SC seeks report from J-K HC on children’s detention

The Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice to the Juvenile Justice Committee of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court on a petition challenging the illegal detention of children in Jammu and Kashmir (J-K) since Aug.5, when the Centre abrogated Article 370 that granted a special status to the erstwhile state.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi has sought within one week a report in the matter.

The petition has been filed by two child right activists and the Chief Justice observed that it raises crucial questions pertaining to the detention of children in J-K.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court that one case of detention of a person, mentioned in the petition, had been referred to the Juvenile Justice Committee after he was found to be minor.

CJI Gogoi said it was not the question of an individual, but a larger issue which needed to be addressed.

The bench however, said the claim of the petitioners’ counsel that they were facing extreme difficulties in accessing the Jammu and Kashmir High Court as the Valley remained in lockdown was not supported by the report filed by the Chief Justice of the High Court in this regard.

Meanwhile, according to a list prepared by security agencies last week and accessed by the media, there are a total of 273 militants operating in Kashmir.

Out of the 273 active militants, 158 are based in South Kashmir, 96 in North Kashmir and 19 militants in central Kashmir.

At 166, the local militants outnumber the 107 foreign militants operating in Kashmir.

The militants belong to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Hizbul Mujahideen (HuM), Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) and Al Badr outfits.

LeT tops the list with 112 militants followed by Hizbul Mujahideen with 100 militants, Jaish-e-Muhammad with 58 militants and Al Badr with three militants.

Sources indicate that the graph of infiltration from across the border has also gone up with many successful infiltration attempts recorded since the scrapping of Article 370 on August 5.

According to sources, while the ongoing communication curbs in Kashmir are preventing Pakistan from passing on instructions to militants in the Valley, these have also impacted anti-militancy operations. Fewer operations have taken place since August 5, with security forces banking for information mostly on human intelligence rather than technology.

Sources say the lull has given the militants time to regroup and spread across the Valley.

Sources add that though the militants have been largely inactive of late, this could be a deliberate ploy to launch attacks on the security forces once they get a go ahead from their handlers across the border.

According to sources, over the next few days and weeks there could be more encounters between security forces and militants, who may try and register their presence by carrying out sensational attacks like the one in Pulwama in which 40 CRPF soldiers were killed.

Meanwhile, in another setback in its attempts to raise the Kashmir issue at the global level, Pakistan could not file any resolution on the issue at the ongoing UN Human Rights Council meeting here. Thursday afternoon (1:00pm local time) was the deadline for filing resolutions at the UNHRC’s 42nd meeting, which began on September 9 and goes on till September 27 and no Pakistani resolution was filed so far.

India and Pakistan had faced off earlier this month at the meeting.

On the second day of the meeting, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who was leading his country’s delegation, raked up the issue of Jammu and Kashmir.

Citing the restrictions imposed and detention of political leaders among other things, he said that Kashmir had been converted into the “largest prison” with people being denied access to basic amenities.

India’s counter offensive to Pakistan at the top human rights body on Sept.10 was led by its Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs Vijay Thakur Singh, who firmly put forth India’s stance on Kashmir and rebutted Pakistan’s shrill allegations of human rights violations.

Indo-Asian News Service