In a situation that has been widely held to be true for many years Indian efforts regarding the use of torture are now the subject of some Wikileaks documents. In an article at the Guardian site the headline is,” India accused of systematic use of torture in Kashmir” The article continues to say that, “Beatings and electric shocks inflicted on hundreds of civilians detained in Kashmir, US diplomats in Delhi told by ICRC” You can read the full article at link. (George Ikners ikners.com Joomla)
The position with these leaks seems to show,” US officials had evidence of widespread torture by Indian police and security forces and were secretly briefed by Red Cross staff about the systematic abuse of detainees in Kashmir, according to leaked diplomatic cables released tonight. The dispatches, obtained by website WikiLeaks, reveal that US diplomats in Delhi were briefed in 2005 by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) about the use of electrocution, beatings and sexual humiliation against hundreds of detainees. Other cables show that as recently as 2007 American diplomats were concerned about widespread human rights abuses by Indian security forces, who they said relied on torture for confessions.
After some of the noblest and most lofty statements on the use of torture there is an obvious growth in its use on a worldwide basis. It seems that there are very few countries that either practice torture or through alliances, treaties and pacts actively support the use of these methods by other countries.
Australia is a good example of this with our sickening subservience to the imperial project and other US policy objectives. If Rudd has his way an there becomes a permanent Australian presence in the Middle East, no doubt stories will emerge of actual torture in the region by our own military and those wonderful security butchers for hire that many nations hide behind.
The Indian position as revealed seems to show,” Other cables released tonight reveal that:
• The Dalai Lama has told US officials that combating climate change is more urgent than finding a political solution in Tibet, which “can wait five to 10 years”.
• Rahul Gandhi, the crown prince of Indian politics, believes Hindu extremists pose a greater threat to his country than Muslim militants, according to the American ambassador to India.
• Five doctors were coerced by the Sri Lankan government to recant on casualty figures they gave to journalists in the last months of island’s brutal civil war.
The most highly charged dispatch is likely to be an April 2005 cable from the US embassy in Delhi which reports that the ICRC had become frustrated with the Indian government which, they said, had not acted to halt the “continued ill-treatment of detainees”. The embassy reported the ICRC concluded that India “condones torture” and that the torture victims were civilians as militants were routinely killed. The ICRC has a long-standing policy of engaging directly with governments and avoiding the media, so the briefing remained secret.
George Ikners ikners.com Joomla