In 1996, the conflict in Kashmir' entered it seventh year, with little indication that parliamentary
elections scheduled for May 23 and 3 02 would either lead to peace or end the widespread human rights abuses that have characterized the war. All of the militant organizations fighting for independence of the disputed territory have vowed to boycott the polls. In the months preceding the elections, Indian security forces have intensified their efforts against militant groups, stepping up cordon-and-search operations and summarily executing captured militant leaders. 

Alongside them, operating as a secret, illegal army, have been state-sponsored paramilitary groups,
composed of captured or surrendered former militants described as "renegades" by the Indian
government. Many of these groups have been responsible for grave human rights abuses, including
summary executions, torture, and illegal detention as well as election-related intimidation of voters. 

At the same time, some armed militant groups have become more ruthless. To enforce their boycott of the polls, the militant groups have attacked and killed candidates and campaign workers. Some militant groups have also continued to kidnap and execute civilians. Over the past year, militants have also stepped up indiscriminate attacks on civilians through bomb blasts and the use of landmines. 

The election has intensified the conflict, but the deterioration in the human rights situation can be
traced to early 1995 when the security forces began making systematic use of these irregular
militias. While attempting to reassure the international community that they have taken steps to curb
human rights abuses in Kashmir, Indian forces have in effect subcontracted some of their abusive
tactics to groups with no official accountability. The extrajudicial killings, abductions and assaults
committed by these groups against suspected militants are instead described as resulting from
"intergroup rivalries. " But civilians have also been their victims, and the militia groups have singled
out journalists, human rights activists and medical workers for attack. They have been given free rein to patrol major hospitals in Srinagar, particularly the Soura Institute, the Sri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) hospital and the Bone and Joint Hospital. They have murdered, threatened, beaten and detained hospital staff, in some cases these abuses have occurred in full view of security force
bunkers or in the presence of security force officers. They have also removed patients from
hospitals. These abuses constitute clear violations of medical neutrality. '

In some cases, attacks by these paramilitary groups appear to have been carried out on orders from security officers; in other cases, the groups appear to operate on their own, within broadly defined limits to their discretionary powers and the full expectation on the part of the security forces that they will use their discretion to take initiatives within the overall counterinsurgency strategy of fighting terror with terror. Their actions are taken with the knowledge and complicity of official security forces. When arrested by local police, members of these groups have been released on orders of the security forces. Not one has been prosecuted for human rights abuses. In this report, Human Rights Watch/Asia provides evidence of the culpability of state-sponsored irregular paramilitary forces in three cases of extrajudicial executions and two attempted assassinations. We also describe a range of other abuses committed by these groups. 

Violations of human rights and humanitarian law by the regular security forces - the army, the
Border Security Force (BSF) and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) - have also continued. These violations include the deliberate killing of detainees in the custody of the security forces in Kashmir and reprisal killings of civilians. 

Human rights groups and press accounts have registered reports of such killings every month, I but
there is no sign that security personnel have been prosecuted in a single case of summary execution.
In the few high-profile cases in which courts-martial have taken place, soldiers have been
prosecuted for abuses, such as the excessive use of force, which fall short of murder. 

Regular forces have also been responsible for disappearances and reprisal attacks against civilians.
More than one hundred cases of detainees disappearing in the custody of the security forces have
been documented by human rights groups since the conflict began; to Human Rights Watch's
knowledge, not one has resulted in the prosecution of any member of the security forces. ' Security
legislation has increased the likelihood of such abuses by authorizing the security forces to shoot to
kill and to destroy civilian property while at the same time protecting them from prosecution for
human rights violations. In the case of reprisal attacks or assaults by soldiers on civilians during
search operations, the government has ordered a handful of investigations, but many reported
instances of abuse have been ignored by the authorities. 

Indian security forces in Kashmir continue to administer torture systematically to coerce detainees to reveal information about suspected militants or to confess to militant activity. Torture is also used to punish detainees who are believed to support or sympathize with the militants and to create a
climate of political repression. The practice of torture is facilitated by the fact that detainees are
generally held in temporary detention centers, controlled by the various security forces, without
access to the courts, relatives or medical care. 

Methods of torture include severe beatings, electric shock, crushing the leg muscles with a wooden
roller, and burning with heated objects. The Indian government has not made public any
investigations into any of the many documented cases of torture, nor has it ever announced that a
member of the security forces was prosecuted or punished for torture. Although the government
denies that torture is practiced systematically and as a matter of policy in Kashmir, government
officials have admitted that torture takes place. 

Security personnel in Kashmir have also been responsible for rape as a counterinsurgency tactic. In
response to international attention to the problem, the Indian government has made public a number of prosecutions of members of security forces for rape. However, reports of rape and other sexual assaults in Kashmir persist. ' In many cases, these incidents are never investigated by judicial and medical authorities competent to determine culpability. 

The Indian authorities have done little to curb human rights violations by their army and security
forces. 

In the rare cases in which investigations of abuses have taken place, the most severe punishments
have generally been limited to dismissals or suspensions from duty. Security officers have also
offered bribes and have threatened individuals and families in an attempt to prevent them from
pressing charges. The Indian government's failure to account for these abuses and take rigorous
action against those members of its forces responsible for murder, rape and torture amounts to a
policy of condoning human rights violations. 

Armed militant organizations in Kashmir have also committed many grave violations of international
human rights and humanitarian law. Armed with sophisticated weaponry mostly procured in
Pakistan, militant groups have launched indiscriminate attacks that have killed and injured hundreds
of civilians. The militant groups have increasingly made use of car bombs and other explosive
devices in crowded areas. The groups have also deployed landmines on public roads and in other
areas used by civilians. Militants have thrown grenades at buses and government buildings, killing
and wounding civilians. These attacks have occurred in the Kashmir valley and have also been
reported in Jammu. 

Militant groups have kidnapped civilians, including foreigners, and held them as hostages in order to demand the release of imprisoned militants. They have threatened, assaulted and in some cases
murdered Hindu residents of the Kashmir Valley. In mid-1996 some 100,000 Hindu refugees were
still living in refugee camps in Jammu and Delhi where they had fled after a series of such attacks. 

Various armed militant groups in Kashmir have also committed rape and have launched other violent attacks on women, creating a climate of fear for women in Kashmir in which violent abuses are committed with impunity. 

As the elections neared, militant groups also assassinated candidates and party workers, particularly those from the Congress party. The militants also kidnaped and summarily executed suspected informers and collaborators. They also kidnaped and murdered civilians and issued bans and other threats against the press.