Guwahati, Nov. 22: Incidents of human rights violation in the northeastern states, including “secret” killings in Assam, figured prominently in a report submitted to the United Nations by civil society groups and human rights defenders of the country.

The report, endorsed by more than 200 NGOs from across India and submitted to the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday, highlighted rights abuse in different parts of the country.

The report has been submitted for appraisal of the Government of India’s human rights record.

The appraisal by the council is slated for April 2008 under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) procedure. Under this, the UN reviews the human rights status of different countries.

Manipur rights activist Babloo Loitongbam today said the NGOs, under the banner of the People Forum for UPR in India, had prepared their own stakeholders’ report and submitted it to the UN as the Centre did not hold consultations with civil society stakeholders before Tuesday, the deadline set by the UN council for submission of the report by the stakeholders.

Some of the important issues of the Northeast which figured in the report were the “secret killings” in Assam, attacks on human right defenders, imposition of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, “fake” encounters and the killing of Thangjang Manorama in Manipur.

The report was prepared through consultations organised by Asian Centre for Human Rights, Forum Asian and Peoples Watch Tamil Nadu, in New Delhi on November 13 and 14.

“The Assam government has submitted its report on “secret killings” recently. We want the government to take appropriate action against those found guilty for the extra-judicial killings and human rights abuse,” Loitongbam said.

“One of our concerns that was highlighted in the report is heavy militarisation in most of the northeastern states and misuse of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act,” he said.