Head of Women department Mehnaz Qureshi has said that 16 years have passed since the Shopian tragedy, but the Indian criminals of Aasia and Nilofar have not been arrested
In a statement issued to the media, she said that the incident of the brutal martyrdom of two oppressed Kashmiri women Nilofar and Aasia of Shopian district by Indian soldiers on May 28 and 29, 2009, still haunts the atmosphere of Kashmir.
She said that the cruel forces of India brutally martyred them, adding that the cruel and biased Indian judiciary neither arrested these Indian soldiers nor took any disciplinary action against them.
“Despite the passage of 16 years, the heirs of these oppressed martyred women are seeking justice”, she lamented.
Mehnaz Qureshi said that on May 29, 2025, the memory of these oppressed sisters has once again saddened the people of Kashmir.
She said that the Shopian tragedy not only exposed the state oppression of the Indian army but also highlighted the serious human rights violations, especially against women in Kashmir.
She further said that “sexual exploitation and violence against Kashmiri women is a nefarious part of Indian state terrorism, the aim of which is to intimidate the Kashmiri people into giving up the resistance movement.”
She said that since 1989, 11,500 Kashmiri women have been victims of sexual violence by Indian forces.
She strongly condemned the confinement, harassment and violation of their rights of millions of Kashmiri women in Kashmir.
Mehnaz said that the worst incident of Kunnan Poshpora and the unjust martyrdom of 13 years old Asifa of Kathua are indelible sorrows for the Kashmiri people.
She paid tribute to the unparalleled role and sacrifices of women in the Kashmir freedom movement and said that even today many Kashmiri women like Syeda Asia Andrabi, Fehmida Sufi, Nahida Nasreen and others are imprisoned in Indian jails.
Pasban-e-Hurriyat demanded an investigation into the Shopian tragedy from international organizations working for women’s rights and have appealed to play a role for the release of Kashmiri women prisoners.
