre (Greens), chair of EPHR, maintained that the invited speakers
should be independent, relevant, and credible. Thus Dr. Chatterji, Advocate
Imroz, and Lucas were invited to speak and they consolidated their efforts to
convince the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) of the gravity and
urgency of the facts & figures presented by APDP on mass graves, and currently
those put forward by the International People's Tribunal.
Concluding the hearing Flautre declared that the Subcommittee will monitor the
urgency resolution with the European Commission and hoped that the human rights
defenders in Srinagar will be safe and able to continue their good work.
Barrister Majid Tramboo, Executive Direction Kashmir Centre Brussels and leader
of JKLF (Rajbagh) who was present during the whole hearing said that it is
“yet another accomplishment  and good day for the people of Jammu and Kashmir
in terms that the European Parliament is taking the plight of Kashmiris and mass
graves issue seriously.”