-Earlier Kabul expelled Indian defence Attache
-Indian tourist arrested for raping Afghan teen, releasing rape video in latest episode
-In 2015 UN had ordered DNA tests of Indian Troops involved in rape cases in parts of world
KABUL: As the immoral activities of Indian army and citizens are on the rise in Afghanistan, an Indian ringleader of a group involved in the raping and filming of a minor Afghan girl has been arrested.
The heartbreaking incidents of rape and violence against women by the Indian Army in the Occupied Kashmir are no secret but now, an Indian gang has also been found involved in the rape of a minor girl in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.
According to Afghan police, Indian tourist Deep Desai raped a 15-year-old Afghan girl in Kabul on December 28, 2020.
The police further said that Desai also threatened the girl with serious consequences if she informed anyone and apparently, this was why the girl did not inform her family members regarding the incident.
Teams from four police stations were conducting raids to arrest other accused involved on the case.
Steps were also being taken to prevent further circulation of the video online. The local police acted after the video went viral and an FIR was filed in the matter.
This was not the first time an Indian is involved in abusing an Afghan girl.
Earlier, an Indian Defence Attache in Kabul Brigadier SK Narain was expelled from Afghanistan over charges of raping an Afghan girl. Brigadier SK Narain was posted as defense attache in the Indian Embassy in Kabul. The Afghan girl he raped had reportedly approached the Indian Embassy to obtain a scholarship. She was later raped on the premises.
A decision in 2015 by the United Nations to conduct DNA tests on Indian Troops as they were under the umbrella of peacekeeping missions in different parts of the world was being seen as a way of enforcing strict compliance with the norms governing their deployment and of ensuring support and care for such “peacekeeper babies” when soldiers cross the line.
With about 125,000 peacekeepers were deployed in 16 locations, mostly in Africa and the Middle East, several complaints of sexual abuse and exploitation had been received over the past decade from these troubled zones. India, too, has faced allegations, some of which were borne out by subsequent investigation.
As per the latest UN decision, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has been authorised to “require DNA and other tests to establish paternity”. The move seeks to ensure that peacekeepers are no longer able to just “father and abandon” children.
What makes the initiative especially urgent is that 14 out of the 29 paternity claims made since January 2010 have been by minors, who said they were sexually abused. A report on sexual abuse and exploitation by peacekeepers by Zeid Raad al-Hussein, now the UN’s human rights chief and a former peacekeeper himself, had lamented the fact that many of these peacekeeper babies were left abandoned with mothers who were in a desperate financial situation.
Human Rights Abuses by Indian Forces in IIOJK: Narendra Modi-led Hindutva Indian government continues to use rape as a weapon of war in the territory to suppress the Kashmiris’ freedom struggle, in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
An analytical report released by Kashmir Media Service (KMS) in mid December, pointed out that India is employing rape as a military tactic to punish and humiliate the Kashmiris for resisting its illegal occupation of their homeland.
The report said that Indian troops have molested 11,231 women since January 1989 till date in IIOJK. It said the mass rape of Kunanposhpora, rape and murder of two women in Shopian and a minor girl, Aasifa Bano, in Kathua area of Jammu region are glaring examples of this brutality committed by Indian forces’ personnel in the occupied territory.
The report said that the troops had raped around one hundred women in Kunanposhpora area of Kupwara district on the night of February 23, 1991. It said that the Indian men in uniform abducted two women, Aasiya and Neelofar, raped and subsequently murdered them in custody on the intervening night of 29 and 30 May 2009 in Shopian. An 8-year-old Muslim girl, Aasifa Bano, was raped and killed by seven Hindus including four policemen and a temple priest in January 2018 in Kathua area of Jammu.
The report said IIOJK is that region of the world where Indian troops are committing the worst human rights violations and subjecting the women to sexual violence on daily basis.
“Human Rights Watch in its report in November 2019 maintained that India is using rape of Kashmiri women as a weapon of war in IIOJK. At the 52nd United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Professor William Baker, a human-rights activist, argued that rape in IIOJK was not merely a case of isolated incidents involving undisciplined soldiers, rather Indian forces were actively deploying rape on Kashmiri populace as a method of humiliation and invoking fear,” it said.
The report said the rape and molestation of women by Indian forces’ personnel in IIOJK has become a routine and even former Indian Army officers affiliated with the ruling extremist BJP are supporting the use of this crime as a weapon to punish the Kashmiris. It said that during a talk show in November 2019, BJP leader, Major General (retd), S P Sinha, advocated the use of this tactic.
His remarks reflected the communal and Hindutva ideology of Narendra Modi that is targeting the Kashmiri women, it added.
The report said Kashmiri women are facing unending ordeal of trauma due to sexual violence at the hands of Indian troops and the rape cases in IIOJK expose the dark face of the so-called democratic India.
It said India’s brutal actions in IIOJK pose a challenge to the global community. It added that the organizations working for the women rights should not remain silent on the victimization of the Kashmiri women and the world must wake up to contain the sexual violence being used as a war tactic by India in IIOJK.–Agencies
