Islamabad, March 09, 2022 (PPI-OT):Speakers at a webinar while voicing their grave concerns over the plight of women in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir have said that the Indian state is using violence against the women as an instrument to suppress the political aspirations of the Kashmiri people.
The webinar titled, “Violence against women: A case study of Indian administered Kashmir” was jointly organized in connection with the International Women’s Day by the Kashmir Institute of International Relations (KIIR) and International Muslim Women Union (IMWU) on the sidelines of the ongoing 49th session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva.
The well-attended webinar was addressed by prominent rights activists, academicians, and international law experts hailing from different parts of the world including former senator Ms Lee Rhiannon from Australia, former EU parliamentarian Ms Julie Ward, Barrister Margaret Own Chairperson Widows for Peace Through Democracy and Human Rights activist from the UK, Dr Madeleine Scherb, Cellia Jastrzembska senior policy advisor in the UK government, Giulia Ferreira Delgado Human Rights expert, Marianna Zucaa human rights activist from Italy, Barrister Nida Salam, Tazeen Hassan, Dr Raheel Qazi chairperson IMWU, Dr Saira Shah, Mrs Shamim Shawl, and Prof Dr Shagufta Ashraf. The event was moderated by KIIR Chairman, Altaf Hussain Wani.
In his initial remarks, the KIIR chairman said that violence against women in the Indian occupied Kashmir was used as a weapon of war by the Indian state to suppress the Kashmiris’ legitimate political struggle for the right to self-determination. He said the protected Kashmir dispute has had a devastating impact on the lives of Kashmiri women, who have suffered the brunt of the Indian state terrorism since 1989.
“The long-drawn conflict has hit the Kashmiri women in every aspect,” he said, adding that the Kashmiri women have been facing the state-sponsored violence for the past several decades. The panelists observed that sexual violence being leveraged as a weapon of war by the Indian forces in IIOJK has been grossly overlooked at the international level. They said that prolonged Indian military occupation, massive troop build-up, and sprawling military camps stretched across cities, towns and villages had created a fertile ground for violence against the women.
Citing the violent incidents recorded against the women in the occupied territory, the speakers said, “Hundreds of incidents of violence directed against women ranging from physical, psychological, emotional, sexual abuse, gang-rape and torture have been reported during the past 30 years”.
They regrettably noted that the Indian government has failed to bring to book the culprits who have been involved in gang-rape of helpless women at Kunanposhpora. They said that despite the passage of several decades justice continues to elude the Kunanposhpora rape victims.
“The Indian judiciary, which acts on the whims and fancies of the BJP government has miserably failed to provide justice to the victims of the state terrorism,” they said, adding that the mass-rape of scores of women in Kunanposhpora in 1991, rape and murder case of Shopian, and Islamabad (Anantnag) serve as the most shocking examples of the Indian state terrorism.
Highlighting the plight of Kashmiri women, the speakers said, “The continued conflict has left behind a harrowing legacy in the person of rape-victims, widows and half widows.” Referring to a report, they said, “The incessant bloodshed and violence in the restive region have shattered the life of women so much so that today thirty-six percent of women aged between 15 and 70 suffer anxiety disorder.”
Many of them have been widowed, displaced, molested, gang-raped, and even brutally tortured, harassed and humiliated in jails and interrogation centers,” the panelists said, adding that majority of Kashmiri women have lost their kith and kin during the ongoing conflict.
Pertinently, the rights groups engaged in documenting enforced disappearances in Kashmir since 1989 have revealed that more than 10,000 people have disappeared in Kashmir as a result of violence. They noted that rape, molestation and other forms of violence against women at the hands of the Indian forces continue unabated.
The irony of Kashmiri half-widows, they said was yet another highly disconcerting aspect of the continued conflict that has given rise to a category of women known as “half-widows” whose number, they said, has swelled to over thousands during the recent years.
Declaring the systematic campaign of sexual harassment against the women as a serious crime, the panelists demanded an independent investigation into the gruesome incidents of sexual violence under a credible international probe agency. They urged the international community to take stock of the situation in the occupied territory and play its due role in holding the Indian government accountable for the crimes its forces are committing against the Kashmiris.
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