Srinagar, 06 Oct 2019 : The lockdown in Kashmir has reached over 64 days with the abrogation of Article 370, which gave special powers to the Jammu and Kashmir, there are several reports of mass detentions, torture and molestation by the Indian forces . There are stories of molestation and eve teasing by Indian forces narrated by women. Some of them said they were filmed as they walked down the streets by the men in uniform, while many others reported the use of cuss words and threats of sexual assault.
Zikra, a teenager from Heff village in South Kashmir, says: “All of my friends have migrated to other places. Families are sending young girls away because of the threat from Indian troops and police forces. Many have fled to Jammu, some even to Delhi. I am also trying to figure out a plan to escape. I don’t want to face sexual assault. When we come out of our homes, we are filmed and stared at. This scares me and makes me uncomfortable.”
Ghazia* from a village in Shopian, the apple district, said, “Our orchards are right at the back, but I can’t go there unless there are about 10-12 people with me. My family members have been tortured by Indian forces, but we as women are having to endure psychological trauma and humiliation. We are called names as we walk down the streets. There is constant fear that something will happen to me.”
Indian forces enjoyed enormous powers like Armed Froces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and we felt threatened, but the situation is not the same anymore. We now have no mechanism to report this violence against us. It feels like absolute chaos, nobody is answerable.”
Women in Kashmir, which has witnessed decades of conflict, have continuously been the victims of physical, psychological, and cultural violence as well as economic inequalities. There have been reports of a range of atrocities they face -- from eve-teasing to rape, and physical violence to murder. These threats are now becoming more evident than ever before.
Yasmin* in her early twenties (20s), who lives in Sourain Srinagar said: “This (the threats of violence) is ever so common for us. It doesn’t shock us anymore but still scares us. When I walk with my cousins, the Indian forces tease us and even record us while we walk. The experience of just stepping out of our houses is torturous.”
She added, “Some women were detained and thrashed, but we are more worried about sexual harassment and assault.”
Speaking with NewsClick, on the sidelines of a protest in Srinagar, *Tabinda Wani, 17-year-old, said: “The mentality of conquest by the State becomes clear in their motives to marry us or ‘acquire’ us. We will never let this happen. They think we are some naive dolls, but we are anything but that.”
After the abrogation of Article 370, a number of politicians belonging to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) made sexist comments directed towards Kashmiri women. On August 10, Manohar Lal Khattar, chief minister of Haryana India, was quoted as saying: "Some people are now saying that as Kashmir is open, brides will be brought from there. But jokes apart, if [the gender] ratio is improved, then there will be a right balance in society."
Earlier, BJP's Vikram Saini, a Member of the Haryana Assembly in India, said: "Muslim party workers should rejoice in the new provisions. They can now marry white-skinned women of Kashmir." These statements reflect how women of Kashmir are objectified on a daily basis in India.
Nivedita Menon, a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, said: "These are proclamations of conquest and plunder, and reveal the real intention behind the abrogation of 370."
The Indian forces have previously been involved in sexual assault in Kashmir. On February 23, 1991, as India carried out a large military operation, soldiers raped over 30 women in two villages, Kunan and Poshpora in North Kashmir Kupwara and Shopian.
The United Nations noted that: "There has been no progress in the Kunan Poshpora mass-rape case from 1991, and authorities continue to thwart attempts of the survivors to get justice." It had called upon India to "investigate and prosecute all cases of sexual violence perpetrated by state and non-state actors, and provide reparations to victims".
Newsclick had previously reported instances of increasing violence against women in occupied Kashmir and how women were now becoming targets of harassment and abuse by the Indian troops and paramilitary forces. They are being used as tools to teach a lesson to the community to ensure that the protests are kept in check and all voices of dissent are silenced.
It has been two months since the abrogation of Article 370 and the communication lockdown in occupied Kashmir , the NewsClick team travelled to Kashmir to find out the current situation in the Valley and in their video, which shows the ground reality of Kashmiris- torture, detentions and pellet injuries.
While aljazeera worte that 'Kashmir women are the biggest victims of this inhumane siege' as after August 5, when India revoked Kashmir's special status and followed the move with a military lockdown, Uzma Javed did not leave her house for days.
Every few hours, she looked out of the window from her family's two-storey house in Srinagar.
A 20-year-old student who usually lives in Kerala in India, Javed had returned home to spend Eid with her relatives.
But instead of celebrating, she found herself caged in while outside, armed Indian paramilitary forces manned largely empty streets.
A few civilians negotiated with Indian troops to allow them to cross razor wire coils laid across the road.
"At present everyone in Kashmir is being immensely subjugated. But women are the biggest victims of this inhumane siege," she told Al Jazeera.
Javed was particularly worried about a female friend who lives close by, who she had not heard from in over a week.
"I don't know how Munaza is doing. The men somehow manage to sneak out for prayers … We can't even do that."
The sight of armed forces petrifies me, she said, adding: "I don't even want my brother and father to go out at all but there is no option. They need to go to get bread and other daily necessities."
She was alone with her mother, concerned that her brother and father were among the protesters which was going on in the area despite curfew and restrictions,.
When they returned home later that night, Javed had to go to hospital - her blood pressure had shot up.