Israelis appeal against training of India police accused of abuse

Dozens of Israeli activists have petitioned the Supreme Court seeking to bar the country’s security forces from training Indian police officers involved in “severe violations” of human rights and international law in Indian-administered Kashmir. “With this petition, we are trying our best to show solidarity with the people of Kashmir,” Israeli human rights activist Sigal Kook Avivi, who was among 40 people behind the petition, told Al Jazeera. The document was signed in January after the Israeli Police, Ministry of Internal Security and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs refused to pre-screen members of India’s police force from the Muslim-majority Himalayan region, according to Israeli human rights lawyer Eitay Mack, who filed the petition. As Israel returned to a second nationwide coronavirus lockdown last week, court proceedings are likely to be further delayed. “The fact that India is ‘the largest democracy in the world’, and is an important political and economic partner of the state of Israel and Western countries, cannot legally and morally justify providing assistance to specific Indian officers who are involved in grave crimes under international law in Kashmir, by way of training by police in Israel,” the petition stated. Avivi, who has worked among African asylum seekers in Israel, said “as citizens of the world, we want to say we know what is happening to you, we are not ignorant … we see it, we hear it, we know it”. In May, the Israeli government asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the petition, as any attempt to investigate or screen Indian police officers would be considered an intervention into India’s internal affairs – which could damage relations between the two nations. Neither Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor India’s Ministry of Home Affairs were available for comment at the time of publication. India and Israel signed a comprehensive agreement in 2014 to cooperate on issues related to “public and homeland security”, including fighting organised crime, money laundering, human trafficking and counterterrorism operations. International rights groups have accused Israeli security forces of using excessive force against Palestinians and restricting their movements in territories Israel occupies illegally. The use of live ammunition, shooting civilians at checkpoints, torture of detainees, arrest of children and extrajudicial killings are well-documented since Israel occupied large parts of Palestine in 1967. Avivi said, in light of Israel’s ill-treatment of Palestinians and migrants in the occupied territories, it was vital to understand that the country’s forces training military and police abroad “ends up further hurting people around the world”. ‘Nefarious institution’ More than half a million Indian forces are deployed in Kashmir – home to some 12 million people – to quell a decades-old armed rebellion against Indian rule. Indian security forces have been accused of rights abuses including intimidation, torture, extrajudicial killings and arbitrary arrests, with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights last year calling for a formal inquiry into the allegations. Just last week, the Indian army admitted wrongdoing by its soldiers in the killing of three civilians in July. “The Indian police force (and army) has been deployed to ensure that there is no resistance to Indian rule in occupied Kashmir,” Hafsa Kanjwal, history professor at Lafayette College, told Al Jazeera. However, New Delhi has defended its forces, saying they are fighting rebels who either want independence or a merger with Pakistan. Indian policemen detain a Kashmiri man in Srinagar [Mukhtar Khan/AP]Pakistan and India both claim Kashmir in full since the partition of the region in 1947 but control only parts of it. According to Kanjwal, the Indian police force in Kashmir is an “extremely nefarious institution” which is engaged in war crimes and “has complete impunity to do what it wants to the Kashmiri population”. “They are not there for law and order, but rather to suppress a population that has long been demanding freedom,” Kanjwal added. In August last year, India scrapped Article 370 of its constitution – which granted a measure of autonomy to the Muslim-majority region – and jailed thousands of people, including top political figures and journalists, to prevent protests against the move. The region was also placed under the longest internet shutdown experienced in a democracy, with the communications lockdown only partially lifted. Earlier this week, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said that “incidents of military and police violence against [Kashmiri] civilians continue”. A United Nations report published in May also detailed severe cases of physical abuse, including the use of pellet guns on protesters, in Kashmir between January and July 2019.  The use of pellet guns – highlighted by the Israeli petition – has come under intense criticism in recent years, with the New York-based Human Rights Watch saying it causes “indiscriminate and excessive injury” and violates international standards. In 2018, rights organisation Amnesty International called for a ban on pellet guns and sought an investigation into cases of killings or serious injuries caused by them. style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; top: 0; bottom: 0; right: 0; left: 0;">