*By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter*
*Srinagar:* The Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS)
released a report on the impact of violence on the children of Jammu and
Kashmir titled Terrorized: Impact of Violence on the Children of Jammu and
Kashmir (2018) on Thursday, March 29, which revealed that 318 children
between the age group of 1 and 17 have been killed in the ongoing conflict
since 2003.
The civil society group has found that no one among the perpetrators has
been brought to justice till date.
The report apart from giving details on killings also gives data on
arrests, mass violence, sexual violence perpetrated against children in the
last fifteen years. It provides statistics, graphs, figures, and the
analysis of killings of children in the last fifteen years (2003 to 2017)
in various incidents of violence in Jammu and Kashmir.
With providing examples of targeted state violence against children, the
report demonstrates that children have not been viewed differently by armed
forces and have been targeted and victimised as part of the state’s
offensive against the general population.
The fifteen-year period from 2003 to 2017, witnessed not less than 318
killings of children (in the age group of 1 to 17) in various incidents of
violence in Jammu and Kashmir, it adds. “The killing of 318 children
constitutes 6.95% of the civilian killings in last fifteen years, as 4571
civilians have been killed in Jammu and Kashmir in the same period (2003 –
2017),” reads the report.
The report finds that the pattern of killings of children in the
fifteen-year period suggests that children were direct targets of state
violence, as part of its stated offensive to curb uprising and militancy.
“At least 144 children were killed by Indian armed forces and state police
in Jammu and Kashmir, which alone accounts for nearly half, i.e. 44.02% of
the total children killed…at least 110 of them were killed in state
violence were shot dead in different incidents of violence, and no less
than 8 children died due to injuries inflicted from pellet shot-guns fired
by government forces,” reads the report.
“Twenty-seven children died to due drowning either caused due to the
negligence of armed forces in Wular lake tragedy or being chased by
government forces during a protest, where victims find no way of escape
from the armed forces and forced to jump into water bodies, resulting in
their death.”
The report lays bare that there are no legal and normative processes or
practices protecting children’s rights in Jammu and Kashmir as hundreds of
minors have been booked under the repressive Public Safety Act (PSA), with
total disregard to the fact of them being children.
“Children are at greater risk in Jammu and Kashmir due to the ongoing
conflict and nothing has changed in last three decades and situation
continues to deteriorate,” Rao Farman Ali, a political commentator and
author of the book, ’History of Armed Struggles in Kashmir’ told
TwoCircles.net.
“The government should take cognizance of this report and put to an end to
the violation of rights of the children,” he added.
