http://www.lisauk.com/Kashmir.htm
By Pradeep Mohinder
(Until Pakistan=92s leader- General Musharraf - abandoned the Kashmiris,
the policy of the Indian Government was to hide the excesses of the
military occupation. Now they advertise them to underline that
Pakistan stands defeated =96 more unwilling than unable to do anything
to help the Kashmiris in their struggle for freedom). Editor.
Rape of women, disappearance, illegal detention, threatening at gun
point, molestation, loot and terrorising raids by security forces and
by unknown gunmen have been day to day phenomena in Kashmir valley and
in the border districts of Jammu.
Seventeen years of turmoil has not only ruined the Jammu Kashmir
economically but, has turned the valley in to a land of widows and
orphans. By conservative estimates there are more than twenty-five
thousand orphans (25,000) and approximately six thousand (6000) widows
in state but the Central as well as State government take little
notice of their plight as if those victims did not exist. Until
recently the people were never told of these amazing and horrifying
fact; they have been told only of arms and ammunition recovered or
militants gunned down by the security forces during search operations.
Under pressure from some Human Rights groups and other NGOs, it has
since come to light that the so called Pakistani militants killed in
encounters were local people =96 labourers and traders =96 who had been
killed only to receive bounties. India must be the only country in the
world where soldiers are rewarded for ho many they kill.
The most affected and neglected areas are border districts, like
Kupwara, Anantnag, Pulwama and Baramulla in the valley and Rajouri,
Poonch and Udhampur in Jammu region. The women have not lost only
their husbands but also the source of livelihood with them. These
desperately poor women have nothing to feed their children.
Moreover, they are unable to protect themselves should a soldier fancy
one of them. These women are not only harassed and raped by unknown
gunmen but even by the personnel of the Indian army. The insecurity
and the anger felt by these widows are hard to describe. Their tears
have long since dried; they wait for a miracle; they wait for a
messiah.
In 199, soldiers of the Indian army raped 30 women in Kunan- Poshpura
in Kupwara aged between 18 to 85 years. This incident received a lot
of international publicity and was condemned as a case of =91rape=92 being
used as a weapon of war in Kashmir. But till to date no one has been
punished and these women have neither received compensation nor
justice from the Government. Young men having been killed or forced to
flee, every where one sees young girls unmarried and waiting that some
day some one will come to marry them. Until then they are condemned to
living in cow sheds waiting for grooms or freedom.
If one visited Deevar, Sogam, Dard****a and other villages on the
border in District Kupwara, one would find hundred of widows and
thousand of orphans at the mercy of god. One of the widows from
village Dard****a named Shakeela said =93I have three children. My
husband was taken for interrogation in 1994 and after few days his
body was found in the jungle. He was killed with bullets pumped into
his body. After his death I have no other option other than to beg or
to go for illicit activities.
It is matter of concern that most of the married women face the
problem of miscarriages, which is one of the fastest growing problem
in the rural and border areas of state yet to be noticed by the health
department of state. The young widows and teenaged orphan girls are
facing more problems due to their youth as they are always at danger
of molestation and getting raped.
One of the widow Reehana aged 22 from Deever said =93being young I am
always being harassed and molested both by security forces and
renegades; that has become the day to day routine. Even though I am
educated still I cannot go out to work because of all this=94.
Even the NGOs, which are trying to help them, are not able to perform
well because of government hurdles. Ghulam Nabi a tailor at J&K Yateem
Trust Craft Centre, in the village Deevar said, =93Even though these
girls get free training in tailoring , they are not able to earn their
livelihood as the village has limited resources and government has
done nothing to facilitate their skill .
Safe means of livelihood for these widows and orphans is very
im****tant otherwise, when the young boys and girls grow up in such
deprived conditions, they will definitely follow the gun culture or
fall victim to pimps.
To Pakistan the Kashmiris freedom movement constitutes =91Validation of
its Two Nation Theory=92. It is! But Kashmir, first and foremost,
belongs to Kashmiris. Many generations of Kashmiris have lived and
died in the hope of being able to decide their destiny in a free vote.
They have yet to experience the absence of fear and coercion or the
ecstasy of freedom. To them =91freedom=92 is a matter of honour and
dignity denied to the Muslims of Kashmir for many generations.
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