ISLAMABAD (Kashmir English): A report by Research Section of Kashmir Media Service revealed that at least 688 women have been martyred by Indian forces’ personnel since January 2001.
The report, released on the International Women’s Day on Saturday, documented the sufferings of Kashmiri women in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
According to the report, since January 1989, 22,981 Kashmiri women have been widowed, while 11,266 have been molested or disgraced at the hands of Indian troops.
It underscored some of the most horrifying crimes committed by Indian troops, including the Kunan-Poshpora mass rape, the Shopian double rape and murder of 17-year-old Aasiya Jan and her sister-in-law Neelofar Jan, and the brutal gang rape and murder of eight-year-old Aasifa Bano in Kathua.
“These cases stand as grim reminders of the widespread sexual violence and atrocities inflicted upon Kashmiri women under Indian occupation,” the report stated.
According to a 1993 Human Rights Watch (HRW) report, the Indian forces use rape as a method of retaliation against Kashmiri civilians.
On May 9, 1993, according to the report, representatives from the Asia Watch group and Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) released a book “Rape in Kashmir”, documenting rape and other human rights abuses and violations of the laws of war by Indian forces.
An Amnesty International report in 1992 stated that rape is conducted during counter-offensives against freedom fighters as part of a bid to methodically shame local Kashmiri communities, the report stated.
At the 52nd United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Professor William Baker gave testimony, that rape in Indian Kashmir was not merely a case of isolated incidents involving undisciplined soldiers, rather the Indian forces were actively deploying rape on the Kashmiri populace as a method of humiliation and frightening.
The KMS report further alleged that thousands of women lost their sons, husbands, fathers and brothers in the occupied territory who were subjected to custodial disappearance by the Indian troops.
As per the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons, at least 8,000 Kashmiris went missing in custody during the past 36 years.
The report revealed that thousands of school boys and girls were also injured by the pellets fired by Indian troops.
Moreover, the report stated that over three dozen women and girls, including Hurriyat leaders, are facing illegal detention in different jails of IIOJK and India.
The report further pointed out that womenfolk are among the majority of the Kashmiris suffering from multiple psychic problems. The women who lost their men due to enforced disappearances are referred to as “half-widows,” because of their uncertain status between wife hood and widowhood.
