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Kashmir on Strike Protesting Controversial Indian Anti-Terror Law
SRINAGAR, India-ruled Kashmir, Nov. 28 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A strike called to protest a controversial new anti-terrorism ordinance Wednesday closed down shops and businesses in Indian-administered Kashmir, residents said, news agencies reported.
During the strike, a number of young men gathered on the streets of Kashmir's summer capital, Srinagar, chanting slogans against the new legislation and throwing stones at police, witnesses said, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
The Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO) introduced last month by the Indian cabinet is yet to be promulgated by parliament.
Across India, opposition and rights groups have opposed it saying the Ordinance could lead to human rights abuses.
Human Rights Watch cautioned early in November against ill-considered changes to laws in India that unnecessarily sacrifice due process and personal liberty in the name of fighting terrorism.
"There is a temptation to think that tightening controls on freedom of expression and association will enhance state capacity to resist terrorism, but we've repeatedly seen the opposite," said Sidney Jones, executive director of the Asia division of Human Rights Watch.
"The best way to guarantee security is to strengthen democratic structures," he said. "Respect for human rights must be part of any strategy to address terrorism and should be on the agenda of both meetings."
Indian Home Minister L.K. Advani had announced in August the federal government was seriously considering granting a "general amnesty" to Indian security personnel facing human rights abuse charges in Kashmir and in the northeast, where at least 30 separatist groups are active.
The Indian government is on the verge of enacting POTO, which is already temporarily in effect pending parliamentary action.
The proposed legislation gives Indian police sweeping powers of arrest and detention and, if enacted, would reinstate a modified version of the notorious Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), repealed in 1995 after widespread public opposition, according to Human Rights Watch.
TADA facilitated tens of thousands of arrests, detentions, and acts of torture in violation of international law, and was used to crackdown on political opponents, social activists, and human rights defenders. Rights groups fear that if enacted, POTO could be put to similar misuse.
POTO has been strongly criticized by leading Indian civil rights groups, academics, lawyers, opposition parties, media organizations, and both religious and secular institutions.
The country's National Human Rights Commission also maintains that existing laws are sufficient to fight the threat of terrorism.
Angered human rights groups in India and Kashmir severely criticized Advani's decision, saying the home minister's move would curtail fundamental rights by allowing police or soldiers to kill without having to face the consequences.
"If people who have indulged in grave human rights violations are spared, it will be very painful for the families who have suffered," said Parveena Ahanger, of the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) in Kashmir, whose son disappeared in 1990 after the Indian army arrested him.
"If this happens, security forces will get license to kill innocents at will. You are straight away telling the troops go and kill people, you will not be accountable," she added.
Around 400 members of the security forces in Kashmir, which is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both, are facing prosecution for human rights offences against Kashmiri Muslims.
Kashmiri leaders feel POTO will be used against them to suppress their 12-year-old struggle for independence.
Kashmir's main political alliance, the All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC), said Advani's proposal was anti-Muslim.
"The statement is loaded with anti-Muslim sentiments," AFP quoted Abbas Ansari, acting chairman of the APHC, as saying.
"It is an open war against the Muslims of Kashmir as we have been the worst sufferers of human rights violations at the hands of security forces," Abbas added.
But Kashmir's chief minister, Farooq Abdullah, said he had already started using POTO firmly against Kashmir's independence fighters, said AFP.
"We cannot wait ... for POTO to be debated in [the Kashmiri] assembly or [Indian] parliament," said Abdullah. "If the country makes any changes in it after thorough discussions, we will adopt them later."
Kashmiri lawyers called a day's strike on Wednesday to protest against the introduction of POTO, which was supported by main trader and government employee associations, AFP said.
The srtike closed down shops and businesses across Srinagar, and there was much less traffic in the city, residents said.
Most government and semi-government offices, including educational institutions, were also closed.
Meanwhile, senior Kashmiri leader Shabir Shah, who had threatened to launch protest against the new ordinance, was placed under house arrest Wednesday.
"I had planned to hold anti-POTO protests today [Wednesday]," Shah told AFP over the telephone. He said a number of policemen were deployed around his residence to prevent him from leaving.
Two other Kashmiri leaders, who had also planned to stage a protest, Javed Mir and Shahid-ul-Islam, were also arrested and detained at a police station, said AFP.
In addition, Indian authorities used POTO on Monday to seal off the house of a Kashmiri accused of allowing Muslim activists to use it as a hideout in Srinagar.
A senior Kashmir police officer, K. Rajinderan, said that police had invoked the provisions of POTO in 10 cases since Sunday.
"In the absence of more stringent laws to tackle an extraordinary situation like this, POTO would be handy to deal with the type of terrorism we are facing here," he said.
The ordinance has to be passed by both houses of parliament in New Delhi or it will lapse on December 21.
Meanwhile, an Indian army patrol troop late Tuesday cracked down on a Kashmiri activist hideout, triggering a fierce gunbattle in which eight Kashmiri fighters and 11 Indian soldiers were killed, the state-run Iranian news agency, IRNA, reported.
Six persons were wounded, four of them seriously, in the encounter, sources said.
Up to 70, 000 Kashmiris have died since a Muslim struggle for independence from India began in Kashmir in 1989.
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