Human Rights organisation, Peoples Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) expressed concern over the stepped up human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir.

In a memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, it has urged him to take immediate steps to prevent further loss of life and property in the state.

With the disclosure of the Machil fake encounter in May this year, the political situation in the state has worsened over the last few weeks, Prakash N Shah, Working president of PUCL said.

‘Spontaneous protests erupted in the valley and the series of stone pelting by the youth took place resulting one bullet for every stone by the security forces, at the instance of Home Ministry, reminding the colonial style of crowd control,’ he alleged.

The discontent of the citizen could have been settled by initiating dialogue and by adopting various confidence building measures by both the Central and the State Government, Shah said.

‘Regrettably, the failure on the part of UPA led Government to institutionalize the assured dialogue process has given scope to the separatist forces,’ he said.

‘Instead of giving effect to the Article 370, for years, in Kashmir, the Indian army is carrying on barbaric acts like rape, indiscriminate killing of common people including teenagers and youth,’ he alleged.

UNI