Tuesday 4 December 2012

War Crimes! Captain Saurabh Kalia and His Five Officers Tortured to Death

                                            



                                        The Late Captain Saurabh Kalia  date of birth 29/06/1976

I became aware of Captain Saurab Kalia and the plight of his fellow Officers in November 2010 via my friend  in India, Shalini Malviya. Prior to this date, I had no knowledge of this tragic case.

Dr Narinder Kalia  the father of  Captain Saurabh, himself a retired Officer in the Indian Army relayed to me the shocking background to his son's death and the deaths of his five fellow officers who were all captured alive by the Pakistani Security Forces.

Dr Narinder Kalia spent the last 13years trying to get some answers and justice for his son and five of his fellow officers who were brutally and barbarically tortured to death by the Pakistani Security Forces following their capture and detention.

It is absolutely unbelievable that the successive governments of India have failed to address the serious issues in these cases and failed to ensure justice for these officers who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

Captain Saurabh Kalia's fellow officers who were summarily executed were from the 4  JAT Regiment

Sepoy Naresh Singh Sinsinwar
Sepoy Banwari Lal Bagdia
Sepoy Mularam Bidiasar
Sepoy Bhikharam Mudh
Sepoy Arjunram Baswana

These officers were captured on the 15th of May 1999 following a brief encounter on the Indian side of the Line of Control, near Bajrang Post. They were in the custody of the Pakistani authorities from the 15th of May 2006 to the 9th of June 1999 - that is for a period of 25 days in total. The Pakistani authorities failed to notify the Indian authorities that they had captured the Indian  Officers.

The Pakistani Army handed the badly mutilated bodies of all six officers to the Indian Army on the 6th of June 1999. The post mortem reports conducted by the Indian authorities disclose that the  bodies of these officers suffered cigarette burns; the eyes of each the officers had been removed; their teeth and bones were broken. The post mortems further reveal that the officers were tortured alive before they were each shot dead. These officers were captured alive by the Pakistani authorities and they respective deaths occurred whilst they unlawfully detained by the Pakistani authorities. The action of the Pakistani authorities actions define war crimes and in the interest of justice, the international community must ensure that the perpetrators are made to account.

The West would never have allowed such actions to go unpunished. Sixty years plus after the Second World War, the Europeans are still searching, investigating, locating and prosecuting war criminals successfully in the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice  and yet India fails to address the atrocities and criminal actions committed by the Pakistani authorities  between 1999 and 2006 against their officers.

The successive Governments of India have failed to confront the Pakistani authorities for an explanation of the deaths of these officers.

Dr Kalia has been relentlessly campaigning for justice for his son Captain Saurabh Kalia and his fellow officers. Dr Kalia has approached the representatives of the Indian Government who have repeatedly  failed to take action

These Officers were Prisoners of War and they should have been treated in accordance with the terms of the Geneva Convention 1949 and afforded the protection under this convention ( www.icrc.org ).
However, whilst the Pakistani government signed up to the Protocol to the  Geneva Convention on the 27th of December 1977, it appears that the treaty has never been ratified by the successive Pakistani governments which  consequently means in effect that it is not binding on Pakistan. This allows the Pakistani authorities to act with impunity.

I advised Dr Kalia to issue a petition in the Supreme Court of India seeking a direction that the court direction Captain Saurabh Kalia's case is referred to the International Court of Justice to be investigated and prosecuted. This petition was issued by Mr Arvind Kumar Sharma Advocate on behalf of Dr Narinder Kalia on the 28th of November 2012 in the Supreme Court of India and is scheduled to be heard on the 14th of December 2012.

I  petitioned the UN in November 2010, at the same time the cases of Captain Saurabh Kalia and his fellow officers were reported Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch as well as the Indian Government. All of whom appear oblivious to the war crimes committed by Pakistan. These organisations concentrate far too much on the endless problems in the Middle East to the point of ignoring the horrendous cases of injustices in South East Asia and in Africa.

On the 12th  November 2012, the UN granted Pakistan a seat on the UN's Council for Human Rights.


Further reading and reference:

http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/yes-we-killed-captain-saurabh-kalia-pak-soldier_865757.html

 http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/video-shows-pakistani-soldier-sharing-details-of-kargil-martyr-captain-kalia-s-encounter-399249
http://www.divyahimachal.com/himachal-news-2/himachal-excellence-awards-2012-9/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWoHgPTsW9k

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-11-29/india/35434245_1_captain-saurabh-kalia-pakistan-indian-prisoner

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20121129/main2.htm




http://satyameva-jayate.org/2012/11/28/forgotten-hero-fight-for-justice/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SatyamevaJayate+%28%7C%7C+Satyameva+Jayate+%7C%7C%29

 




 
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