Following shelling by the security forces in Jammu & Kashmir, 11 people were killed on 18 September 1997 in Arin, in Bandipore of Baramullah district. Eleven years later, the victims' families in this little hamlet are still awaiting justice. This is just one of scores of such incidents to have taken place over the past two decades of conflict in J & K, where the issue of human rights has long occupied the centre of the political discourse.
Kashmiri separatists have always used rights abuses as a central theme of their struggle against rule by New Delhi. Likewise, every major 'pro-India' political party has also demanded greater accountability for the armed forces, the repeal of draconian laws such as the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, and justice for the victims of abuse. During the recent election in J & K, both the ruling National Conference and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party again promised elaborate action plans to halt such violations. Yet in practice, human-rights defenders and other civil-society actors continue to be kept far from the negotiation table.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, in J & K the lack of accountability of perpetrators and denial of justice to victims has become a norm. The reason for this lies in the exclusion of human-rights and justice agendas from both the wider peace process and negotiation mechanisms. In fact, the peace process and the demand for justice have run parallel courses, with little attempt being made by negotiators to integrate calls for justice into official procedures. Meanwhile, the government's response to human-rights violations has been knee-jerk: announcement of enquiries and compensation of INR 100,000 to victims' families, rather than working to bring perpetrators to justice. Given such a situation, the larger problem is the near-total breakdown of trust in any official move to provide succour to victims, and the fact that the human-rights debate has become mired amidst the complex political dispute within J & K and with New Delhi.
Kashmiris often assert that the discourse on J & K has been shaped by New Delhi, and that it is rarely based on the realities of Kupwara, Anantnag or even Srinagar. Moreover, it is felt that the peace process has failed to engage with a broad range of stakeholders in the state itself. Foremost amongst those that have been marginalised from these incipient attempts at carving out peace is the Kashmiri civil society. In order to analyse the challenges that lie ahead for achieving peace, it is important to understand the underpinnings of the civil-society movement in J & K.