Indian Rights Group Finds 'Mass Graves' in Disputed Kashmir

By Jay Shankar

Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) -- More than 2,900 bodies were discovered over the past three years in “mass graves” in 55 villages across three districts in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir, a rights group said.

The graves, unearthed by researchers from the International People’s Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Kashmir, include bodies of those killed in gun battles, “arbitrary executions and massacres” by military and paramilitary forces, the Indian-based group said in a statement on its Web site.

J.S. Brar, a military spokesman, said he wouldn’t comment on the report. He was speaking by telephone today from Srinagar, the summer capital of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.

The disputed Himalayan territory is claimed in full by both India and Pakistan and two of the three wars between the South Asian neighbors were fought over the region. Jammu and Kashmir is India’s only Muslim-majority state.

Rebel groups have been fighting for independence from India or a union with Pakistan since 1989. India accuses Pakistan of backing separatists fighting Indian rule. Pakistan denies the accusation, saying it only lends moral support to a freedom struggle.

At least 166 people were killed in violence in Jammu and Kashmir last year.

“This evidence must be verified by independent and international bodies,” Khurram Pervez, one of the researchers who conducted the survey that ended last month, said today in a phone interview from Srinagar.

India and Pakistan account for four-fifths of South Asia’s $1.3 billion economy and economic progress in the region has suffered because of tensions between the nations. Pakistan takes only 4.8 percent of its imports from India, almost three times less than its biggest partner China, according to U.S. government data.