No thanks, Kashmiri women tell Pakistan

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No thanks, Kashmiri women tell Pakistan

>Author: Barkha Goel/ New Delhi

>Publication: The Pioneer

>November 10, 2003

>

>"We will not take help from Pakistan. They killed our men, raped our

>daughters and left us to die. Even today, they do not end this war. They

>do not listen to offers of peace. Yet they ask to compensate us for our

>losses. What I have lost cannot be returned to me in monetary terms,"

>cries 50-year-old Saher in a rage hearing of Pakistan's proposal to help

>widows and rape victims.

>

>A Kashmiri migrant, she lost her son to unidentified gunmen during the

>Kargil war. Soon after, her husband went missing and her daughter faced

>the trauma of rape. She is now working in Delhi as a domestic help.

>

>She has lost hope. "I do not have any faith that the militants,

>Pakistanis or anyone will help me, and others like me."

>

>Kashmiri women might be victims of the war but they are spirited and

>scorn the offer of the Pakistani government. Says Mohini Giri, who runs

>two homes for widows, one situated in Srinagar and the other at Kupwada,

>"None of the 100 women who are in these homes would accept aid from

>Pakistan. Unlike women hailing from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Kashmiri

>women are very self-efficient, independent and intelligent. They make

>their livelihood gathering apples in summer or hired as agricultural

>labourers at Rs 100 a day. In winter, they spin yarns sitting at home or

>make daris."

>

>Commenting on using rape as a political tool, Sayeeda Hamid of the

>Muslim Women's Forum, says, "Women's bodies should not be used for

>politicisation. It is a shame for Governments to subject women to this

>indignity. Be it in Bangladesh, India or Pakistan, politicians highlight

>cases of rape and violence for their own ends. Kashmiri women are caught

>between two guns, that of the military forces and the militants. They

>need relief, recompensation and rehabilitation which requires a combined

>effort by all South Asian countries.

>

>Reacting to the to the Pak proposal, the former chief secretary of Jammu

>and Kashmir, Mr Moosa Raza who went on a good will mission to Kashmir

>last month, says, "This is a bid by the Pakistan government to score

>brownie points with human rights activists. It is an attempt to smirch

>the name of the Indian forces. There are no doubt complaints of human

>rights violations in Kashmir by the Army and police officials, but these

>are investigated thoroughly."

>

>Pushing for a change in the Act that places J& K beyond the jurisdiction

>of the National Commission for Women (NCW) for the last three years,

>Chairperson of NCW, Ms Poornima Advani says, "By giving compensation to

>rape victims, the Pakistan government cannot compensate for the loss of

>dignity that a woman suffers. We require a mindset linked to

>rehabilitation of the victims not put a price to compensate for this

>heinous crime. Our purpose is to ensure that legal and constitutional

>safeguards be upheld."

>

>Many institutions like Rajeev Gandhi Foundation, Yakeem Trust are

>working towards the welfare of Kashmiri women and children with grants

>from the Indian government. "We get six lakh from the Ministry of Women

>and Child Welfare under the Swadhar scheme. The situation in Kashmir has

>improved vastly in the last two years. Local schools and hospitals are

>operational. But much remains to be done. The children are born to the

>sound of gunfire. In the border areas, they have no television and the

>children have neither heard albums or watched Bollywood films. I am

>trying to make it possible for the 60 children of the widows to come to

>Delhi for the Republic day," says Ms Giri.

>

>A section of women right activists call for thorough probe into

>allegations of rape and atrocity against security forces engaged in

>counter-insurgency operation.

>

>"The problem in Kashmir is that while court martials are set up, nothing

>is known of the outcome. Army regulations prescribe strict limits to the

>pressure that may be exercised during interrogation and no torture or

>third degree liable to cause serious injury is permissible. Though the

>CRPF has a mahila police unit which assists in operations involving

>search of women or homes, the army has no such provision," says a

>women's rights activist.

>

>But are these allegations grounded in reality? A report from the Press

>Council of India on Jammu and Kashmir titled " Crisis and Credibility"

>has went into human rights record maintained by the Army in 1991, and

>concluded, "Human rights excesses against the Indian army in Kashmir

>have been grossly exaggerated or invented. Some excesses have taken

>place but these have been inquired into and action taken against those

>found guilty."

>

>

>

 

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