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Human Rights Watch makes the following recommendations for action to be taken by the government of India, by the militant forces in Kashmir, and the government of Pakistan and by the international community to address the human rights crisis in Kashmir.

To the Government of India

The government of India should disarm all state-sponsored militias not established and regulated by law and prosecute members of such groups who have been responsible for extrajudicial killings, assaults and other abuses. Other crucial steps include the following:

· The government of India should establish a civilian review board to oversee any rehabilitation program for surrendered militants. This review board, which should be headed by a civilian and include other civilian representatives, should have access to records on surrendered weapons and vocational training programs to ensure that the former militants are not compelled to serve in state paramilitary forces not established and regulated by law or induced to take part in security operations that violate international human rights and humanitarian law.

· The Indian government should permit the U.N. Working Group on Disappearances, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the Special Rapporteur on Torture and the Special Rapporteur on Summary or Arbitrary Execution to conduct investigations in Kashmir.

· The government of India should ensure that all reports of extrajudicial executions, deaths in custody, torture and rape by security forces and unofficial paramilitary forces in Kashmir are investigated promptly by a judicial authority empowered to subpoena security force officers and official registers and other documents. Security personnel, including police, army and paramilitary, responsible for these abuses should be prosecuted in civilian courts. Only with such trials and appropriate punishments will these forces receive the clear, unequivocal message that human rights violations are not condoned by their superiors. Those found guilty of abuse should be punished regardless of rank. The punishments should be at least as severe as those specified under civilian law. The results of these investigations and the punishments should be made public as a means of giving the people of Kashmir a reason to believe in the government's commitment to justice and the rule of law.

· Although the government of India has promised since 1993 to establish a centralized register of detainees accessible to lawyers and family members, this has never happened. In addition, security personnel continue to defy court orders to produce detainees in court. The government of India should take stern and swift action against all officers who have obstructed or ignored judicial orders to produce detainees. All places of detention should be made known to the court and be subject to regular inspection by a magistrate. In addition, the securityagencies should require that arresting officers provide signed receipts for all detainees to family members, village elders or persons of similar status. The receipt would be retrieved when the person is released.

· In previous reports, Human Rights Watch has urged the government of India to provide police training, perhaps after consultation with international experts, on gathering adequate evidence for rape prosecutions. Explicit prohibitions against rape should be included in training for all enlisted men and officers in the police, paramilitary and military as a way of sending a clear signal that rape is not tolerated by the state. Medical workers who have examined and treated rape victims should be protected from abuse. Medical facilities, including private licensed physicians, should be encouraged to give testimony and introduce physical evidence in court with regard to rape and other forms of sexual and physical abuse.

· State authorities and the headquarters of the army and paramilitary operations in Kashmir should issue public statements affirming the security of human rights monitors. The statement should include explicit guarantees for the security of human rights monitors to investigate incidents of abuse, record the statements of witnesses, publicize their reports and petition the courts.

· State and military authorities should also issue public statements affirming the security of medical personnel and institutions and affirming the neutrality of hospital premises. Security personnel should be trained in the principles of medical neutrality and those violating those principles should be prosecuted.

To the Militant Organizations
· Militant groups should immediately stop all attacks on civilians, including kidnapings and assassinations. All hostages should be released immediately. Militant groups should abide by human rights norms and the provisions of Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions which prohibit hostage-taking, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and executions.

· Militant groups should immediately desist from using any explosive devices in civilian areas and from using landmines. They should make public the whereabouts of any landmines they have planted.

· Militant organizations should immediately halt any actions that interfere with or impede the delivery of health services, including attacks on or threats against health professionals and violating the medical neutrality of hospitals by committing abuses within hospital premises.

· Militant leaders should issue public statements affirming the security of journalists. All threats against journalists and editors should cease.

To the International Community
· The U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Russia and India's other trading partners should suspend all military sales and all programs of military cooperation with India, including joint exercises, until India disarms all state-sponsored paramilitary groups operating in Kashmir.

· At the annual World Bank-sponsored donors meeting on India in September, participant countries should issue a public statement indicating that continued economic support for India should not been seen as support for the Indian government's human rights policies. In the statement, and in private and public meetings with Indian government officials, members of the donor group should raise concerns about the state sponsorship of paramilitary organizations and press India to disband all such groups. They should press India to invite the U.N. Special Rapporteurs on Torture and Summary or Arbitrary Executions, and the Working Groups on Disappearances and Arbitrary Detention, to visit Kashmir. They should also raise concerns about attacks on human rights monitors in Kashmir, and press India to allow full access to Kashmir for international human rights groups.

· The diplomatic staff of India's allies and trading partners should upgrade their reporting on human rights abuses by state-sponsored militias in Kashmir, as well as abuses by regular security forces.

· The international community should condemn Pakistan's efforts to support abusive militant groups operating in Kashmir and make any future arms sales or military cooperation agreements contingent on an end to Pakistan's support for abusive militant groups. The government of Pakistan should end all support for abusive militant organizations in Kashmir.