By IANS,
New Delhi : Human rights activists have called for investigations into enforced disappearances and unidentified graves in Jammu and Kashmir.
Taking part in a meeting organised by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) here over the weekend, the speakers also sought punishment to the guilty.
Other demands made on the occasion were that India should ratify the UN Convention on Enforced Disappearances to which it is a signatory and must also amend the Prevention of Torture Bill of 2010.
The speakers included Khurram Parvez, Paramjeet Kaur Khalra, Nitya Ramakrishnan, Usha Ramanatham, Justice Rajender Sachar and Vrinda Grover.
Participants at the meeting said the assertion that those buried in the unidentified graves in Kashmir were not civilians but militants did not in any way “mitigate the enormity of the discovery”.
“It was emphasised that the existence of so many unidentified bodies in unmarked graves itself merited an investigation to establish the circumstances of the deaths and affix responsibility, irrespective of the identities of those buried.”