Untold story of mass rape in IOK

From 1948 to 1988, Kashmiris had waged peaceful struggle for their right of self-determination bestowed upon them through UNSC resolutions. Unarguably, inspired by the successful struggle of people of Afghanistan to rid the Soviet occupation, Kashmiri freedom fighters started armed struggle in 1989. In 1991, when freedom struggle was at its peak, Indian forces committed a mass rape of more than 30 women in Kunan-Poshpora villages of Kupwara in months of February and March. In 2011, India’s human rights commission had asked authorities to launch an investigation into the event. As expected, investigating journalist who conducted investigations had cleared military of the heinous crime, and Kashmir police had also announced the case untraceable and stopped the probe in October 1991. Amnesty International called on the authorities in the Indian Held Kashmir to carry out fresh investigations into the alleged mass rapes.
Indian chapter of Amnesty International said: “To date, investigations have remained inconclusive, and nobody has been charged or prosecuted in connection with the case.” In June 2013, Kashmir’s court of judicial magistrate ordered the reinvestigation of the case. It came after a group of lawyers, students and teachers filed public interest litigation (PIL) before the High Court and demanded justice for the victims; but to no avail. It was in this backdrop that five young Kashmiri women worked for three years to comprehensively document one of the worst crimes against humanity committed by the Indian armed forces in the Valley – the mass rape of more than 30 women in Kunan-Poshpora villages of Kupwara in 1991 by Indian soldiers during search operation in Kunan and Poshpora villages. The book will be launched on 23rd February 2016.
Rape is one the most underreported crimes in Kashmir, and the criminal has almost never been punished. 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 woman narrated: “One soldier kept guard on the door and two of them raped me. They said, we have orders from our officers to rape you.” 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 and rape. Kashmir, paradise on earth has become hell that stretched Dante’s imagination in Divine Comedy.
The fact remains that in any conflict the first and worst victims are women and children, and same is the case in Kashmir. 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 continue their long struggle against Indian oppression and tyranny; and violence is widely used to subjugate the masses 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; but have failed in their objective of weakening the resolve of Kashmiri men and women.
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 every way possible. Late in 2012, a very prominent Indian human rights activist Arundhati Roy had said in a media interview in Delhi that Indian army and police are using rape as a weapon against the people Kashmir. She had added: “Rape is legitimately used, as Indian draconian laws and consequently judiciary gives the perpetrators full protection.” 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 apathy of the international community towards the atrocities perpetrated on the Kashmiri people.