Mufti Baha-ud-din Farooqi
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Mufti Baha-ud-Din Farooqi is a Kashmiri lawyer, jurist and political figure who served as the 12th Chief Justice of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir. He served as Chief Justice from March 7, 1983 to August 23, 1983.[1] He also served as Chairman of the People Basic Rights Commission, an independent organization dedicated to the purpose of investigating human rights violations committed by Indian Armed Forces in Kashmir, and seeking prosecution.[2]Farooqi wrote to expose the Indian Government's tyrannical abuses of power against Kashmirs:
"That, nearly forty-two years back, India annexed the Jammu and Kashmir State by manipulation, fraud and force against the declared wishes of the people of the State. The people of the State scented mischief and continued the freedom struggle with added determination... That soon after the Indian Army landed in Kashmir, it mounted a powerful offensive on freedom fighters and imposed a reign of terror in the State. The Indian Government worked on the plan to weaken and dismember Pakistan and to maintain hegemony on Kashmir through sheer might."[3] - ["My Frozen Turbulence in Kashmir," 7th Edition, by Jagmohan, page 127-128].
Media coverage
On June 15, 1990, Barbara Crossette,[4] a former New York Times correspondent and current member of the Council on Foreign Relations, reported on the work of Justice Farooqi in the years following the deployment of "thousands of Indian troops and paramiliary forces" in Kashmir:
"In Srinagar, Mufti Bahauddin Farooqi, a former chief justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, and his son, [Mufti] Showkat Ahmed Farooqi, a lawyer, have begun documenting allegations of human and civil rights violations against Kashmiris.
Talking about their work in an interview at Justice Farooqi's home, they say they focus on both the state administration and on the array of federal forces deployed here: the Indian Army, the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force, the Border Security Force, the Indo-Tibetan Border Patrol, National Security Guards and various intelligence agencies.
Troops in Srinagar alone have commandeered at least 15 hotels as well as guest houses and private homes.
Justice Farooqi said the armed forces were sent to Kashmir in contravention of Jammu and Kashmir's special status in the Indian Constitution" [5].