Report warns rights abuse in J&K will go on until elected govt. is in place

Forum for Human Rights released the report a day ahead of J&K completing two years as UT

In their latest report, former Supreme Court (SC) judge Justice Madan B. Lokur and former Kashmir interlocutor Radha Kumar, who head the Forum for Human Rights in J&K, have warned that “human rights abuses will continue unchecked till J&K remains under a Lieutenant-Governor administration and without an elected government”. “Most of the rights violations, including arbitrary detentions, prohibition on assembly, remain valid still. Close to 1,000 people are still in prison, including minors and elected legislators. The J&K administration added a new vigilantism against government employees, whose social media content is now subject to police scrutiny for ‘anti-national activities’, potentially leading to dismissal. Eighteen government employees have already been dismissed,” the report said. The report was released a day ahead of J&K completing two years as a Union Territory. It was on August 5, 2019, that J&K’s special constitutional position was ended by the Centre and it was divided into two UTs of J&K and Ladakh.