Letter to The Secretary General of United Nations

To

The Secretary General,
United Nations

Dear Mr. Ban Ki Moon,

I am addressing you on behalf of my people, who for last 64 years have been striving for peace, justice, freedom and dignity. During these 64 years we have suffered immensely at the hands of Indian armed forces, who are implementing the policy of subjugation and control over our lives, resources, culture, and dignity.

During last 20 years more than 1,00,000 people have lost their lives due to conflict. More than 7,000 women have been molested and raped. 10,000 men have been got disappeared. 50,000 children have been got orphaned. 30,000 women have been got widowed. 2,00,000 people have been tortured. And thousands buried in the unmarked graves and the mass graves of Jammu and Kashmir.

According to the recent admission of the State Human Rights Commission, around 2730 unmarked graves have been investigated in 38 graveyards of north Kashmir, out of which 574 persons were identified as locals residents after being killed and buried after giving them the name of being foreign insurgents. Presently the State Human Rights Commission is investigating 3844 unmarked graves in Poonch and Rajouri districts. So far the investigation is going on in only 5 districts and numbers of unmarked graves and mass graves are already more then 6500. One can only imagine what could be the total number of unmarked graves and mass graves in 20 districts of Jammu and Kashmir.

Many of the disappeared persons may have been buried in these graves. Disappearance is a continuing crime till the dead bodies are found. The family members of 10,000 disappeared persons are hoping amidst hopelessness.

Indian state refers to these atrocities, as a result of aberrations and violations by some black sheep, but the truth is that these crimes are an institutionalized and systematic response of the Indian state against the popular uprising of people of Jammu and Kashmir for freedom. If the present Police Chief Kuldeep Khoda himself is involved in the murder of 3 civilians and later in getting their bodies disappeared, then one can say with certainty that the Indian rule is to kill, to brutalize and to terrorize people of Jammu and Kashmir, so that their will to attain freedom is crushed. Given this present scenario of lawlessness, we do not expect any justice to be delivered by Indian state institutions.
We urge the United Nations to end the long era of silence on Jammu and Kashmir, and intervene to investigate the crimes against humanity being perpetrated by the Indian soldiers. Mass graves and unmarked graves are symbols of war crimes and it is in this regard, we would request you to kindly announce a special procedure to investigate the atrocities of the Indian state in Jammu and Kashmir. Human rights are a global responsibility and not an internal issue of any country.

If Libya, South Sudan, East Timor, Kosovo, Srebrenica etc can mobilize the United Nations to intervene, why not Kashmir? Family members of the disappeared and those buried in the unmarked graves and mass graves, thousands of torture survivors, and victims of all forms of violations in Jammu and Kashmir are hoping that one day UN would shun its indifference towards the survivors of Indian brutality in Kashmir and come to their rescue.

Mr. Ban Ki Moon, we urge you to not ignore or compromise on our sufferings and without any delay take cognizance of the human rights violations and atrocities and send a fact finding team to Jammu and Kashmir.

Syed Ali Geelani


Chairman
All Parties Hurriyat Conference
Jammu and Kashmir,
Srinagar