Srinagar
In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Narendra Modi-led Hindutva Indian government continues to use rape as a weapon of war in the territory to suppress the Kashmiris’ freedom struggle.
An analytical report released by Kashmir Media Service, today, pointed out that India is employing rape as a military tactic to punish and humiliate the Kashmiris for resisting its illegal occupation of their homeland.
The report said that Indian troops have molested 11,231 women since January 1989 till date in IIOJK. It said the mass rape of Kunanposhpora, rape and murder of two women in Shopian and a minor girl, Aasifa Bano, in Kathua area of Jammu region are glaring examples of this brutality committed by Indian forces’ personnel in the occupied territory. The report said that the troops had raped around one hundred women in Kunanposhpora area of Kupwara district on the night of 23 February 1991. It said that the Indian men in uniform abducted two women, Aasiya and Neelofar, raped and subsequently murdered them in custody on the intervening night of 29 and 30 May 2009 in Shopian. An 8-year-old Muslim girl, Aasifa Bano, was raped and killed by seven Hindus including four policemen and a temple priest in January 2018 in Kathua area of Jammu.
The report said IIOJK is that region of the world where Indian troops are committing the worst human rights violations and subjecting the women to sexual violence on daily basis. “Human Rights Watch in its report in November 2019 maintained that India is using rape of Kashmiri women as a weapon of war in IIOJK. At the 52nd United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Professor William Baker, a human-rights activist, argued that rape in IIOJK was not merely a case of isolated incidents involving undisciplined soldiers, rather Indian forces were actively deploying rape on Kashmiri populace as a method of humiliation and invoking fear,” it said.
The report said the rape and molestation of women by Indian forces’ personnel in IIOJK has become a routine and even former Indian Army officers affiliated with the ruling extremist BJP are supporting the use of this crime as a weapon to punish the Kashmiris. It said that during a talk show in November 2019, BJP leader, Major General (retd), S P Sinha, advocated the use of this tactic. His remarks reflected the communal and Hindutva ideology of Narendra Modi that is targeting the Kashmiri women, it added.
The report said Kashmiri women are facing unending ordeal of trauma due to sexual violence at the hands of Indian troops and the rape cases in IIOJK expose the dark face of the so-called democratic India.
It said India’s brutal actions in IIOJK pose a challenge to the global community. It added that the organizations working for the women rights should not remain silent on the victimization of the Kashmiri women and the world must wake up to contain the sexual violence being used as a war tactic by India in IIOJK.—KMS
