Uzma Qureshi
Ever since our honourable Chief Minister, Mr Omar Abdullah has taken the responsibility of forsaking all the delinquencies in the state, but till now we have not yet seen any change and all the promises have likely failed.
Humanizing the situation in the state doesn’t mean to make the state a metro-Politian city, or to run a rat race with other states. Improving the scenario of the rural life, no matter if the ether around is treacherous.
Every day brings in more and more miseries to already trouble-torn people of Kashmir. A culture of silence has been imposed on Kashmiris through fear of and threat by forces of oppression and ignorance alike. Every day passes and brings more fear that what is going to happen tomorrow. “There is so much uncertainty that thinking of future seems a luxury which we cannot effort”. Conflicts in Kashmir has affected every individual’s life, the impact is so strong that it cannot be shrugged off easily. The dance of death continues unabated in a more magnanimous way than ever before, consuming mostly non-combatant Kashmiris.
The incessant threat to life and modesty, have led to a sense of insecurity particularly among women. Thousands of women in Kashmir are going through an identity crisis owing to the phenomenon of sexual violence which led them to a miserable life. Crimes against women are not new. Every conflict sees women being intimidated by various crimes committed on them by the oppressor and the oppressed. Women have been used as a tool since times immemorial. There has been chain of incidents from past many years. Shall I dare to dream? Incidents like one in Kunan Poshpora gave me goose pumps and make me restless. It is not the first of its kind but people have shocking memories behind. We put such incidents in back of our minds in few days as if nothing ever had happened and case files gather dusts. We have got so much used to such incidents; I fear we will be immune in near time to such incidents. I usually don’t wear my emotions on my sleeves, but when I ponder on Kunan Poshpora incident, my heart skips a beat. It was a barbaric act, but most unfortunate is that we don’t know how to retaliate? We go on rampage damping everything, trying to justify the act with the loss.
This mass rape that happened on the intervening night of 23/24 February, 1991 by 68 RR of 98 Brigade was a gruesome act that traumatized every one. The effect was so sturdy that cannot be shrugged off easily until yet. More than 56 women (including old, pregnant and teenagers) were brutally raped by the men in uniform. The women who were raped in KunanPoshpora have confined themselves to solitary, their only companion. This incident is a glaring example of total breakdown of Human rights and yes, of course, women exploitation.
Bruised bodies, mauled souls, stressed minds, wiling hearts, shattered hopes and disturbed faces needs something more than hollow sympathies offered by public and the shameless governments. And yet we just hear and ignore. This was not the crime against the innocent women, but a crime against whole humanity. Its pity that the grave human rights violations like rape and murder are termed as mere incidents and then concocted stories are framed to shield the culprits. Silence has become a part of our culture; it allows all the injustice to thrive.
“Kind words can soothe wounds, but they do not heal them”. For the victims, it is a living hell, and the pain they have got can never be healed. A mother raped in front of her child, a paralysed daughter felling helpless after seeing her mother being sexually harassed in front of her, an innocent girl dreaming of becoming a doctor and what not, after being raped left off all her dreams and went for a never ending psychological trauma (stress). What kind of life a 60 year old woman harbour, when she was too raped. When they were raped it was day of mourning, but it was DOOMSDAY for them, when it was closed as “UNTRACED” and until now, the perpetrators of the heinous crime are roaming free and of course those who hood-winked it, they are mentioned in the good books.
What if tomorrow, my mother, my sister and my daughter faces this? Shall I not have to rescue the future of my beloved ones? Is it not the responsibility of every Kashmiri to take concrete steps in this regard so that our future generation may not ever face such viciousness?
For how long shall we have to mourn for our approaching death?
And that is what we did as the LITIGANTS of the petition filed to Jammu and Kashmir High Court seeking the re-opening and re-investigation of the Mass Rape at Kunan Poshpora, Tregham.
On 29th April 2013, a Public Interest Litigation [PIL] filed by 50 Kashmiri women seeking action on the horrific gang rape in Kunan Poshpora on the intervening night of 23rd / 24th February 1991 by the Indian armed forces was heard by the High Court. We sought accountability for a case which the Government has sought to ignore and bury. There have been consistent efforts to ensure impunity for the 4th Rajputana personnel responsible for the crime.
The victims of this crime have for all these years felt hopelessness, particularly as they have been on the receiving end of a callous and repressive State. In October 2011, the State Human Rights Commission [SHRC], confirmed the crime, passed necessary recommendations including the re-opening and re-investigation of the case, and institution of criminal proceedings against the then Director of Prosecutions for closing the case.
As usual, the State refused to act. One and a half years have passed and the State has displayed a cruel disregard for a crime whose consequences continue to date.
We believe we have a responsibility to ensure that the impunity for this crime ends. Therefore, we approached the High Court.
In the hearing, before passing any order on admission, questions were posed by the Division Bench comprised of Justice A.M. Magray and Justice Mansoor: How can a PIL be a remedy for a 22 year old case? Further, can a PIL be a remedy for the implementation of a SHRC decision? Our counsel, Advocate Parvez Imroz, has been asked to provide legal references to these questions in further submissions scheduled for next week. Despite the widely reported information on this case, the numerous arguments on record before the Court, the consistent and criminal role of the State in this case, and that suo moto cognizance of this case should have been taken years ago [as recently done in the LPG matter], it appears these questions have to still be answered. We are hopeful that in the hearing next week the Judges of the High Court would take a conscientious and legally sound decision of admitting the PIL and issuing notices against all the respondents.
It is the need of the hour, now to break the shackles of SILENCE that has been imposed on us by the men in uniform or the responsible authorities.
If justice won’t be given to the duos, then such incidents will happen frequently and nobody will be able to raise voice against such humiliations.
Until the sufferings won’t end, Peace won’t survive