August 31, 2007	Friday	Sha’aban 17, 1428

SRINAGAR, Aug 30: Amnesty International has accused Indian security forces of using ‘brutal’ torture in the fight against insurgencies in occupied Kashmir and north-eastern states.

“In areas of armed conflict, torture by security forces is routine and is often particularly brutal,” said a report released on Thursday to mark the International Day of the Disappeared.

“Many women have also been raped by security forces, sometimes in retribution for attacks on security forces by armed groups, or for a community’s perceived support for armed insurgents,” it said.

In Kashmir, the groups noted, abuses were especially prevalent because of anti-terrorism laws that made it difficult to prosecute soldiers.

“Preventive detention and special laws in force in Jammu and Kashmir give the security forces sweeping powers of arrest and detention and reduce vital safeguards,” the report said.

It said people detained under preventive detention laws were often held in solitary confinement and refused permission to see family, lawyers or doctors.

It alleged that security forces beat suspects, deprived them of food, water and sleep and used electric shocks during interrogation.

It urged New Delhi to ratify the United Nations convention against torture. India is one of eight nations to have signed but not yet ratified the document which has been approved by 144 states.

“The armed opposition groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir are responsible for many human rights abuses, including the torture and ill-treatment of civilians,” the report said.

An army spokesman in Kashmir rejected the allegations. “We never torture anyone. It is a baseless assumption,” spokesman Anil Kumar Mathur told AFP.

“Yes, we do undertake detailed interrogation of suspects jointly with police and paramilitary forces,” he said, asserting that torture was viewed by the army as “worst type of human rights violation. There are strict instructions not to torture anyone.”—AFP