Separatists, terrorists involved in HR abuses in India: US

Lalit K Jha
Washington, Apr 9 (PTI) Separatists and terrorists in
the northern Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir and northeast
along with the Maoists committed serious human rights abuses,
an official US report has said, even as it slammed the
government for extra-judicial killings.
"Separatist insurgents and terrorists in Jammu and
Kashmir, the northeastern states and the Naxalite belt
committed numerous serious abuses, including killing armed
forces personnel, police, government officials, and
civilians," said the US State Department's Country Reports on
Human Rights Practices for 2010.
"Insurgents engaged in widespread torture, rape,
beheadings, kidnapping, and extortion. The number of
incidents, however, declined compared with the previous year,"
said the Congressional-mandated annual report released by
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
According to the India section of the report, there
were numerous reports that the government and its agents
committed arbitrary or unlawful killings, including
extra-judicial killings of suspected criminals and insurgents,
especially in areas of conflict such as Jammu and Kashmir, the
northeastern states, and the Naxalite belt.
The report, which provides encyclopedic detail on
human rights conditions in over 190 countries for 2010, said
Indian government made no progress in holding officials
accountable for abuses that occurred during the period of the
Punjab counterinsurgency between 1984 and 1994.
It said civil society activists continued to express
concern about the western Indian state Gujarat government's
alleged failure to arrest those responsible for communal
violence in 2002 that resulted in the killing of more than
1,200 persons, the majority of whom were Muslim.
"Unlike in previous years (2008 and 2009), there were
no instances of officials using anti-terrorism legislation to
justify excessive use of force. However, indiscriminate use of
force by Border Security Forces was a problem," it said.
The State Department report claimed corruption
"existed at all levels of government and police," with "delays
in obtaining legal redress for past attacks against
minorities."
The law in some states restricted religious
conversion, but there were no reports of convictions under
these restrictions.
It also claimed that violence associated with caste
bias occurred. "Domestic violence, child marriage, bonded
labour, dowry-related deaths, honour crimes, and female
feticide remained serious problems," the report said.