Contents
- Summary
- Background
- Action Required
- Sample letters
- Summary
The family of 22-year old Ahmed Wani urge the Indian security agencies to inform them of their son’s whereabouts after he was abducted from his workplace on Sunday 14 October 2012.
Mr Wani has appealed to the suspected Indian security agencies complicit in the crime, “Don’t kill him, tell us where is he?”
The family of Ahmed Wani are very reluctant towards approaching the higher authorities on the matter as they fear that this may provoke the agencies into severely torturing Ahmed.
Write to your Indian High Commissioner/Ambassador and Foreign Secretary to bring such an injustice to their attention and pressure them into taking action.
- Background
Occupied by Indian forces since 1949, Kashmir has been an ongoing disputed and violence-ridden region. Hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians have been arrested, tortured and murdered by Indian troops who regularly patrol the towns. Often labelled as “foreign terrorists” they are killed in what is termed fake encounters and thrown into mass graves, leaving their families with no knowledge of their fate.
Recently, there has been an exponential increase in detainment of innocent Kashmiri citizens under the Public Safety Act, which in many cases has been applied in an unjustified context.
On 11 June 2010, a seventeen-year-old Kashmiri youth, Tufail Ahmad Mattoo, died after he was hit by a teargas shell fired by the police during a routine post-Friday prayers protest in downtown Srinagar. Thereafter, between 19 June and 29 June, ten other Kashmiri youths, aged 15 to 27 years, were shot and killed by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Srinagar, Sopore, Delina and Anantnag, amounting to an average of one Kashmiri youth being killed per day.
Ahmad Wani, 22, was abducted from his workplace on 14 October 2012. Ahmed’s father Farooq Ahmed Wani claims that he has photographs of those people who abducted his innocent son and will “get them published very soon”. He further identified the vehicle they used as a Tata Sumo bearing number JK01N 9949
Unsurprisingly, the local police refused to file a First Information Report (FIR), which could have served as impetus towards the criminal justice process. In fact, as the abductee’s brother Mudasir recounts, when he visited the police station in Mohali along with colleagues to report the case, “Instead of helping, Indian policeman chased them with sticks”.
- Action Required
IHRC requests all individuals who are conscious of civil liberties and human justice to write letters and emails to the Foreign Minister of their country and their Indian High Commissioner demanding that they act immediately to ensure the release of Ahmed Wani. It is imperative that we write to them immediately to ensure that Ahmed Wani does not face the same fate as Tufail Ahmad Mattoo and the hundreds of other youth murdered without reason.
- Sample letters
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Sample letters are given below for your convenience. Please note that model letters can be sent directly or adjusted as necessary to include further details. If you receive a reply to the letter you send, we request you to send a copy of the letter you send and the reply you received, to IHRC. This is very important as it helps IHRC to monitor the situation with regards to our campaigns and to improve upon the current model letters.
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a. Minister of foreign affairs in your country (UK campaigners can write using the address supplied below, fax: +44 (0)20 7839 2417
[Your name]
[Your address]
[Date]
Rt. Hon. William Hague
Foreign & Commonwealth Office
King Charles Street
London, SW1A 2AH
Dear Mr. Hague,
Re: Re: Abduction of 22-year old Ahmed Wani by Indian security agencies in Mohali, Punjab
I am deeply concerned over the ongoing violence and arbitrary detention that is taking place in Indian-occupied Kashmir. In particular, I am concerned about the abduction of 22-year old Ahmed Wani on Sunday 14 October 2012. The family of Ahmed have already approached the Kashmir police, requesting them to file a First Information Report, but the police refused to do so. Presently, there is no sign of Ahmed’s imminent release and his parents live in a constant state of fear that the Indian security agencies may torture their son.
I urge you to call on your Indian counterparts to look into the matter and put an end to such shameful acts. This ongoing oppression of individuals which is a clear violation of human rights law must not be tolerated by the British government who claims to stand for justice. Please call on the Indian government to ensure that Ahmed Wani does not face the same fate as Tufail Ahmad Mattoo and the hundreds of other youth murdered without reason, and is released immediately.
I look forward to hearing back from you regarding this urgent matter.
Yours sincerely,
[Your signature]
[Your name]
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b. Indian Deputy High Commissioner in your country. (UK campaigners can write using the address supplied below, email: ukemb@mofa.gov.sa)
[Your name]
[Your address]
[Date]
High Commissioner Dr J. Bhagwati
India House
Aldwych
London
WC2B 4NA
Your Excellency,
Re: Abduction of 22-year old Ahmed Wani by Indian security agencies in Mohali, Punjab
I am deeply concerned over the ongoing violence and arbitrary detention that is taking place in India-occupied Kashmir. In particular, I am concerned about the abduction of 22-year old Ahmed Wani on Sunday 14 October 2012. The family of Ahmed have already approached the Kashmir police, requesting them to file a First Information Report, but the police refused to do so. Presently, there is no sign of Ahmed’s imminent release and his parents live in a constant state of fear that the Indian security agencies may torture their son.
I urge you to call on the Indian government to look into the matter and provide answers to why this is occurring. The police have incessantly clamped down on the Kashmiri people’s freedom of expression and right to autonomy. This is in violation of India’s various commitments to human rights. Following the suffering of the Indian people throughout their colonial history, one would further expect a maturity on the part of Indian authorities to not utilise the same strategies that were employed in their past. Ahmed Wani must be released from his abductees immediately.
I look forward to hearing back from you regarding this urgent matter.
Yours sincerely,
[Your signature]
[Your name]
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“And what reason have you that you should not fight in the way of Allah and of the weak among the men and the women and the children, (of) those who say: Our Lord! Cause us to go forth from this town, whose people are oppressors, and give us from Thee a guardian and give us from Thee a helper.”
Holy Qur’an: Chapter 4, Verse 75
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