SRINAGAR: Hailing Amnesty International’s recommendation for removal of controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from Jammu and Kashmir, ruling PDP on Friday said it has vindicated the party’s stand on the issue.
PDP spokesperson Mehboob Beg, in a statement, appealed to the Central government to consider the recommendation made by the international human rights body in its report ‘Denied: Failures in accountability for human rights violations by security force personnel in Jammu and Kashmir’ and said it is a “vindication of PDP’s stand on the issue”.
“It does not behove a democratic country like India to have a draconian law like AFSPA exist in any part,” he added.
Calling AFSPA as one of the “primary facilitators of impunity” by security forces, Amnesty International had Wednesday demanded its repeal and sought investigation into cases of human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir by an “independent and impartial” authority.
The Amnesty International report documents the obstacles to justice faced in several cases of human rights violations allegedly committed by security forces in Jammu and Kashmir.
The 72-page report is an analysis of government and legal documents related to over 100 alleged cases of human rights violations committed between 1990 and 2013 in the state.
UN Chief Declines to Comment
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has declined to comment on a report by a rights group that sought the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in Jammu and Kashmir and investigation into the alleged human rights violations by security personnel.
It focuses particularly on the AFSPA, which it said “grants virtual immunity to members of the security forces from prosecution for alleged human rights violations.”
Asked if he has any comment on the report and on the impunity that the act accords to the security personnel, Ban’s spokesperson Farhan Haq said, “No, I don’t.”
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