A uniformed cover up?

Lack of co-operation from the army has put the J&K government in a spot. It faces criticism for its inability to act against men in uniform facing charges of serious abuse.

Last year, Army Chief General J.J. Singh said that the army had reworked its evaluation system, making it clear that fake militant kills were not acceptable. Nine months later when a J&K police investigation accidentally exposed how its own men and three battalions of Rashtriya Rifles staged a series of fake encounters in which five innocent villagers were killed and dubbed as Pakistani militants, it exposed that General Singh’s message had not reached the army’s counter insurgency campaign.

“Kills” — as the militant casualties are described in army parlance — remain the main thrust of success for army units operating in Kashmir.

But there is no effective mechanism to check killings of innocent civilians in fake encounters. And the army has shown reservation in producing its erring officers before the police or civilian courts, making it difficult for the J&K government to curb serious human rights violations.

The J&K police investigations into fake encounters began when the family of Abdul Rehman Padroo approached the police for help after he went missing last year. Padroo had gone missing along with his mobile phone, and the police traced it to one of its own officers. It exposed a network of fake encounters. Except Padroo, the other fake encounters were carried out by three Rashtriya Rifles units with “assistance” from Ganderbal police. The units had filed FIRs after these fake encounters and also claimed seizure of weapons.

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The J&K police immediately arrested its SSP and 12 other policemen. They also approached the army units so that they could question the officers and men involved in these fake encounters and check the seizure records. But the army units refused to co-operate, asking the investigators to approach the corps. And when the investigators received the results of a DNA test conducted by a reputed forensic lab, the probe took a new turn. It had confirmed that the body exhumed from a graveyard in Bazipora village was actually Shaukat Ahmad Khan — an Imam in a mosque in Srinagar — and not a Pak militant, Abu Zahid of Karachi, as claimed by 13 RR. An immediate questioning of the army men had become essential. The J&K police filed a case of murder and abduction against 13 RR but the army remained unmoved and so did the 15 corps.

The lack of co-operation from the army has put the J&K government in a spot. It is facing serious criticism for its inability to act against men in uniform facing serious abuse charges. And although the PM insists that his government has zero tolerance towards all rights violations, the Centre too has systematically turned the J&K government’s efforts ineffective.

Although there is a joint security grid of army, central para-military and J&K police — Unified Command Headquarters — headed by the J&K chief minister, the civilian government has literally no authority to act against any erring army official. It also needs permission to prosecute members of central para-military forces charged with rights violations.

In March, 2000, Kashmir was boiling with anger when the killing of five villagers in a fake encounter at Pathribal by the troops of 7 Rashtriya Rifles and local police surfaced. That time too, the army had dubbed the innocent villagers as Pakistani militants. The J&K government transferred the case to CBI which charged five army officials for abduction, murder, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence. But the case is still pending as the court passed an order giving the army the option “to try the accused in the court martial”. The army had initially questioned the CBI’s authority to investigate it, which the CBI strongly objected to and complained that the army was not co-operating.

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General J.J. Singh had insisted that the new evaluation system will send a message that “we are professionals in all spheres”. But military professionalism not only demands internal mechanisms to discourage such illegal short cuts to glory and rewards but an unconditional co-operation to law enforcement agencies probing these extra-judicial acts as well.