E/CN.4/1995/91 page 48 by unidentified assailants. In self-defence, the police party returned the fire. During the exchange of fire, Gurdev Singh Kaonke escaped. When the firing ceased, Gurdev Singh Kaonke was untraceable. Another case for violation of the Arms Act was registered against Gurdev Singh Kaonke on 2 January 1993. The case is under investigation. The facts quoted above show that there is nothing to establish that Gurdev Singh Kaonke, prima facie, was tortured by the police. Since he absconded, Kaonke has not reappeared, perhaps because of the serious charges pending against him. Jammu and Kashmir 16. Similarly Jammu and Kashmir, a symbol of India’s secular democracy, has been a target of externally sponsored religion-based terrorism for the last five years. The aim is to divide people on the basis of sectarian affiliation and undermine the secular fabric and territorial integrity of India. Jammu and Kashmir is home to Muslims of various hues, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Christians, who have traditionally lived in harmony. What in fact has happened is the deliberate targeting of Kashmir Hindus by fundamentalists, terrorist groups and foreign mercenaries. The persecution by Muslim extremists of the Hindu minority and the systematic religion-based extremism of terrorist elements has resulted in the exodus of 250,000 members of the Hindu and other minorities from the Kashmir Valley to other parts of India. Fundamentalists and terrorists have also targeted and assassinated Muslim intellectuals and liberal Muslim leaders in Jammu and Kashmir. As a consequence, as many as 50,000 Muslims have also been compelled to flee the Valley to seek safety in other parts of India. 17. The common man in Kashmir, both Muslim and Hindu, today yearns for the restoration of his liberal ethos and historical and cultural heritage. The people of the State have begun to see through the design of the extremists, terrorists and their foreign masters. This had led to an escalation by the latter, infiltrating armed foreign mercenaries into the State to whip up religious hysteria and maintain the cycle of violence. A concrete manifestation was the deliberate campaign of forcible occupation and desecration of places of worship of both communities, attacks on Hindu pilgrims, thwarting of holy pilgrimages, assassination of political and religious leaders. As recently as June 1994, the Mirwaiz (a Muslim religious leader) of South Kashmir was kidnapped and murdered by an externally sponsored fundamentalist terrorist group and Hizbul Mujahiddin. The populace protested at the murder in huge demonstrations against extremists, terrorists and their foreign sponsors. Christians 18. The allegations regarding the position of Christians in the communication are completely incorrect. There are no laws in any of the States against the practice of Christianity or any other religion. The existence of Christianity in India long predated its contact with European civilization. There are more than 16 million Christians in India with almost every major denominational church of the Christian