In an explosive revelation by whistle-blower website WikiLeaks, cables sent by US diplomats in 2005 quote the Red Cross as saying the Indian government condones torture of detainees in Kashmir.
"Report carried by US diplomats pertains to 2005 and before during healing touch regime. I can only talk about this government... we are determined not to allow any incidents of custodial torture," added Omar Abdullah.
The cables give a Red Cross assessment of how detainees were treated in Kashmir. The cables say,
"The International Committee for Red Cross (ICRC) had become frustrated with Indian government which, they said, had not acted to halt the "continued ill-treatment of detainees." The ICRC concluded that India "condones torture" and that the torture victims were civilians as militants were routinely killed."
Among a quarter million secret US documents released by WikiLeaks, a total of 3,038 classified cables are from the American embassy in New Delhi. According to WikiLeaks there are as many as 5,087 records amongst the leaked cables that refer to India.
The cables, which date from 1966 up until the end of February this year, contain confidential communications between 274 embassies in countries throughout the world and the State Department in Washington DC. 15,652 of the cables are classified Secret.
However, speaking about establishing transparency that Amnesty International was allowed in J&K, the Chief Minister said, "We were clear in our minds that transparency was the best thing. Similarly, NHRC has not made any adverse findings. Reports come in and if there is anything, we take action."
"Have nothing to investigate based on cable sent by Embassy to Washington. Nothing for us to investigate," Omar concluded.
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