Thousands Of Women Killed, Molested By Indian Troops In IIOJK: Report

ISLAMABAD, Mar 8 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 8th Mar, 2021 ) :As the world is observing the International Women's Day on Monday (March 8), the miseries and victimization of the Kashmiri women at the hands of Indian troops, police and agencies continue unabated in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

According to a report released by the Research Section of Kashmir Media Service on the occasion of the global women day said that thousands of women are among 95,747 Kashmiris, martyred by Indian military, paramilitary and police personnel since January 1989 till date. At least 675 women have been martyred by the troops since January 2001 till date.

The report pointed out that the unabated Indian state terrorism rendered 22,924 women widowed. The Indian forces' personnel molested 11,236 women including the victims of Kununposhpora mass rape and Shopian double-rape-and murder of 17-year-old Aasiya Jan and her sister-in-law Neelofar Jan.

An eight-year-old girl, Aasifa Bano, of Kathua, was abducted, gang-raped and subsequently murdered by Indian police personnel, in January 2018 while several including Nusrat Jabeen, Haleema Begum, Fatima Begum, Nighat Bashir and Khairul Nisa were molested by the troops in 2020 as glimpses of some heinous crimes against women in Kashmir.

Indian troops on February 10, 2021 abused a minor girl and dragged her into their vehicle when she along with her sister was working in her garden at Chewa-Ajas in Bandipore district. On raising hue and cry by her sister, the locals rushed to the spot to rescue the minor victim.

The victim family lodged an FIR in Ajas Police station and the troops harassed and pressurized the family to withdraw the case.

The report said that thousands of women lost their sons, husbands, fathers and brothers in the occupied territory who were subjected to custodial disappearance by India troops. As per the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons, more than 8,000 Kashmiris went missing in custody during the past 33 years, the report added.

The report revealed that thousands of school boys and girls were also injured by the pellets fired by Indian troops and police personnel while over hundred including 19-month-old Heeba Jan, 2-year-old Nusrat Jan, Ulfat Hameed (17), Insha Mushtaq, Ifrah Shakoor (17), Shakeela Bano, Tammana (11), Shabroza Mir (16), Shakeela Begum(35) and Rafia Bano (31)were blinded.

Four-year-old Zuhra Majeed was hit by pellets in her legs and abdomen after her family was targeted by Indian police outside their home in Qamarwari in Srinagar on July 10,2016.

A 17-year-old Ulfat Hameed, a Class 10 student from Baramulla said "I used to teach sewing and tailoring to girls in my village, but not anymore. Because of the injuries, I could not write my class 10 board exam".

The report said that over a dozen women including Hurriyat leaders, 59-year-old Syeda Aasiya Andrabi, Fehmeeda Sofi, Naheeda Nasreen, 57-year-old Naseema Bano, Insha Tariq Shah (23), Shazia Akhter, Hina Bashir Beig, Aasiya Bano and Alass Aara were facing illegal detention inside Kashmir jails and in infamous Tihar Jail in India. They are being victimized only for representing the Kashmiri people's righteous demand and aspirations.

In 2020 which saw surge in harassment of Kashmir journalist and a 26-year-old Kashmiri photojournalist Masrat Zahra was threatened and summoned by Indian police and was charged under black law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), in April 2020 for posting a news on social media. She was punished for speaking truth on Kashmir.

The report further pointed out that womenfolk are among majority of the Kashmiris suffering from multiple psychic problems.

The women who lost men in the form of enforced disappearance are referred to as "half-widows," because of their uncertain status between wifehood and widowhood.

Many mothers are waiting for their disappeared sons while widows and half-widows are in pain since decades in occupied territory.

Hurriyat leaders and parties like Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference, International Forum For Justice Human Rights JK, Kashmir, Tehreek-e- Khawateen and Muslim Khawteen Markaz have said that the women across the world are observing International Women Day but the oppressed women of Kashmir have nothing to commemorate.

International Forum For Justice Human Rights JK Chairman Ahsan Untoo in said the Kashmiri women are carrying the heaviest burden in this conflict as they face Indian barbarity and carry the cost of the military occupation.

Women in Kashmir don't enjoy the basic rights which are given under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and even promised under CEDAW (The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women) adopted in 1979 by the United Nations General Assembly described as an international bill of rights for women.

He urged instruments of international justice, watchdogs like UN and international community to intervene and monitor the sufferings o Kashmiri Women.

He said Kashmiri women stand like a rock today facing the worst sort of political and social pressures like Rafiqa Begum, the wife of illegally detained Hurriyet leader Aiyaz Akbar. She is a metastatic cancer patient and lying on the bed at her home in Maloora, Shalteing in Srinagar. Her husband Ayaz Akbar is facing illegal detention in Indian's Tihar jail since July 2017. Rafiqa Begum is suffering from the disease soon after her husband was arrested on fake charges by the NIA.

"My sons are unemployed and they have to struggle to meet their ends. Our life is ruined after my husband was arrested for no reason and lodged in Tihar jail for just having a political ideology".

APHC leader and Democratic Political Movement Khawaja Firdous in a statement issued in Srinagar said that India is using molestation of women as a weapon in the occupied territory. He said that women are taking a leading role in the ongoing freedom struggle and called upon the international community to impress upon India to protect women rights in the territory.

Jammu and Kashmir Tehreek-e-Istiqlal Vice Chairman, Mushtaq Ahmad Butt also praised the role of Kashmiri women in the freedom struggle.

Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference Chairman Shabbir Ahmed Dar in a statement while paying respects to all women of the world particularly the Kashmir said that "Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world", which is the theme for 8th March 2021 lays a lot of emphasis on Kashmiri women as our women leaders are caged for last four years in India's Tihar jail for leading from the front to demand right of self-determination for their people.

The Kashmir Tehreek-e- Khawateen General Secretary Shameem Shawl in a statement said, the world is talking about the empowerment of women and the women in IIOJK are facing the humiliation every day. Women and young boys are lodged in different jails without committing any serious crime and their mothers are waiting for their early release, she added.

She said, the women of Kigerpora, Kunan-Poshpora, Chanpora and dozens of other places are on record denied their justice till date and the men in uniform are still roaming free and even judiciary failed to nab culprits because men at the helm of affairs provided them shelter under draconian laws like Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).

APHC leader Yasmeen Raja in a statement in Srinagar said that the United Nations claimed that it protects women around the world and major countries of the world promise to provide justice to women, but they did nothing for the protection, security and dignity of oppressed women in occupied Kashmir.