By
Mariam Shah
Kashmir
is one of the most neglected, long standing and unresolved issue. It is one of
those conflict zones which have faced the worst human rights violations and
crimes against humanity. Kashmiri people are suffering from extreme inhumane
behavior for the last many decades like torture, extrajudicial killings, mass
murders, rape, torture, and abuse, exposition of unmarked graves, detentions
and enforced disappearance. India
has committed both; crime against peace and crime against humanity.
The
world’s largest democracy has never held its Army accountable for abusing the
rights of thousands of individual in Jammu and Kashmir.
The tales of barbarism in Kashmir has never been highlighted
by Indian and international media the way other ordinary issues have been
propagated in the name of human rights and injustice. UN has miserably failed
in resolving this issue and has not given due voice to holding accountable India
for her atrocities in Kashmir. It is an irony indeed
that the world’s largest democracy is administering the world’s largest
military occupation in Kashmir.
The
fact is that in any conflict the first and worst victims are women and
children, and same is the case in Kashmir. Women
primarily have been the most terribly injured party, in this decade’s long
conflict. Anywhere in the world, women suffer the most in any sort of conflict.
Either she is war booty in the hands of belligerents, or she is a widow back at
home. She suffers as a daughter, mother, wife and sister, because most of
the times she has to survive alone, with the loss of any support from her male
counterpart.
The
people of Kashmir are continuing their long struggle
against Indian oppression and tyranny. Violence is widely used to
subjugate the masses and especially the women. Indian army and paramilitary
forces have used violence and abuse against women in Kashmir
as a tool to subdue them. Women actually have become a medium through which
Indian forces claim their authority and impose a number of abuses in this
manner. In a report “Kashmir Under Siege” Human Rights Watch reported that
“Government security forces have massacred large numbers of unarmed civilians,
conducted warrantless house-to-house searches, seized youths, beaten
protesters, and destroyed whole neighborhoods”. Few of the international
organizations do acknowledge the facts that Indian forces have gone for the
worst human rights violations and crimes against humanity, but Indian media and
international media always turns a blind eye to what is happening in Kashmir.
Women
in Kashmir are suffering from a number of physical and
psychological problems because of the stressful environment. In the war-trodden
region, Kashmiri women are now experiencing more stress as an aftermath of war
and infertility. According to a report many women are becoming infertile
because of conflicting environment and stressful conditions. According to
psychiatric research, 800,000 people in Kashmir including
women are affected by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). A gynecologist has
said that “Conflict has resulted in many psychiatric problems in women,
including depression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and anxiety, which
directly affect child birth.”
Past research revealed
that around 90% of the estimated 10,000 Kashmiri war widows didn’t remarry
despite provision of remarriage in Islam. According to Kashmir Watch suicide
rates among Kashmiri women have shown increase over the years. As compared to
men, more women are suffering from various psychological disorders. This has
also been proven by several surveys carried out in Indian held Kashmir
which states that more Kashmiri women commit suicide than men.
The
tales of agony of Kashmiri women do not end here. The unending conflict in Kashmir
besides leaving behind widows have also left number of ‘half-widows’. The
missing persons in Kashmir have left over thousands of
half-widows whose husbands are missing or are in enforced disappearance. The
valley is full of the plight of such women who have been left at the mercy of
no one. Wives, mothers and sisters of those men who are in custody of Indian
forces for years or missing go for regular sit-ins and protests in Indian held Kashmir.
According
to a report by Human Rights Watch, many times Indian forces have killed
civilians under the authority of laws such as the Jammu and Kashmir Disturbed
Areas Act and the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, which
allow lethal force to be used “against any person who is acting in
contravention of any law or order for the time being in force in the disturbed
area.” The Indian army themselves have admitted that the extraordinary powers
to shoot have led to “mistakes”, so these ‘mistakes’ which kill innocent
civilians create a rage among the public in Jammu and Kashmir. There were over
30,000 widows in Kashmir and nearly 35,000 habeas corpus
petitions pending in court in 2001, which could not be taken up because of the
provisions of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. There is no doubt that this
act has been a lot misused by the Indian security forces in Kashmir.
There
are countless tales of rapes in Indian held Kashmir.
Indian soldiers no doubt use rape as an instrument to force the Kashmiri people
to show compliance. Through this, they try to break the moral and mental
strength of Kashmiri people, to humiliate and degrade them in any way possible.
Late in 2012, a very prominent Indian human rights activist Arundhati Roy said
in a media interview in Delhi that Indian army and police
are using rape as a weapon against the people Kashmir.
She also said that rape is legitimately used and Indian law gives the
perpetrators full protection.
According
to a report published by Asia Watch & Physicians for Human Rights, while
trying to defeat ‘militant’ movement in Kashmir, India’s
central government has pursued a policy of repression in Kashmir
which has resulted in massive human rights violations by Indian Army and
Paramilitary Forces. Throughout the conflict, the security forces have
deliberately targeted civilians. Below are the statistics that show the Indian
brutality in Kashmir, according to Kashmir Media
Service.
http://www.kmsnews.org/news/?
January
1989 – May 31, 2014
Total
Killing
94,035
Custodial
Killings
7,022
Civilians
Arrested 126,091
Structures
Arson/Destroyed 106,004
Women Widowed 22,778
Children
Orphaned 107,469
Women gang-raped / Molested 10,118
Rape
is one the most underreported crimes in Kashmir, and the
criminal has almost never been punished. As a raped woman is “stigmatized” in
our society, so it’s a tool to punish her entire family. Indian forces have
used this gender related violence against the women of Kashmir
in order to punish and humiliate the entire community. In one of the interviews
conducted by Asia Rights Watch, the raped Kashmiri women narrated that “One
soldier kept guard on the door and two of them raped me. They said, “We have
orders from our officers to rape you.” She said, “You can shoot me but
don’t rape me.”
According
to a report published by Asia Watch & Physicians for Human Rights the
security forces have used rape as a tool to punish, intimidate, coerce,
humiliate and degrade. It was also reported that there can be no doubt that the
use of rape is common and routinely goes unpunished. Although strong evidences
were available that army and paramilitary forces were engaging in widespread
rape, but hardly ever a case was investigated by the authorities. Those cases
who were reported never end in criminal prosecutions of the security forces
involved. This all shows that Indian government has badly failed to ensure
human rights in Kashmir and to hold accountable the
members of security forces for their crimes. Many human rights groups have
reported the use of rape by Indian forces in Kashmir,
but international condemnation has hardly ever come. This shows the seriousness
of the international community towards the atrocities done to the Kashmiri
people.
The
gender based crimes and violence in Kashmir by Indian security forces shows the
reality of India
in true sense. The ‘world’s largest democracy’ has poorly failed in containing
its armed forces against crimes against humanity and particularly crime against
women in Kashmir. The irony is that the crimes are
seldom reported and almost never punished. In last sixty years, thousands of
Kashmiri women have suffered at the hands of cruel Indian forces both
physically and psychologically. This is the high time that international
community, United Nations and especially women rights organizations should come
forward and rescue the constantly suffering women in Kashmir
and hold accountable all the involved members of the Indian security forces.
