Click image to enlarge. Copyright: Malik Sajad, used by permission
Yesterday, Amnesty International wrote an open letter to all members of the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) State Assembly calling on them to take action to protect human rights and to investigate past human rights violations.
Among the actions we are calling for legislators to accomplish in this session:
Contrary to Katy Perry, 16 and 17-year old boys in the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K or Kashmir) are not living in a Teenage Dream; they face the daily prospect of being detained indefinitely, without charges as adults under existing law in the state. The law, called the Public Safety Act is horrible enough.
But, the detention of children is in flagrant violation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child of which India is a state party. You can take action now to urge the J&K government to do the right thing. The Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, promises to bring this up in the Monsoon session of the assembly so time is of the essence!