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APDP stage sit-in protest, to continue ‘fight for children’

FARZANA SYED. Dated: 10/11/2017 12:07:45 AM

SRINAGAR, Oct 10: Demanding the whereabouts of the victims of involuntary disappearances, the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) staged their monthly sit-in protest on Tuesday here at Pratap Park in Lal Chowk Srinagar.
Scores of parents, half widows and kin of the disappeared youth of the state participated in the sit in protest to press their demands for locating the whereabouts of Kashmiri youth who have gone missing under Indian forces’ custody.
Holding pictures of the disappeared persons and carrying placards the protesters said their struggle for justice would continue till authorities did not adopt a serious approach towards the cases of enforced disappearances in the state.
The chairperson of the APDP Parveena Ahangar said it was a fight for a cause which is of utmost seriousness and gross human rights violations committed by the forces and security agencies.
“What we are doing is a fight for the rights of our beloved children and this fight is going to continue till we are alive. Our demands for whereabouts of our beloved children will not fade away. We will continue to ask the perpetrators of gory rights violations “where are our children”. Our children were picked up by security forces and agencies, tortured and subjected to enforced disappearances," Parveena Ahangar said.
She said, "I am fighting for this cause for the last 21 years and my struggle and the struggle of all these mothers of disappeared youth shall continue.”
In today's protest, kin of recent victims of enforced disappearances also participated which included the relatives of Manzoor Ahmad khan, a recent case of enforced disappearance from Kupwara town of north Kashmir.
The chairperson of APDP Parveena Ahangar said that though the state has never adopted a genuine concern there towards these cases, APDP shall continue to fight and not subside their struggle for justice for their children.
“We reiterate our demand for ratification of international convention for protection of all persons from enforced disappearances. We also demand that law on enforced disappearances be passed by the Jammu and Kashmir legislature so that the vagueness and ambiguity in the Indian domestic penal provisions can be overcome,” ADPD spokesperson said.
Chairperson APDP said that though state authorities always inflicted oppression on their voices. However, that was not going to stop them from taking their struggle forward.
"We will fight but not forget. Our lives may fade but our struggle for our children shall never fade. We will never forget our beloved children who have been victims of every cruel regime," the kin of disappeared persons revealed.
According to a report more than 8,000 cases of enforced disappearances have been reported from different parts of the state of Jammu and Kashmir since the beginning of prolonged conflict.
The Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) was formed to take the cause of enforced disappearances in J&K forward. APDP has remained consistent in pressing their demands for justice towards the victims of disappearance.
On the 10th of every month, the kin of disappeared persons of Kashmir under the banner of APDP, hold sit-in protests highlighting the issue and cases of enforced disappearances in the state.
Recently the chairperson APDP was conferred with this year’s Rafto Prize by the Rafto Foundation for Human Rights Norway.