DATE=8/17/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=KASHMIR CUSTODIAL KILLINGS
NUMBER=5-46868
BYLINE=JIM TEEPLE
DATELINE=SRINAGAR
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Over the past decade, an estimated 30-thousand
people have died as a result of the separatist insurgency
in India's state of Jammu and Kashmir. According to human
rights activists, among the dead have been many innocent
victims killed by both Indian security forces and militant
separatists. On a recent visit to Kashmir V-O-A's Jim
Teeple looked into one such case.
TEXT: According to his family and friends, Rafiq Baqual
never had a chance. One of three brothers who run a
popular novelty shop in Srinagar the summer capital of
Jammu and Kashmir, Rafiq Baqual was returning from a
wedding party late one night in early June when he was
stopped by Indian paramilitary forces just a short distance
from where he lived in Srinagar's old city. That was the
last time anyone saw Rafiq Baqual alive. Hours later his
bruised and bullet-riddled body was turned over to his
family. Rafiq's older brother, Sadiq says the family
is still grieving, but it also wants justice.
// INSERT SADIQ ACTUALITY //
We want justice we want the murderer punished - he
should be brought before the court of the law - but
they have not done anything so far.
// END ACTUALITY //
// OPT // Rafiq Baqual is just one of thousands who have
died over the past ten years in Kashmir. But unlike most
of those who have died, Rafiq Baqual, a husband and father
of three young children, had no connection
with the insurgency in Kashmir. // END OPT //
Pervez Imroz, a local human-rights lawyer says Rafiq
Baqual's case is not all that unusual - deaths in police
custody he says number in the thousands. But he says most
cases take place in the countryside far from examination by
the press or human rights lawyers.
// IMROZ ACTUALITY //
It is a common practice here - if you see the rate of
extrajudicial executions here - the way they are
being carried out by the security forces. But what is
unusual in this case is that it happened in the heart
of the city - just 50 meters away from my residence
and this office. So this case can indicate how the
security forces operate in remote areas. This
killing took place just a half-furlong from the press
enclave - so this indicates how the security forces
would behave in far-flung areas beyond the
searchlights of the press and the human rights
organizations.
// END ACTUALITY //
So who killed Rafiq Baqual? The killer has been identified
by his family and by local authorities as a neighborhood
commander in India's Border Security Force that is
responsible for maintaining security along India's borders,
as well as in strife-torn areas like Kashmir.
Vijay Kumar is the local commander of the Border Security
Force in Kashmir. He like other senior officials in
Kashmir admits Rafiq Baqual was an innocent and he says
Rafiq Baqal's killer will be put on trial - in a
military court.
Vijay Kumar says his forces are in a difficult position -
caught between extremist militants bent on killing as many
Indian troops as possible, and a population numbed by years
of conflict. The Border Security Force Commander says
policing anywhere is difficult, but in Kashmir it is
especially so.
// KUMAR ACTUALITY //
Any policeman - even one beloved by his own community - is
basically doing an oppressive job - he is either stopping a
man - regulating a man - or directing a man - even a
traffic cop does that. So every member of society at one
point of time or the other would have come into the wrong end
of policing. So if that is the normal quality of policing,
you can imagine a paramilitary police has got to be at a
higher level because they have to tackle the militants. Of
course they will be causing a certain level of
inconvenience, they will be reducing the level of
facilitation to the public. I do admit there is a general
level of inconvenience and that we are not apologetic at
times, but we do take care to be courteous to the normal
neutral public, which I know is the predominant group here.
// END ACTUALITY //
Senior officials in Kashmir have arranged for Rafiq
Baqual's immediate family to receive compensation for his
wrongful death. But Rafiq Baqual's family says that is not
enough. They want his alleged murderer tried in a civilian
criminal court, saying the killing was carried out
for money and had nothing to do with the political
situation in Kashmir.
So far authorities say they will proceed with the case -
but only in a military court. Human rights advocates say
Rafiq Baqual's killer probably will be punished with a
transfer or a demotion - but that is all the justice Rafiq
Baqal's family can probably expect. (Signed)
NEB/JLT/FC
17-Aug-2000 10:28 AM EDT (17-Aug-2000 1428 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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