A new report by the Kashmir Institute of International Relations, covering the period from September to December 2025, paints a harrowing picture of life in Jammu and Kashmir. It documents a human rights landscape where the fundamental freedoms guaranteed by international law are systematically eroded by a machinery of state control. Analysed through the prism of core United Nations treaties, the situation reveals not isolated abuses, but a pervasive architecture of repression that implicates India in breaches of its legal obligations.
The report catalogues a familiar yet intensifying litany of
violations: extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detentions, punitive property
demolitions, a strangled press, and the collective punishment of communities
through cordon-and-search operations (CASOs). Each of these practices finds
itself in direct conflict with the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR), to which India is a party.
The right to life, protected under Article 6 of the ICCPR,
is rendered precarious by a security paradigm that blurs the lines between
combatant and civilian. The documented custodial death of Firdous Ahmad Mir in
Bandipora, and the suspicious killing of a student in Jammu, underscore a
climate of impunity. These incidents violate not only the right to life but
also the absolute prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading
treatment under the Convention against Torture. The state’s endorsement of
Village Defence Guards (VDGs)—irregular forces with a history of violence
against civilians—further institutionalises this threat, effectively
outsourcing extrajudicial violence.
Arbitrary detention, prohibited under Article 9 of the
ICCPR, has become a routine instrument of governance. The rampant use of the
Public Safety Act (PSA) and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA),
enabling detention without trial for years on vague grounds, represents a
severe derogation from due process. The report highlights cases like that of
Imtiyaz Ahmad Ganie, detained despite a court order for his release,
illustrating how the law is wielded for punishment rather than justice. The
staggering statistic that Jammu and Kashmir accounted for 42% of all UAPA
arrests in India in 2023, with a conviction rate below 1%, suggests these laws are
used for intimidation, not legitimate prosecution.
This repression extends digitally, corroding privacy and
freedom of expression. The imposition of GPS ankle monitors on undertrial
detainees, as in the case of Mukhtar Ahmed, creates a "digital
prison" that infringes upon the right to liberty and movement (ICCPR
Articles 9 & 12) and presumes guilt before trial. Simultaneously, a
sweeping digital censorship campaign, with thousands of accounts withheld on
platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and targeted raids on media offices like
*Kashmir Times*, strangles the public’s right to information and silences
dissent, contravening Article 19 of the ICCPR.
Perhaps the most brazen violations concern economic, social,
and cultural rights, protected under the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). The state’s actions appear designed to
dismantle the very foundations of Kashmiri society. The punitive confiscation
and demolition of homes and orchards—often justified under counter-terrorism
laws but targeted at families of political dissenters—constitute collective
punishment, prohibited under international humanitarian law. These acts violate
the right to adequate housing and the right to work, plunging families into
destitution.
The crisis in horticulture, the region’s economic backbone,
is portrayed not merely as a climate disaster but as a policy failure. The
collapse of the sole highway link during harvest, inadequate crop insurance,
and unchecked illegal mining that erodes farmland point to a dereliction of the
state’s duty to ensure the progressive realization of the right to an adequate
standard of living (Article 11, ICESCR). Similarly, the documented collapse of
tourism following security incidents, compounded by administrative harassment
of hoteliers, shows a failure to protect livelihoods.
The right to education (Article 13, ICESCR) is in tatters.
With 119 schools reporting zero enrollment and over 4,400 schools merged or
closed, access is severely curtailed, especially for girls and rural
communities. The proliferation of single-teacher schools and crumbling
infrastructure demonstrate a failure to provide quality education, perpetuating
cycles of marginalisation.
Furthermore, the targeted harassment of Kashmiri Muslim
medical professionals—with arrests, deregistration, and protests against
merit-based admissions—raises grave concerns under the International Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD). Such actions
suggest discriminatory intent, undermining the right to health and work for a
specific community.
The report from September-December 2025 concludes that these
violations are not sporadic but form a deliberate strategy to suppress
political expression and dismantle social cohesion through fear. From the
protests in Ladakh—met with lethal force instead of dialogue—to the daily
humiliations of CASOs, the Indian administration appears to govern through
coercion rather than consent.
International human rights law is not a passive set of ideals but a binding framework of state responsibility. The patterns documented in this report indicate systemic failures across multiple treaty obligations. They call not for mere condemnation but for urgent, independent international investigation and accountability. The people of Jammu and Kashmir, as the report asserts, remain entitled to their inalienable rights to dignity, justice, and security—rights that continue to be overshadowed by the grim reality of occupation.
The author, MEHR UN NISA, Director Research & Human
Rights Desk, is solely responsible for the views expressed in this article,
which do not necessarily reflect those of The Kabul Tribune
