Speakers Demand End To State Abuse Against Women In IIOJK

News Desk

Geneva: Kashmiri women continue to suffer the worst consequences of violence and abuse of power by the Indian security forces in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu Kashmir (IIOJK) despite growing calls for the empowerment of women in conflict zones, noted speakers.

Referring to the devastating impacts of the Kashmir conflict on women, speakers added that the ongoing conflict has wreaked havoc on women’s physical and mental health, as there has been a phenomenal increase in psychiatric morbidity.

The sense of insecurity is greater among girls and young women who have become virtual prisoners in their own houses because of the continued threat of abduction and sexual abuse from the Indian army found present in every nook, corner, and cranny of the state, they added.

Speaking at a seminar titled ‘Women in Conflict: Challenges and Responsibilities’, speakers emphasized that it is high time that the world’s human rights bodies took effective cognizance of the matter and took concrete steps.

The seminar was held on the sidelines of the 53rd session of the UNHRC, and while debating women’s empowerment in conflict zones, it stressed the need for women’s inclusive and meaningful participation in peacebuilding and creating an environment where their voices and contributions are heard and acknowledged.

Speakers regrettably noted that sexual violence being leveraged as a weapon of war by the Indian forces in the region has been grossly overlooked at the international level despite growing awareness of the urgent need to empower women in conflict-hit areas.

They said that the prolonged Indian military occupation of Kashmir and the presence of over half a million troops in the region have created fertile ground for violence against women.

One of the terrible components of the protracted conflict that has irreparably destroyed the lives of women living under the constant fear of rape and sexual assault from the Indian army, they claimed, has been outrage over modesty and other sorts of abuse against women.

Referring to the nightmarish ordeal the Kashmiri women have been going through, the speakers said, the mass rape of scores of women in Kunan Poshpora village in Handwara in 1991 by the Indian occupation forces and the rape and murder cases of Shopian serve as the most shocking examples of the Indian state terrorism.  Additional input from agencies.