Remembering Women & Girl

Victims of State Terrorism of

Indian Occupied Kashmir
POST SEMINAR REPORT

Ayesha Waheed & Mehr un Nisa

Edited by: Altaf Hussain Wani

KASHMIR INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

REPORT

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“Remembering the women and girl victims of State terrorism in Indian occupied Kashmir”

A seminar titled, "Remembering the women and girl victims of State terrorism in Indian occupied
Kashmir” organized under the banner of Kashmir Institute of International Relations (KIIR) on
the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, in
Islamabad Hotel, dated November 25, 2020, Chairman KIIR Altaf Hussain Wani presided over
the seminar other guest speakers included Andleeb Abbas MNA, Rukhsana Naveed Parliamentary
Secretary, Senator Sitara Ayaz, Noreen Farooq Abrahim Khan MNA, Abida Raja MPA, Sumaira
Farrukh BTM Chairperson, Mrs. Shamim Shwal, Dr. Saira Shah, Prof. Dr. Atia Anwer Zoon,
Muhammad Hussain Khateeb APHC convener, Abdul Hameed lone, Shehzad Khan and several
others addressed the seminar.

The seminar was moderated by Prof. Dr. Saira Shah.

The event began with the beautiful recitation of
Quranic verses by Sheikh Abdul Mateen. Formally, the
seminar was commenced by the speech of Altaf
Hussain Wani, Chairman KIIR. He initiated his
marks by thanking all the honorable speakers and
guests, including the APHC leaders, parliamentarians,
personnel from Youth forum for Kashmiris and minorities groups. He defined the purpose of
arranging this seminar, as it was solely focused on the International Day for the Elimination of
Violence Against women. He explained how this specific day was recorded internationally to re-
induce. He encouraged youth to speak regarding this concerned issue to create awareness among
the masses.

Altaf Hussain Wani Chairman KIIR recalled the scenarios, testimonies, facts and figures
regarding the Sexual violence, killings, torture, psychological trauma, mental illness through
which every Kashmiri women is going. He stated how these brutalities by Indian security forces
perpetually installed fear of life among the Kashmiris in the region of lawlessness, Indian occupied
Kashmir. He recounted that in the past three decades, more than 11000 women have been victims

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of rape or gang-rape at the hands of Indian occupation forces in IOK. furthermore, he added that
the Indian state terrorism has rendered 22922 women widowed in IOK in last 30 years. The Modi's
Hindutva supremacist government continues to use rape and molestation as a 'weapon of war' and
'collective punishment' in Indian Occupied Kashmir.

Altaf Hussain Wani described how Indian barbaric forces intend to suppress Kashmiris by
molesting their honour in the name of cordon and search operations. He cited that dreadful and
terrible incidents of massive rape incidents in Kashmir, i.e. Kunan Poshpora and many more. In
addition to this, he also discussed the hundreds of untold horrific stories of enforced
disappearances due to which the happily married wives become “Half Widows”. He explored how
Indian government has been
house arresting the human rights
defenders in IOK to subdue the
voices of Kashmiris. Moreover,
he discussed the ironic education
system of Pakistan and Azad
Kashmir, where the renowned
university students are deprived
of studying Kashmir as a core
syllabus, so he requested the
honorable officials to take proper steps to inculcate the matter to strengthen the advocacy. In his
final remarks, he paid his warm thanks to all the International organizations for consistently raising
the Kashmir issue specially UNHRC commission for discussing the plight of kashmiri women, as
we have seen that during the 45th session of UNHRC, kashmir was also discussed properly
amongst the other 22 conflict regions of the world. He said that even this matter has now taken the
fire internationally but still it’s the foremost responsibility of our government institutions for
resolving this collectively and efficiently. He also emphasized that this seminar would encourage
suggestions and policies rather than only condemnation. Finally, he paid tribute to those women
who make relentless efforts by risking their lives in order to expose the real horrible faces of Indian
regime. He announced that he along with his team is going to launch a report on violation on
Kashmiri women by Indian occupation forces, on 10th of December 2020.

