Multiple women in Kashmir have come out with accounts of their ordeal. In an interview, they revealed how they were raped by terrorists for years.
Srinagar: Multiple women in Kashmir have come out with accounts of rape and torture for years by terrorists. They narrated how they were forced to be sex slaves and were threatened not to reveal it to anybody.
They were forced to remain silent and were threatened that if they disclose it, their loved ones would be harmed.
Pakistan has been waging a war in Kashmir for years. In late 1980s and early 1990s, terrorists forced Kashmiri pandits to flee the valley.
In interviews to the news magazine The Diplomat, victims have narrated how terrorists stayed in their houses, killed their brothers and other family members and enslaved them.
Names of the victims have been changed to hide their identity. They expressed fear that some terrorists who are still in the valley might come after them if they get to know their identities.
Bismah from Kupwara said that terrorists first killed her driver husband and then took her hostage. First, they tried to convince her that her husband was a traitor as he was a police informant and put pressure on her to help them in holy war.
When she refused, they raped her for years saying it was her contribution to the holy war. “They took me forcibly just after killing my husband. I was abused in every manner possible…torture and humiliation became a routine affair,” she said.
Chasfeeda from Uri said that she had lost count of number of times she was raped. She said that they would forcibly in front of our house in the village and take away everything I had. Being poor, it was difficult for her to feed her family.
“They camped in front of our house and refused to leave. They threatened us to feed them and ate everything I had at home. They refused to leave even after finishing meals. After meal, they would rape me everyday,” she said.
On August 5, 2019, the Modi government scrapped Article 370 of the Indian Constitution which provided special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir. The erstwhile state was reorganised as the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir and the Union Territory of Ladakh. This move has broken the back of the remaining terrorists in Kashmir. Another victim Afroza from Baramulla said that they always came first for food but it never stopped at food. They would have their meals and then demand women. We pleaded them to leave us as we had given them everything we had but they had no mercy. They raped us for years.
They also sexually tortured Afroza’s 9-year-old sister and when their father opposed it, terrorists shot him dead.
It has been years since these crimes happened. When asked why didn’t they go the police back then, one of the victims said the environment was such at the time that we considered ourselves lucky to be alive and get two meals a day. “We could not have dreamed for anything else,” she said.
She added there are many more such victims who would gather courage to tell their stories eventually.
