World bodies urged to act against women’s oppression in IIOJK
Muzaffarabad: On International Widows’ Day, the women’s wing of Pasban-e-Hurriyat hosted a seminar in Muzaffarabad titled “Thousands of widows are victims of insecurity in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).”
According to Kashmir Media Service, the event highlighted the ongoing problems faced by women in the region under Indian occupation. Prominent figures such as Mahnaz Qureshi, Head of the women’s wing of Pasban-e-Hurriyat, along with Rifat Farooq Sheikh, Iqra Awan, and Fatima Ghazali, led the discussions at the seminar.
During the seminar, speakers articulated the severe oppression that women have endured in occupied Jammu and Kashmir for over three decades.
They pointed out that many women have been made widows as their husbands were killed by Indian troops or abducted from their homes, leaving them in a state of perpetual uncertainty.
The attendees condemned the silence of global institutions and nations that advocate for peace and justice, despite witnessing the atrocities. They called on these bodies to hold the Indian government and its forces accountable for the devastation inflicted on Kashmiri women’s lives.
The participants of the seminar called upon international human rights organizations like Amnesty International and Asia Watch to take stock of the worsening situation in IIOJK and urged these groups to pressure the Indian government to locate and return the husbands of numerous ‘half-widow’ women in Kashmir.
Demands were also made to the United Nations, European Union, and Organization of Islamic Cooperation to intervene and prevent the use of sexual assault, torture, and imprisonment of Kashmiri women as warfare tactics by India.
The session concluded with a plea for the release of detained women Hurriyat leaders, including Syeda Aasiya Andrabi, Naheeda Nasreen, and Fehmeeda Sufi, who are currently held in various Indian prisons?
