Stop Economic Embargo of Kashmir

We write to bring to your attention the profound humanitarian crisis
continuing in the Kashmir Valley due to the ongoing blockade of the
Srinagar-Jammu highway by religious nationalist groups from India.
This has resulted in severe shortages in the Kashmir Valley of food
and other vital provisions. We are reliably informed that petrol and
essential medical rations, including blood, are in critically short
supply, as well as newsprint, and that communication services and
infrastructure are severely disrupted.

The situation in Jammu, where the Muslim minority is facing violence
on a scale that can be described as ethnic cleansing, is alarming.
The Government of India and the military and paramilitary forces
have shown themselves unable and/or unwilling to take any effective
action, either to end the blockade or to stop the violence against
Muslims in Jammu. Meanwhile, military and paramilitary forces have
opened fire on counter-demonstrators in Kashmir, using live bullets
and mortar. A communiquй from the Kashmir Valley states that:

"The situation here on ground is that essential commodities have
started getting dried up, diesel is already out of stock and petrol
at its verge of end. The people here are very much concerned as if
the same continues for next few days there will be nothing left to
eat with the people of Kashmir. And on the other side the Army is
supporting the mobs who have allegedly beaten up the drivers
stranded on the national highway. The drivers who were beaten up
reported that they asked Army to help them but all went in despair
and the Army people in return handed them over to the mobs. The
target is only the Kashmiri Muslims and some sources from Jammu say
that it is the outsiders who have come to Jammu and are doing such
attacks on the Muslims and it is quite evident that the Hindu
fundamentalist groups viz. BJP, RSS VHP, etc., are all sponsoring
the planned attacks onto the Kashmiris like it was done in Gujarat.
Here in Kashmir we feel the history seems to be being repeated by
the Hindu fundamentalists who had earlier in 1947 killed about
250,000 Muslims in Jammu."

On August 11, 2008, approximately 100,000 Kashmiris, including fruit
growers and others gravely affected by the blockade, marched toward
the Line of Control toward Pakistan markets in protest. They were
met with gunfire and tear gas from the military and paramilitary
forces, and Sheik Abdul Aziz, an All Parties Hurriyat Conference
leader, was shot dead, intensifying the situation. Police reports
stated that three others were killed and over 200 injured,
enervating health systems already low on supplies. Other sources we
contacted stated that as many as 18 others may have been killed in
Kashmir on August 11. By early evening of August 12, as we write
you, reports stated that as many as twelve persons were killed in
Kashmir on that day as armed forces fired on demonstrators. Other
reports stated that civil society groups, students, and labor unions
participating in non-violent civil disobedience and peaceful
protests are being targeted by the forces, as curfew conditions
prevail.

The Srinagar-Jammu highway is the only land route linking the
Kashmir Valley to India and the sole conduit for essential supplies
as well as for exporting horticultural goods, which are among the
Valley's chief products. News updates on the state of the blockade
and situation can be found from leading Kashmiri newspapers, which
are online at www.greaterkashmir.com; www.kashmirtimes.com;
www.risingkashmir.com; www.etalaat.com/english/.

About 95-97 percent of the population of the Valley is Muslim, while
Muslims are a minority in India. This has made Kashmir the target of
increasingly aggressive campaigns by Hindu nationalist groups since
1947, despite guarantees of autonomy written into the Indian
Constitution. The Government of India has failed to take measures to
prevent these campaigns, consisting of marches and demonstrations,
and culminating in the current blockade. Since 1989 there has been
an armed pro-independence struggle in Kashmir, together with other
and non-violent movements for self-determination. Indian
counterinsurgency operations have resulted in grave abuses of human
rights with social, economic, psychological, political, and
environmental consequences, which meet the definition under
international law of crimes against humanity. To a population
suffering the effects of nineteen years of armed conflict, the
economic crisis caused by the blockade comes as the last straw.

We urge that you respond expeditiously to this situation in
accordance with the mandate to uphold human rights as enshrined in
the charter of the United Nations.

Recommendations:
1. The Government of India should immediately end the economic
blockade and ensure that goods and services, including emergency
medical and food supplies, can move in both directions along the
Srinagar-Jammu border.
2. The Government of India should open the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad
road, a promise repeatedly reiterated by successive governments of
India and Pakistan, though never implemented. This would ensure that
the current crisis situation is not repeated as well as mark a
concrete step forward in addressing injustices and the peace process.
3. Take immediate action to stop the violence against the Muslim
minority in Jammu and bring those responsible to justice.
4. Put an end to ongoing human rights abuses by Indian forces and
pro-India militias as repeatedly promised by the Indian Prime
Minister and expected of democratic governments.
5. Take steps for a long-term resolution of the conflict by
beginning talks with all sections of the Kashmiri leadership and
civil society.
6. Take steps to hold the Indian state accountable under the
provisions established by the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir,
Constitution of India, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
and International Laws and Conventions.