NEW DELHI: Welcoming the reopening of decades-old cases involving killings and atrocities against Kashmiri Pandits, noted Islamic scholar and Indian Muslim leader Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan has urged the Jammu and Kashmir administration to also bring other long-pending cases of violence and alleged human rights abuses in Kashmir to a final conclusion.
Khan, a former chairman of the Delhi Minorities Commission, appealed in a letter to Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Thursday.
He referred to recent reports that the J&K State Investigation Agency, or SIA, has started investigating old cases of atrocities against Kashmiri Pandits.
Khan described the move as “a step in the right direction” and expressed hope that the investigations would establish the facts and place them before the nation.
He said the same effort should be made to bring closure to other unresolved cases in Kashmir, including disappearances, unidentified graves and allegations of atrocities involving the Army, other security forces, police and army-supported militants.
Khan said hundreds of Kashmiri women described as “half-widows” are still waiting for authorities to tell them what happened to their missing husbands.
He also called for investigations into hundreds of unidentified graves reported from different parts of Kashmir.
“The file of the ‘disappeared’, said to be around ten thousand youth of J&K, also needs closure,” Khan wrote.
Khan said reopening old cases should help establish facts and provide long-awaited answers to victims and their families, irrespective of their community.
He specifically sought credible investigations into the Chattisinghpora massacre of March 20, 2000, and the Kunan-Poshpora case of February 1991, saying the facts should be placed before the nation.
The former Delhi Minorities Commission chairman also raised the issue of people injured by pellet guns, saying they have yet to receive justifiable compensation, medical care and an apology.
Khan also appealed for humane treatment of long-term prisoners, specifically naming Shabir Shah and Dr. Qasim Faktoo. He said they should be allowed to spend their remaining years with their families and loved ones.
The letter comes as authorities revisit cases involving violence against Kashmiri Pandits dating back several decades. Khan's intervention argues that the process of revisiting the past should lead to answers and closure not only in those cases but also in other unresolved episodes of violence in Jammu and Kashmir.
Letter written to Lieutenant Governor to Jammu and Kashmir.
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