Scores of men and women of the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) held a sit-in protest in Srinagar on Monday, against 'enforced disappearances' of their relatives.
Holding placards and photographs of their relatives, who disappeared in 90s when the state was in the throes of armed conflict, the APDP members assembled demanded to know their whereabouts.
“The victim families won't stop, till they get their disappeared children back,” APDP chairperson Parveena Ahanger said.
Speaking during the protest, Parveena Ahangar, chairperson APDP, reiterated the demand for ratification of international convention for protection of all persons from enforced disappearances.
“In a situation where India has not ratified the international convention for protection of all persons from enforced disappearances and the vagueness of India’s domestic law that does not enumerate enforced disappearance as an offense, the challenges in pursuing legal struggle is insurmountable,” she said.
Perveena said the ratification will help to bring out the special nature and circumstances in which such crimes are perpetrated and will make more evident the multiple rights that are violated as a result of an enforced disappearance.
“We also demand that law on enforced disappearance be passed by the Jammu and Kashmir legislature so that the vagueness and ambiguity in the Indian domestic penal provisions can be overcome and the perpetrators could be prosecuted,” she said.
“APDP has been documenting the cases and has been active to bring the issue of ED to the public.