Islamabad
In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, women have been the worst victims of Indian state terrorism in the territory for the last over seven decades.
An analytical report released by the Research Section of Kashmir Media Service, today, said 2,342 women are among 95,723 Kashmiris martyred by Indian troops in the occupied territory since January 1989 till date. It maintained that the Kashmiri women have been the worst victims of the harrowing conflict, which rendered 22,923 women widowed since 1989. The report deplored that the troops had been routinely involved in sexual harassment of women to suppress the Kashmiris’ ongoing freedom struggle. It said that the troops had molested 11,226 Kashmiri women during the period.
The report pointed out that Kunanposhpora mass rape, Shopian double-rape-and murder and Kathua rape-and-murder of an 8-yerar-old girl are some glaring examples of the extreme brutality of the Indian forces’ personnel in the occupied territory. Indian troops had molested around 100 women during a cordon and search operation in Kunanposhpora area of Kupwara on the night of 23 February 1991. Indian men in uniform abducted two women Aasiya and Neelofar on 29 May 2009 in Shopian, raped and subsequently killed them in custody. Their bodies were found in a shallow stream in the town, next morning. An eight-year girl, Aasifa Bano, of Kathua, was abducted, gang-raped and subsequently murdered in January 2018. Seven Hindus including four policemen and a temple priest perpetrated the crime.
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 Indian troops. As per the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons, more than 8,000 Kashmiris went missing in custody during the past 31 years, it added.
The report maintained that thousands of school boys and girls were also injured by the pellets fired by Indian troops while over a hundred including 19-month-old Heeba Jan, 2-year-old Nusrat Jan, Tammana (11), Shabroza Mir (16), Insha Mushtaq (16), Ulfat Hameed (17), Ifrah Shakoor (17), Shakeela Begum (35) and Rafia Bano (31) were blinded due to pellet injuries.
The report said that near a dozen women including Hurriyat leaders, Aasiya Andrabi, Fehmeeda Sofi and Naheeda Nasreen were facing illegal detention for their active role in the ongoing freedom movement. It further pointed out that womenfolk are majority of the Kashmiris suffering from multiple psychic problems.
The report said the world community must take cognizance of the plight of Kashmiri women facing Indian brutalities in the occupied territory.—KMS
