WUNRN
INDIA-KASHMIR
- WOMEN ORDERED TO COVER FACES & NOT USE MOBILE PHONES, OR RISK ACID
ATTACKS
A pro-al-Qaeda
group in
Photo: AP/Dar Yasin
The threat has sown fear
throughout India’s
The warning comes amid growing
concern in
In both
Police and women’s groups in
“We appeal to the public
that they ensure that their women observe purdah [cover their heads and faces]
in public places. If we spot any woman without purdah we will sprinkle acid on
her face. If we spot any girl using mobile phone, she will be shot dead,” said
the note, which was signed by al-Qaeda Mujahideen and referred to another
group, Lashkar e al-Qaeda.
Another group, the Lashkar e Jabbar claimed responsibility for acid attacks and shootings of girls in 2001 as part of a campaign to enforce conservative Muslim values in the relatively liberal state and terrify young women it regarded as wearing “immodest” clothes, such as jeans and t-shirts.
Professor Noor Ahmad Baba, a
Kashmiri commentator, said women in
“In the last 23 years of the war,
women have been targeted by fringe elements,” he said. “Generally, women in
S M Sahai, Kashmir’s Inspector
General of Police, said an investigation was under way and said it may be a
part of a campaign by local militants to radicalise the state because militant
infiltration into Kashmir from
“The militants are trying to
recruit locals as the infiltration has been brought to minimum. We have cases
of militants trying to engaging boys of 12,” he said.