Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons

The Kashmir valley is today one of the most militarized zone in the world. With about 700,000 armed and paramilitary forces stationed there the ratio of civilian to security personnel is about 1:7 In this highly militarized zone, the life and liberty of the people are governed by draconian legislations awarding arbitrary and excessive powers of preventive detention, arrest, search, seizure and power to shoot to kill on suspicion with the use of lethal force, such as the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), Disturbed Areas Act, and the Public Safety Act (PSA). Immunity is inscribed in this legal architecture, spawning a culture of impunity. While human rights violations by security forces have been rampant over the last two decades there has been no accountability of the same. Despite investigations and judicial enquiries no one has been punished for egregious crimes such as extra judicial executions, custodial torture, rape and enforced disappearances. There are an estimated 8-10,000 enforced disappearances in India-controlled Kashmir. Although India signed the International Convention for Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances in 2007, it has failed to ratify the convention and only a fraction of the cases on disappearances have been investigated.

Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) is a collective of relatives of victims of enforced and involuntary disappearances in Kashmir. The APDP was formed in 1994 to organize efforts to seek justice and get information on the whereabouts of missing family members. APDP actively campaigns for an end to the practice and international crime of involuntary and enforced disappearances at local, national and international platforms. On the 10th of every month, APDP members host a sit-in public protest to commemorate the disappearance of their loved ones and seek answers from the state about the whereabouts of the missing persons.
APDP have and continue to face major challenges in meeting its objectives due to acts of omission and commission by state agencies. This constitutes serious breaches of fundamental rights guaranteed under the Indian Constitution as well as rights recognized in the Declaration Rights of Human Rights Defenders and marks the Indian state’s failure to create conditions to ensure the enjoyment of all human rights and freedoms.