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Rukhsana Naveed Parliamentary Secretary accounted
the facts and figures related to all kinds of violence
instigated against women in Indian occupied Kashmir.
She further said that Pakistan condemns India’s use of
rape as a weapon of war to subjugate the Kashmiri people
in the occupied territory. It is the high time the world must
wake up to these war tactics in IOJ&K, in violation of International Humanitarian and Human
Rights Law as well as applicable UN Security Council Resolutions.

Senator Sitara Ayaz ANP examined the state sponsored terrorism and violence in IOK by Indian
occupation security forces against women. She
emphasized on raising voices on each and every forum
against these brutalities. She said that we should
definitely talk about this issue but on the contrary, we
should also take some efficient practical steps to stand
for Kashmiri cause. Furthermore, she encouraged
Turkey’s support regarding the Kashmir issue. She said
that we all should unite as a Muslim Ummah to fight for their cause.

Ms. Noreen Farooq Ibrahim PTI explained the patriarchal regime in our society where women
are considered to be weak and thus exploiting and suppressing her physical, mental, economic and
social rights grants pleasure to the men, who are considered to be powerful. She added that violence
in every possible form has been done with
the women in IOK, thus creating the
deplorable conditions of women. She
discussed how Indian officials have been
sexualizing Kashmiri women as white
skinned creatures who could be now
occupied by the Indian men as announced in
parliament under PM Modi sarkar. She
appreciated the efforts made by PM Imran Khan for talking about Kashmir issue on UNSC forum

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for the first time in 2019. She also said that she would definitely raise the concern in assembly
about mentioning Kashmiriyat as a core subject in the academic curriculum.

Ms. Abida Raja MPA implored that she has taken

notice too and will raise the concern regarding
introducing Kashmiriyat as a subject in primary
syllabus in Punjab assembly. She also said that PM
Imran Khan has been successfully established that
Indian government under Modi regime is
inculcating terrorism and exterminating Muslims
from India and Indian occupied Kashmir and
filtrating the image of Pakistan.

Ms. Andaleeb Abbas MNA initiated her speech by quoting that without women rights, there are
no human rights. She discussed the political and legal angles to approach the dynamics of
humanitarian violations in IOK. She admired PM Imran Khan for considering himself as the
ambassador of Kashmir. She said that PM
Imran Khan has successfully maligned
Modi sarkar for their brutal acts in IOK,
thus pressurizing India to step backwards
after facing international backlash. She
expressed sorrowfully that how the
Kashmiri women have been facing the
immense systematic, systemic, state
sponsored, social and economic torture
since last three decades. She described that how Indian troops barge into the homes of Kashmiris
and rape their women in presence of all family member so they could feel dead, weak, frightened
and helpless throughout their lives. She also discussed the internet siege that occurred in Kashmir
for more than a year so they could deprive them by basic right of information. She recounted that
Genocide Watch has recently arranged a seminar in which they have declared that Kashmir is now
at 9th step of Genocide.

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Mrs Sumaira Farrukh Chairperson BTM discussed the difficulties women are facing in
conflict regions. She explained the mechanism of war tools specifically Systematic sexual rape, to
supress the men of the region, so they could
give up on their cause. She said that this
activity has taken place to install fear
amongst people and to represent the
hegemonic masculinity of the powerful upon
the victims. It is to exploit the mental health
of masses. She seconded the views of Altaf
Hussain Wani and suggested that policy
makers should introduce Kashmiriyat at a
specific and core subject in the primary academic syllabus so our youth could know, study and
analyse the Kashmir conflict at a very early level. She mentioned that we should recount the
testimonies of the shuhada of Kashmir.

Professor Dr. Attia Anwar Zoon initiated her speech by thanking Chairman KIIR for providing
such a wonderful forum to talk about the
issue as she narrated that this topic personally
is very close to her heart as she has
experienced the conflict primarily because
she used t o reside at Neelum valley near
LOC. She depicted the pain of Kashmiri
women in the IOK as they are living in a
constant fear of harassment in the region
where more than eight lac Indian troops had been installed by Indian government. She claimed it
as systematic form of discrimination and collective punishment of Kashmiris. She explained how
our next generation would be able to contribute to the good because of society at individual level
when they have been damaged physically, mentally, socially and morally. She recounted that she
had met the iron lady of Kashmir “Parveena Ahanger” who showed her how resilient the Kashmiri
women are. Not only she, but internationally Ms. Perveena is absolutely admired for her bravery.

