In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the Hurriyat leaders and organizations have expressed deep regret that despite the passage of over three decades, victims of Kunan-Poshpura mass rape have not been provided justice.
According to Kashmir Media Service, Indian troops had gang-raped around 100 women of all ages from eight to eighty on the night of February 23 in 1991 during a siege and search operation in Kunan Poshpora area of Kupwara district.
On the eve of Kunan Poshpora mass rape tragedy, illegally detained Molvi Bashir Ahmad Irfani, Yasin Attai, Yasmeen Raja, Fahreeda Behanji, Gulam Nabi War, Jammu Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party leader Advocate Arshad Iqbal, Jammu and Kashmir National Front leader Muhammad Haseeb Wani and Kashmir Tehreek-e-Khawateen leader Ms Hafiza Bano and Jammu Kashmri Liberation Front, Jammu and Kashmir People’s Freedom League in their statements issued in Srinagar today said that the tragic incident was well-planned conspiracy hatched by the Indian authorities to keep the Kashmiri women away from the freedom struggle.
Paying glowing tributes to the valiant Kashmiri women for their active participation and sacrifices in freedom movement, the statements lamented that the Kashmiri women were the prime target of coward Indian forces and that they were not only killed, tortured, imprisoned but raped also. “The rape of women is used as a tool by the Indian troops to punish, humiliate and intimidate the Kashmiris into submission,” they added.
They said that being a vulnerable segment of society, the Kashmiri women had been the worst victims of Indian belligerence as the dreadful incident of Kunan and Poshpora mass rape showed. The statements said that the horrific incident was a big blot on the face of so-called Indian democracy and the state that has been using rape as a weapon of war against the Kashmiris.
Highlighting the pain and agony of the rape victims, they said that it was disgusting to see that the Indian rulers and their henchmen in the territory have shamelessly tried to cover up and conceal the facts to save the bloody culprit troops who were directly involved in this beastly act.
“The brutality Kashmiri women were subjected to on the dreadful night of 23 February 1991 finds no place in human history while despite the passage of 33 years, justice continues to elude the victims”, the statements added. The Hurriyat leaders and organizations said the use and abuse of power, harassment and humiliation and sexual abuse were among the dirtiest war tactics the Indian army has been using to suppress Kashmiris’ legitimate struggle for the right to self-determination.—KMS
