International humanitarian law, also known as the laws of war, apply when there is a situation of international and internal "armed conflict." Although Human Rights Watch has maintained that the struggle in Kashmir in the early 1990s did meet this threshhold, it is less clear that international humanitarian law applies to the conflict given the dimunition of fighting throughout much of Kashmir apart from the Kargil region, and the decreased capacity of the militant groups to conduct effective military operations. The government of India is ultimately responsible for their actions. Under international law, India's state-sponsored militias are state agents and therefore must abide by international human rights and humanitarian law. The Indian army, Special Task Force, Border Security Force, and state-sponsored paramilitary groups and village defence committees-the principal government forces operating in Jammu and Kashmir 101-have systematically violated these fundamental norms of international human rights law. Articles 4 and 7 of the ICCPR explicitly ban torture, even in times of national emergency or when the security of the state is threatened. The ICCPR also prohibits torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Thus, even during time of emergency, "o one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life." 99 Article 6 of the ICCPR expressly prohibits derogation from the right to life.
The government of India is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
International human rights law prohibits the arbitrary deprivation of life under any circumstances. Behind the Kashmir Conflict - The Applicable International Law (Human Rights Watch Report, July 1999)
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