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Ms. Zoon emphasized on the power of social media to create awareness regarding understanding
the dynamics of the issue. She emphasized that we need to be very much active on social media to
promulgate the narrative of Kashmir.

Ms. Shameem Shawl dis-heartedly explained why there are UNHRC resolutions about Kashmir
and women, when even after decades, they are still facing the obnoxious lawlessness in Indian
occupied Kashmir. She declared that the
only victim is women in any conflict
region, as she is losing her husband, sons,
fathers and their honor. She suggested the
government to account testimonies of
helpless Kashmiris and aware people
about their horrible conditions.
Furthermore she discussed the brutal acts
by Indian forces during CASO, in which
they arrest men, molest women, damage and looted their properties. She also saluted women like
Naseema Bano, who is a mother of a freedom fighter and thus caught in a jail by Indian forces.
She demanded UNHRC to condemn and punish the horrendous Hindutva regime of the Modi
government of India. She demanded the government of Pakistan and the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs to take action and launch efficient diplomatic tools to resolve the issue.

Muhammad Hussain Khateeb

highlighted the Modi’s doctrine that how
Indian government under the influence of
Shiv Cena, RSS, BJP, has rooted terrorism
in India and exterminating Muslims from
their region. Along with that, he discussed
that not only one day has to be needed to
celebrate or remember the daughters,
wives and mothers of Kashmiris but we need to remember their trauma every second. We should

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raise our voices for the innocent masses of Kashmiris on every International as well as national
forum.

Abdul Hameed Lone expressed the gratitude of having him on stage and recalled that how this
seminar occurred on this special eve of International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against
women. He discussed the physical, mental,
psychological, economical traumatic conditions
of Kashmiri women in IOK. He also admired the
Kashmiri mothers who encouraged their sons to
have martyrdom in the name of saving their
honor. He encouraged KIIR to arrange more such
events to instigate the real horrible face of
Hindutva regime of Indian government who is no
more a secular republic democratic state.

Mr. Shahzad explained the historic colonial paradigms of the subcontinent in order to retrieve the
relation between Indian and Pakistan. He discussed the struggle of Kashmiri women in IOK. He
added that Kashmiri women have
become deliberate targets of the Indian
security forces through the use of rape
as a weapon of war, they are yet to
come to the forefront as primary
stakeholders in any discussion on
conflict resolution. He also referred to
the horrific rape of a young girl in a
temple in IOK by Indian security
forces and two incidents of mass rape committed in the villages of Poshpora and Kunan. Moreover,
he explored that enforced disappearances, especially where special draconian powers are given to
the LEAs and the military, as has been the case in IOK, are also a major source of the victimization
and psychological torture of families which has also led to the creation of the term ‘half widows’
– women whose husbands have disappeared but have not been declared deceased. These ‘half

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widows’ tend to live impoverished lives, confronted with socio-economic and psychological
uncertainties such as lack of property rights and the right to remarry. There are an uncountable
example of the women & girls, victims of Indian State Terrorism in IOK. He suggested that the
government of Pakistan must pick up the brilliant students for the universities and provide them
scholarships to study at the International prestigious universities, so they could come back to
Pakistan and strengthen the advocacy of Kashmir on International forums, so then they could be
valued and heard.

Altaf Hussain Wani concluded the seminar by commenting that we should not stop and should
perform our duty wholeheartedly for the Kashmir cause which is self-determination and freedom
of basic fundamental rights. He suggested
that the international community should take
action against India as witnessing the
brutalities because these would be evident to
create threat to regional, national and
international security. He finally paid thanks
to all the speakers and guests. The seminar
formally was closed by the prayer recited by
Sheikh Abdul Mateen.

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 PRESS
RELEASE

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English

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URDU

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DECLARATION

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English

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URDU

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 MEDIA
COVERAGE

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 PHOTO
GALLERY

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Team KIIR with other participants of the seminar

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