Srinagar: On the 18th anniversary of Pathribal and Brakpora killings, the Kashmir High Court Bar Association on Sunday said army personnel does not have absolute immunity from trial by the criminal court.
In a statement issued here, the lawyers body also expresses its solidarity with the victim families of Pathribal and Brakpora of Anantnag District, where five civilians were picked up from different parts of south Kashmir district and were killed in a “stage managed fake encounter by army on 5th March, 2000 and subsequently, eight more persons, who were protesting against the killing, were killed in Brakpora by police and CRPF and dozens were injured by use of brute force.”
“The Bar Association maintains that even though the army authorities have closed the case and the writ petition filed by the victim families against the order has been dismissed by the High Court but in view of law laid down by the Supreme Court in case titled “Extra-Judicial Execution Victim Families Association v/s Union of India”, the victim families are still entitled to agitate the matter before other forums including the criminal court, for, the law is now well settled that if an offence is committed by an army personal, there is no absolute immunity from trial against him, by the criminal court under the Code of Criminal Procedure,” reads a statement issued here.
Kashmir High Court Bar Association also reiterated that the ‘Kashmir dispute’ was for India and Pakistan to settle through a meaningful, sustained, sincere and result oriented dialogue “keeping in view the aspirations of the people of Kashmir and the resolutions of the Security Council, which provide for granting them the right of self-determination, by holding a plebiscite under the auspices of the United Nations.”
“ It is therefore in the interests of both India and Pakistan to initiate the process of dialogue, so as to bring an end to the genocide and bloodshed of people of Kashmir, which is going on for the last 70 years, with impunity,” the lawyers body said further.
It was reacting to statement of Amit Shah, the BJP President that “India will respond with a bomb to every Pakistani bullet, being the only solution for Pakistan and that India can’t have peace talks amid bullets and bombs”.
“The Bar Association reiterates that India and Pakistan are two nuclear powers and attacking each other with bombs and bullets, is no solution to the Kashmir problem and such kind of belligerent approach will bring devastation and destruction in the sub-continent.”
The lawyers body also strongly condemns the “thrashing of a shopkeeper and vandalizing property, including the damaging to a number of private vehicles, by army in Midoora village of Tral Pulwama”. It demanded an impartial and immediate enquiry into the matter, so that the “culprits don’t go unpunished.”
