IT is unfortunate that trouble should rock India-held Kashmir shortly before the Pakistan and Indian foreign ministers meet in New Delhi after an agonising one-year wait. Once again, Indian army personnel have allegedly dishonoured a Kashmiri woman, leading to anti-India demonstrations by thousands of people, mostly youth, in the Manzagam village on Friday. The demonstrators demanded the arrest of the two Indian soldiers accused of raping the woman. While the authorities have promised an investigation, it remains to be seen whether it will be an impartial one. As noted by international rights bodies, and some of India’s own human rights institutions, Indian security forces have been involved in serious rights abuses, and this has contributed in no small measure to the Kashmiri anger against New Delhi. Last year, the Human Rights Commission of the Srinagar government informed the state assembly that there were 404 cases of rights abuses, including six rapes, 43 disappearances and six custodial deaths in 2008-09, “11 of which were specific complaints against paramilitary forces and the Jammu and Kashmir police”. In its world human rights report for 2010, the State Department listed Jammu and Kashmir among India’s insurgency-hit areas, including the northeast and the Naxalite belt, where security forces routinely indulged in rights violations. According to a Kashmir-Canadian Council report, 6,300 Kashmiri women have been raped since the uprising began in the held territory in the 1980s.

During the first six months of this year, as claimed by the police, there has been a drop in the level of violence in the territory, with less than 100 cases reported as against 196 in the first half of last year. Peace needs to be promoted in the interest of the Indo-Pakistan dialogue that has begun, no matter how slow the progress. It is, therefore, imperative that New Delhi take steps to tackle the cause of Kashmiri anger by reining in its security personnel, reducing the number of occupation troops and taking steps to end the stifling atmosphere in the held territory. The people of the valley must feel the benefit of the peace process.