Activities

APDP has organized more than three hundred families of the disappeared and supports their quest to find out the truth about their disappeared relatives and for an end to the practice and international crime of Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. Their membership is spread all over Kashmir and is open to relatives of the victims of Enforced Disappearances.

APDP organises regular inter district meetings. On the 10th of every month they hold a public meeting at Srinagar to remember their loved ones who have been disappeared and build public pressure on state agencies to answer the unanswered questions about their fate. These meetings also enable members to extend solidarity to each other, share information and review the status of their legal cases.

APDP disseminates and documents information on Enforced Disappearances. So far they have collected information on over two hundred such cases.

APDP is also very actively engaged in providing legal and humanitarian assistance to the affected families. They has established contact with a network of humanitarian and other human right activists and organizations that provide assistance and support to the members and the organization.

APDP realizes that the Enforced Disappearance is a global phenomena and an international crime against humanity, not permissible even during times of war It urges all human rights organizations, solidarity groups, political parties and religious organisations to publicize this problem and their struggle. It is indispensable that all movements know, understand, and join forces to combat the crime of Enforced Disappearances. It is not a problem which just affects the victims and their relatives, but it impacts all humanity. We must join forces to demand thorough investigations, to rescue alive those who are disappeared, and to bring the perpetrators to justice for the dignity of a civilized society.

Justice is due to the victims, regardless of how much time has lapsed since the crimes were committed. When persons are disappeared this abuse is suffered not only by the disappeared individuals, but also by their families. Justice would take the form of identifying the perpetrators and bringing them to prosecution, the creation of new and accountable institutions to prevent such crimes from happening again, reparations to the victims and survivors or their family and the creation of memorials to commemorate the victims

The ongoing "peace process" between India and Pakistan does not address the issue of disappearances or of accountability for human rights violations. Justice and accountability for human rights violations is an essential part of any peace settlement. Peace cannot be achieved through forgetting or ignoring these violations but only through justice to the victims, remembering the victims and a commitment that such violations will not be repeated.

APDP depends on the collaboration and support of individuals and groups.