SRINAGAR – Hurriyat Conference leaders in Indian-held Kashmir said on Saturday that reports in leaked US diplomatic cables that Indian armed forces used torture in the disputed state came as no surprise.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) provided US diplomats in 2005 with evidence of systematic use of torture by Indian security forces in IHK, the cables released by WikiLeaks said.
“There was nothing new. I, too, was subjected to third-degree torture in jails,” said Syed Ali Geelani. “Indian forces have been resorting to inhuman and brutal torture to crush people for the past 20 years”, when an armed separatist revolt against New Delhi’s rule began, said Geelani, who supports Kashmir’s union with Pakistan.
