September 15, 2002	Sunday	Rajab 7, 1423

SRINAGAR, Sept 14: A freedom fighter, a human rights activist and a former guerilla, Farooq, Ibn and Manzour all share similar stories — torture at the hands of Indian forces in occupied Kashmir.

Farooq, 43, remembers the nightmare that began in Feb 1987. A supporter of the Jamaat-i-Islami, he was snatched by the Indian-backed militia Ikhwani and brought to a military camp in Anantnag.

He was blindfolded, handcuffed and had his feet chained — he can still show the marks — and Indian forces wasted no time in torturing him, he said.

“They asked me, ‘Are you affiliated with the rebels (Mujahideen)?’ I denied it, saying I was simply a supporter. Then they hung me by my hands, tied behind my back.”

Half an hour later they let him down.

“They asked again, ‘Are you affiliated with the rebels?’ I denied it and they hung me back up.”

The session lasted two hours. Farooq said the torture went on each day for several hours. He listed the litany of horrors inflicted on him.

“They dunked my head in water for more than a minute, they inflicted electric shocks, they rolled heavy wood or steel cylinders over my legs, they beat me mercilessly.”

Nearly two months later, an officer told him he was being transferred to a police camp. His family was paid 100,000 rupees, or about 2,000 dollars.

“They told me not to tell anyone I was tortured,” Farooq said. He then spent two more years in custody before being released.

Out of concern for their safety, Farooq, Ibn and Manzour all asked that their real names not be used.

Indian forces deny any torture in held Kashmir. But according to human rights groups, torture is rampant.

Ibn, 33, was a member of a non-governmental organization that studies the held state. He was arrested at his home in Srinagar in May 1998 by police and paramilitary troops.

“They told me, ‘You’re the military chief of a rebel organization, give up your arms.’ I denied it, explaining that I was part of a reputable human rights group. Then a high-ranking police officer ordered that I be beaten.”

He was taken to the Cargo Complex, the headquarters of the Special Operations Group, reputed to be the most violent force putting down the rebellion.

Ibn said he suffered the same sort of torture as Farooq, “hangings, electric shocks, the cylinders, beatings,” all done by or in the presence of about 15 people, “members of the local and federal police, federal intelligence agents, paramilitary men.”

“There were 41 young people with me at the complex. One of them, 26 years old, was killed before my eyes,” he said.

At one point Ibn said he admitted that he had arms and explosives.

“It was untrue, and they didn’t believe me anyway.”

He said he was tortured for eight days. He was released after one month in custody, “time enough for the traces of the wounds to disappear.”

His release, he said, was secured by a human rights group in New Delhi — in exchange for a promise not to press charges.

Ahmed, a 30-year-old who fought with Hizbul Mujahideen, lost an eye, had his tongue burned and his right arm and left leg paralysed.

He said that in 1994 he was detained three times and released because the Indian forces lacked evidence he belonged to a Mujahideen group.

But then he was taken away a fourth time — by the Special Operations Group, which caught him with weapons. He no longer remembers when or where it happened, having lost all memory. His brother explained what he heard was done to him.

“They said that Ahmed confessed he was a militant, that he was tortured and that his body and tongue were burned. Then he was thrown out of the second-floor window and left for dead.”—AFP