Understanding Impunity in Jammu and Kashmir

While Kashmir was shut down by a strict curfew with a total ­information blockade after the secretive hanging of Afzal Guru in Tihar, the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) government introduced the Jammu and Kashmir Draft Police Bill, 2013, ostensibly for a public debate. There is no doubt that the intentions of the government were mala fide: The bill was put up for public feedback for a period of 15 days amid curfew only to fulfil a formality. The introduction of this bill exposed the hollowness of the J&K government’s public posturing on Afzal ­Guru’s secretive hanging and the hypo­crisy behind its public demand for revocation of draconian laws like the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990 (AFSPA). But at a larger level, this bill yet again underlined that the Indian government’s policy on Kashmir is to deny the right to self-determination to the people of Kashmir by any and all available means, of which impunity for the army and the police, as also, for the country’s civilian leadership, is at the core.

While the army and paramilitary come under the AFSPA immunity cover, this draft law makes it clear that the government wants to arm the police with draconian powers and provide legal protection for their actions. Though the police has already been enjoying de facto immunity for its actions, this draft bill is aimed to make it de jure and thus institutionalise the impunity project.