Kashmir Mey Khawateen Ki Behurmati (Rape of Kashmiri Women)
Author: Shabnum Qayoom
Publisher: Waqar Publications, Srinagar, Kashmir
Year of Publication: 2010
Price: Rs 300 Pages: 320
Reviewed by Mushtaq Ul Haq Ahmad Sikander
Rape as a weapon of war has always been used by the occupational forces to demean, debase and finally destroy the social rubric of the enemy. In case of the secessionist tendency, the defiant population is tried to inculcate spirit of submissiveness and unconditional obedience by using various strategic tactics, and Rape is one of them. In every conflict rape has been used against the womenfolk of the other or enemy, in order to make them understand how weak and vulnerable they are and make a living testimony of their helplessness before the mighty institutions and a constant reminder not to side with the ‘other’ as the punishment awaits them in the form of rape of their womenfolk.
Women especially in the conservative, traditional, orthodox and Eastern societies are considered to be the repositories of honor; hence to humiliate, deflower, and dishonor them through rape is to humiliate the collective honor, masculinity and strength of the society. Even in the Western countries where the sexual freedom has landed the societies into sexual anarchy, rape is considered as a grave crime, and when its use as a weapon to humiliate an ethnic group, population, a nation or a society is the order of the day, it is considered as a crime against humanity, whose perpetuators must be dealt with a serious punishment.
The present book under rev
iew by the seasoned journalist and historian Shabnum Qayoom deals with the Rapes of Kashmiri women by the Indian army since the inception of armed struggle in the early 1990s though no survey has been carried out to determine the exact number of rapes committed. The book was previously published from Pakistan in 1991 and after a span of two decades has again been published with important additions from Srinagar. The reverend author initiates the saga of agonies since the day Jagmohan a fascist and communal minded person was pronounced as the Governor of the Valley. He was the governor when the armed insurgency initiated and National Front coalition was ruling at the centre. Jagmohan first of all drove a wedge between the Pandit minority and Muslim majority of the State by rendering Pandits as refugees, and befooled them that their migration to Jammu was temporary, when the State of affairs would return to normal they would be rehabilitated again in the Valley, but they still are living as refugees in various migrant camps of Jammu. In this book the sinister designs of communal Pandit leaders have been unveiled by a Pandit himself and how the State had vowed to undertake genocide of youth by mass killings and change the demography of the Valley.
Pandits are now realizing their mistake, but now it is too late and they have even burned their boats, as most of them have even disposed off their properties, hence very bleak are their chances of return. RSS, BJP, Shiv Sena and many other Hindutva fascist communal organizations encouraged the exodus of Pandits and genocide of Muslims, and Jagmohan was removed after the massacre at the funeral of Mirwaiz Muhammad Farooq on 21st may, 1990 and replaced by Ex Chief Research and Analysis Wing(RAW) Girish Chander Saxena, who promulgated Disturbed Areas Act(DAA) on 5th July 1990, and in the coming months many more acts like AFSPA,TADA, PSA too were invoked to punish the defiant population.
Author: Shabnum Qayoom
Publisher: Waqar Publications, Srinagar, Kashmir
Year of Publication: 2010
Price: Rs 300 Pages: 320
Reviewed by Mushtaq Ul Haq Ahmad Sikander
Rape as a weapon of war has always been used by the occupational forces to demean, debase and finally destroy the social rubric of the enemy. In case of the secessionist tendency, the defiant population is tried to inculcate spirit of submissiveness and unconditional obedience by using various strategic tactics, and Rape is one of them. In every conflict rape has been used against the womenfolk of the other or enemy, in order to make them understand how weak and vulnerable they are and make a living testimony of their helplessness before the mighty institutions and a constant reminder not to side with the ‘other’ as the punishment awaits them in the form of rape of their womenfolk.
Women especially in the conservative, traditional, orthodox and Eastern societies are considered to be the repositories of honor; hence to humiliate, deflower, and dishonor them through rape is to humiliate the collective honor, masculinity and strength of the society. Even in the Western countries where the sexual freedom has landed the societies into sexual anarchy, rape is considered as a grave crime, and when its use as a weapon to humiliate an ethnic group, population, a nation or a society is the order of the day, it is considered as a crime against humanity, whose perpetuators must be dealt with a serious punishment.
The present book under rev
iew by the seasoned journalist and historian Shabnum Qayoom deals with the Rapes of Kashmiri women by the Indian army since the inception of armed struggle in the early 1990s though no survey has been carried out to determine the exact number of rapes committed. The book was previously published from Pakistan in 1991 and after a span of two decades has again been published with important additions from Srinagar. The reverend author initiates the saga of agonies since the day Jagmohan a fascist and communal minded person was pronounced as the Governor of the Valley. He was the governor when the armed insurgency initiated and National Front coalition was ruling at the centre. Jagmohan first of all drove a wedge between the Pandit minority and Muslim majority of the State by rendering Pandits as refugees, and befooled them that their migration to Jammu was temporary, when the State of affairs would return to normal they would be rehabilitated again in the Valley, but they still are living as refugees in various migrant camps of Jammu. In this book the sinister designs of communal Pandit leaders have been unveiled by a Pandit himself and how the State had vowed to undertake genocide of youth by mass killings and change the demography of the Valley.Pandits are now realizing their mistake, but now it is too late and they have even burned their boats, as most of them have even disposed off their properties, hence very bleak are their chances of return. RSS, BJP, Shiv Sena and many other Hindutva fascist communal organizations encouraged the exodus of Pandits and genocide of Muslims, and Jagmohan was removed after the massacre at the funeral of Mirwaiz Muhammad Farooq on 21st may, 1990 and replaced by Ex Chief Research and Analysis Wing(RAW) Girish Chander Saxena, who promulgated Disturbed Areas Act(DAA) on 5th July 1990, and in the coming months many more acts like AFSPA,TADA, PSA too were invoked to punish the defiant population.
