By Asim Hussain
ISLAMABAD: Chairperson of Peace and Culture Organization, Mushaal Hussein Mullick lashed out the fascist notorious Naredra Modi-led government for using women as weapon of war in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kahsmir (IIOJK), whose lives, security, dignity and honour have been snatched by Indian occupation forces to quell the freedom movement.
Speaking at a seminar on “Struggle of Kashmiri Women Living under Indian Occupation” organized by Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST) University and Youth Forum for Kashmir as the chief guest here on Thursday, she said that they had played a critical role in shaping the movement and advocating for their deprived fundamental rights, women have been at the forefront of the struggle for justice and freedom in Kashmir.
She lauded the role and contributions of Kashmiri women in the ongoing freedom struggle in the occupied valley to break the shackle of Indian subjugation.
Mushaal, the wife of jailed Kashmiri Hurriyat leader Mohammad Yasin Malik, said that the ongoing fascism by indian forces badly impacted the women’s physical and mental health, as well as the ways in which gender-based violence was used as a tool of repression and control in the region.
Mushaal stated that the women of IIOJK have been facing systematic and widespread human rights violations including sexual assault, rape, disappearance, torture, abductions, killing and humiliation by the Indian army, police, security agencies and Indian-sponsored terrorist groups.
The Hurriyat leader went on to say that the women in Kashmir were still struggling for justice and rights, adding that India forces in IIOJK were using rape as a weapon of war and a tool to suppress the peaceful struggle for the right to self-determination.
Narrating the ordeals of Kashmiri women, the chairperson said that over 682 women had been martyred by the fascist Indian forces since January 2001, besides rendering over 22,958 women widowed while 11,256 women were molested/ disgraced. However, she made it clear that despite of these state terrorism, they could not defuse the flames of the struggle for the right to self-determination.
Mushaal went on to say that thousands of women lost their sons, husbands, fathers and brothers in the occupied territory, who were subjected to custodial disappearance by Indian troops.
She urged the international community and world powers to take notice of the Indian state barbarism and terrorism.
