Pasban-e-Hurriyat Jammu and Kashmir denounced the sexual violence of Indian armed forces in illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir. In a statement issued on International day for the elimination of sexual violence in conflict, Head of Women Wing Mehnaz Qureshi said that Indian forces are using sexual exploitation of Kashmiri women and violence against children as a weapon of war. She said that this day marks the pledge of justice and protection for women and children affected by conflicts around the world but unfortunately Kashmiri people remain depirved of such rights.
She said that this day revives the importance of ending sexual crimes and violence against women and children in war situations and providing justice to the victims. Mehnaz said that the forces in Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir and in Gaza are using sexual exploitation, killing, arrests and violence against Palestinian and Kashmiri women under a systematic conspiracy. She lamented that Israeli barbarians in Palestine have slaughtered thousands of children and women which is a slap on the face of the institutions and countries that talk about peace and justice.
She said that the Indian forces in occupied Kashmir have martyred 1100 women in the last three and a half decades.
“The Delhi government targeted thousands of Kashmiri children and girls like Hibba Nisar and Insha Mushtaq with pellet guns to crush the freedom struggle of the Kashmiri people, their eyesight was taken away and their faces were disfigured”, she stated. She said that the brutal Indian soldiers sexually assaulted more than 11200 Kashmiri women, adding that on February 22, 1991, more than 50 Kashmiri women were sexually abused in the twin villages of Kunnan and Poshpora in Kupwara. “Many reputable organizations of the world including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International reported this tragic incident but justice delayed as injustice”, she said. Qureshi said that 13-year-old Asifa Bano was killed after being sexually assaulted in Kathua district of Jammu. She recalled how Indian soldiers kidnapped Nilofar and Asia of Shopian and then after committing atrocities, these women were also martyred.
She said that 22,400 women were made widows in occupied Kashmir and more than 122,000 children were orphaned.
She termed Indian military terrorism as the worst war crimes and said that India has made the lives of thousands of Kashmiri women miserable by abducting their husbands. She said that the theme for this year, “Breaking the Cycle, Healing the Scars: Addressing the Intergenerational Effects of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence,” underscores the devastating impact of such violence on individuals, families, and communities particularly in Kashmir which is dire. She added that these atrocities have caused immense physical and psychological trauma, with long-lasting effects on individuals and communities in Kashmir. She demanded that international organizations working for the rights of women and children to take notice of all kinds of violence by Indian soldiers on women and children in Jammu and Kashmir.
