Maria Iqbal Tarana
Kunan Poshpora, a gruesome gang rape incident which though took place 23 years back, will stir the conscience of any individual. On February 23, 1991 soldiers from the Indian Army cordoned off village Kunan Poshpora on the pretext to conduct a search operation. But instead the soldiers went on a spree and gang raped a large number of village women overnight till the next day. Local villagers accounted up to 100 women were gang raped without any consideration for their age, married, unmarried and pregnant. The armed personnel entered the houses of villagers and “behaved like wild beasts.” The victims ranged in age from 13 to 80 and village leaders had reported the rapes to army officials but the officials denied the charges and refused to take any further action.
The shocking fact is that to-date not a single person could be punished so far. And instead the Indian government tried to cover up the incident as a mass conspiracy, involving militants and the entire population of the twin villages. Many women weep wordlessly to-day and yet when one woman was raped in Delhi and all of India lit candles for 15 days, “But where is the justice for these women.”
That horrific night these women were gagged to prevent them from raising hue and cry and were unable to make any noise. Today we have difficulty in dealing with the reality and the aftermath of the incident. Will Kashmiri rape victims get justice against the Indian Military after two decades? We believe they can because we live in a democratic society where the police and armed forces are there to uphold the law and protect the citizens. We Pakistanis are keepers of our national honour. It is an undeniable fact that the Indian Army should be held accountable for this barbaric incident.
Under the provisions of the act termed as “Draconian” they continue acts of oppression, abuse and inflict more brutalising harm on ‘innocent’ Kashmiris.
Today at Youth Forum for Kashmir regional office AJK held a campaign for justice and truth for the survivors of Kunan Poshpora victims and were joined in support by key women of society who expressed and shared their views on this forgotten tragedy. In general, the women expressed on how the family lives have become difficult in how to marry their daughters, to find suitable matches and how some families live in shame have fallen into depression and consequent suffering.