MUZAFFARABAD: On International Widows’ Day, the women’s wing of Pasban-e-Hurriyat Jammu and Kashmir hosted a seminar in Muzaffarabad titled “Thousands of widows are victims of insecurity in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.”
This event highlighted the ongoing struggles faced by women in the region under Indian control. 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.
Further, the seminar saw calls to international human rights organizations like Amnesty International and Asia Watch. The speakers 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 Organisation 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.
