STRUCTURES OF VIOLENCE

23
| Structures of Violence
all this seemed normal. SP Operations arrived by a
vehicle. He was a Hindu. He came inside. I know it was SP
Ops., because the SP District normally wouldn't interfere.
He got down. He came inside. Pin Jinn was just yards
away. He asked for me. Pin Jinn tried to dodge the
question because of what Azad had ordered. The SP
Operations threatened him, “I will kill you, I have pressure
on me about this boy. Even from the Governor.” My uncle
was an ex-minister, a cabinet minister in Sheikh
Abdullah's government. His name was Mohammad
Ashraf Khan. He had gone straightaway to the Governor’s
house and complained there, when he heard that I had
been picked up. The SP picked me up and took me to the
District police headquarters. There was no more beating. I
was given food. At around 8/8:30pm I was handed over to
my family. I went to Srinagar, got treated and then fled to
Bangalore.
The above testimony shows both how the forces operated
together and the superiority of the army – as brought out
by the actions of Captain Chauhan. While the joint
operations are a feature of numerous testimonies, and
there is testimony that the army had effective control, not
all actions of the forces can be explained. For example,
Ashiq Hussain Narchoor [Testimony no.15] recounts his
torture and how he was transferred from SOG custody to
army custody for a day, only to be returned to the SOG.
The purpose of this transfer is not known to the victim as
he narrates :
In 2004, I was picked by SOG and RR of Khanabal camp,
42nd battalion. Sub-Inspector Rashid, DSP Operations
Harmeet Singh, Kaka Battaa (two star), and SHO Shabir
were involved. All four were part of SOG. SOG along with
the army cordoned our house. The above named four
SOG personnel entered our house and along with a few
other SOG personnel took me in a Rakshak Jeep to JIC,
Khanabal. The army personnel remained outside. Kaka
Battaa had also beaten up a student from Kashmir
University in 2007 at JIC Humhama/Cargo.
Others detained at the time were: Suhail Rashid Din, son
of Abdul Rashid Din, resident of Mattan [he was with HM],
Ashiq Hussain Boda [he was with HM], Altaf Hussain
Mujkhal, son of Ghulam Hassan Mujkhal [he was with
HM], Ghulam Rasool Najar [he was with HM], Manzoor
Ahmad Bhat [he was with HM], Mukhtar Ahmad Waza [he
was with HM].
At the JIC, I was tortured; I was hung upside down and
was beaten on my back. My legs were stretched and a
wooden roller was rolled on my legs. S.I Rashid removed
my toe nails. Ramesh (one star) another SOG personnel
was rolling the roller on my legs. I came to know about the
names of these officers in the JIC. After 8-9 days in the JIC
I was taken to the Khanabal Camp. There I was kept in the
torture cell. I was tortured there as well. Methods used
included putting my head under water and rolling on my
legs by army personnel. I did not come to know about the
names of any army personnel. Once in the camp,[SP
Islamabad] Ashiq Bukhari came and asked me to produce
weapons. He also beat me himself. The allegation against
me was that I was a militant and used to associate with
other militants, namely Ghulam Rasool Wagay alias Kach
Gour and with Babar, a Pakistani militant. Ashiq Bukhari
told me that they had information I used to associate with
these militants. Ghulam Rasool Wagay [militant] was my
neighbor. I didn't have connection with the militancy but as
he was our neighbor, we were on good terms. In the
Khanabal camp I was kept for one day only and on the
same evening I was brought back to JIC at about 07:00
pm. In the JIC I was detained for 18 days and then I was
taken to Kot Bhalwal prison, Jammu.
The above testimony is particularly striking as it counters
any suggestion that the police are unaware of army
actions in their camp or vice versa. There is clearly close
coordination – including in the transfer of detainees from
police control to army control and back. This is also true
with regard to the operations carried out by Ikhwan and
the army. Across testimonies the army and Ikhwan
operate together – in raids, crackdowns,(search and
cordon operations), and in encounters. Bashir Ahmad
Misgar [Testimony no.22] in one succinct para provides
evidence across all these scenarios:
Whenever I try to count the number of times I was
tortured, I almost lose count, but it was almost twenty
times by Ikhwanis, Army, and SOG. My father and I were
even tortured at our own house by a joint party of Ikhwan
and Army from Khanabal camp. Finally we left our home
and migrated to Pulwama where we rented a house and
lived there for almost two years. A year after we had left
our house, it was blasted by a joint party of Ikhwan and
Army. Two months later my brother Tariq Ahmad was
martyred in an encounter on 2 December 1997. In this
encounter an Ikhwani, Fayaz Ahmad Pushu was also
injured. After that our entire family came back from
Pulwama and we lived with my uncle's family for one year.
Abdul Majeed Zargar [Testimony no.29] also testies to
the Ikhwan, army and police being involved in a joint
operation:
In September 2005, army of 3 RR Khanabal camp
Headquarters cordoned the area around my house at
about 05:30 am. Army was informed by Ikhwani Tahir Fuf
that there are some militants in my house. The army first
sent local residents of the locality to my house, to tell the
family to get out of the house and assemble in the
compound. After the household people went out from the
house, army along with Tahir Fuf entered the house. Tahir
Fuf searched all the rooms himself. He asked my wife
about the militants. My wife replied saying that there were
no militants in the house. Army and Tahir Fuf broke
windows and doors of my house and threw the bedding
outside in the compound. He also cut the landline
connection and electricity line to the house. Then the
army took me to JIC Khanabal.
On the same night the army came again to my house and
asked about my son namely Showkat Zarger. Showkat
worked as a guard in a park, and on that night he was on
duty. Army somehow came to know about this and he too
was picked by the army from the park and taken to JIC
Khanabal.
At JIC, both of us were tortured by a policeman called
Kaka Battaa in the camp. We were hung upside down and
were beaten there. Showkat was released after a few
days whereas I was shifted to Mattan police station for 15
days after four days in JIC, and then to Central Jail
Srinagar. From Central Jail I was taken to the Islamabad
court and booked under PSA. Then I was shifted to Kot
Bhalwal and was kept there for one year. Finally I was
released a year later.