Radha Kumar's forum hands J&K human rights report to top leaders

Former Jammu and Kashmir interlocutor Radha Kumar on Friday presented a report prepared by the Forum for Human Rights in J&K to National Conference president Farooq Abdullah, Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti, and CPI(M) legislator M.Y. Tarigami. The meetings took place in Srinagar.

Ms. Kumar, who is co-chair of the Forum along with former Home Secretary Gopal Pillai, said the group hoped that the report would lead to action on documented human rights violations. "We presented our human rights report to Dr. Abdullah and MLAs of the NC. We are hoping that some action can be taken at whatever level possible, on the violations of human rights that are prevalent and ongoing," she told reporters.

The Forum, which describes itself as a group of concerned citizens including retired judges, bureaucrats and Army officers, had earlier been denied police permission to release the report at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre in Srinagar. Leaders from the NC, PDP and Congress had agreed to attend the event there, but the meeting was moved to separate interactions.

Ms. Kumar was accompanied by Air Vice-Marshal Kapil Kak (retd) during her Kashmir trip. She termed her meetings with Dr. Abdullah, Ms. Mufti and Mr. Tarigami as "very fruitful". "We discussed the human rights report and its findings. We discussed the issue of federalism in our country and how the Statehood for J&K was perhaps the first big blow against federal rights of States," she said. "The need is to have all the parties come together and assert that the Constitution of India has to protect the rights of the States."

Ms. Kumar was appointed as an interlocutor on J&K in 2010. Reflecting on past peace efforts, she recalled that during the administrations of Prime Ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh, there was an understanding that multiple tracks of engagement were necessary. "You needed a track between the people, the elected representatives and the Government of India. You needed a track between the governments of India and Pakistan, and you needed a track with the dissidents, who are often called separatists," she said.

The report's specific findings have not been made public yet. The Forum's visit and the submission of the report come amid continued political debates over the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, which was revoked in August 2019 when the region was reorganised into two Union Territories. The current government in the Union Territory is led by the National Conference, which has made restoration of statehood a key demand.