The division of the Indian subcontinent in 1947 and the establishment of a new nation, Pakistan, produced the contradictory region of Kashmir. For years, this region remained a point of dispute between the two nations and suppressed the demands of the local population for upper shops and sovereignty. An omnipresent topic of gender -specific violence that the bodies of women use In order to torture the locals, this lengthy conflict has arisen.
Gender -specific violence and its overlap with conflicts is not a new topic from which the world, especially India, suffers. It has long been embedded in the country’s history. Various regions of the country, including Kashmir and the northeastern states, have long been witnesses to the systematic gender -specific violence that the state machines are committed to.
Do you remember the mass rapes in Kashmir?
In the cold winter of 1991 in the twin villages Kunan and Poshpora in the Kashmir district in Kupwara, the Indian army, which is seen as “security” and “security” of Kashmiris, is condemned by more than 70 Kashmiri women.
Jury: Darry Yasin / AP
After a detailed Report from the BBC“It was February 23, 1991. The people in Kunan, a tiny village in the Kashmir’s Kupwara district, retired after a cold winter day.
The report continues to determine: “At that time, India had started a large-scale military operation to control a popular armed uprising against Indian rule in Kashmir. So-called” Cordon and Search “operations, which were referred to locally, have been routine and existed to this day.”
In a typical cordon research operation in Kashmir, the Indian army led an attack on the villages of Kunan and Poshpora to catch the militants that the army suspected, hidden in these small villages. What has turned out is a disturbing report on how the power of men is used to take advantage of women’s body as torture instruments against the oppressed and thus maintain patriarchal systems.
More than 70 women, including minors and oldest, were raped shocking. “Minor girls, these stupid and deaf, the physically disabled and the pregnant women were not spared. Mothers were raped in front of their daughters. Grand mothers and their grandchildren were raped in the same room,” mentioned the book that they remember Kunan Poshpora.
It is fairly clear and obvious that the bodies of women are exposed to sexual, economic and systematic abuse due to the power of power between men and women, especially in times of war, especially in times of war.
Despite the refutation of the Indian government against these claims, numerous human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, have confirmed their correctness. The human rights body in A Report mentioned“The reported rape on February 23, 1991 by women from the village of Kunan Poshpora from Army Soldiers of the fourth Rajputana rifle became the focus of a government campaign to delight the army of charges for human rights violations. To protect responsibility for human rights.
In addition, Kunan Poshpora is not the only incident in gender -specific violence that was orchestrated by the state. “In a well-published case, a young bride, Mubina Gani, was imprisoned and raped by BSF soldiers in May 1990 when they traveled from the wedding to their husband. Her aunt was also raped. The security forces also fired the party, killed a man and wounded several others. After the incident was published in the local and international press, the Indian authorities ordered the police, to carry out an examination.
It is fairly clear and obvious that the bodies of women are exposed to sexual, economic and systematic abuse due to the power of power between men and women, especially in times of war, especially in times of war. It is really unfortunate how women’s bodies can be so easily objectified and abused and often used as a means to achieve an advantage or to gain in conflicts.
Thangjam Manorama and the weapon of rape in Manipur
The tragedy of Kunan and Poshpora is not the only event in the history of India. Numerous such events underline the dark history of gender -specific violence in conflict areas in India. Such an incident is by Thangjam Manorama, a 32-year-old woman in Manipur, who was killed by the Indian army in 2004.
Source: NH
Thangjam Manorama let an unimaginable suffering through the army before they took their lives. Accordingly Al Jazera“The 32-year-old Thangjam Manorama Devi was taken from their house by members of the Indian Para-military armed forces because they allegedly worked for an armed group. The next day, their poorly mutilated body was covered with bullet wounds just three kilometers away.
The Hindu report After decades of covering up the brutal case of Manorama, the Supreme Court found that the young woman suffered “brutal and merciless torture” through a team of Assam Riffles.
In Manipur, there are numerous other cases of gender -specific violence, many of which are committed by the army. Such violent acts in the region have normalized impunity and unauthorized manner. A report by Al Jazera, states“In July 1987, the Indian army in the village of Manipur Oinam carried out a military operation, which was called” Bluebird “. The operation was for an attack on an army post of the members of an armed group that left nine soldiers for the dead. brutally killed. “
For over two years, since the outbreak of ethnic conflicts in manipur, between the mighty Meiteis and the marginalized kukis have passed. This struggle has led tragically to numerous deaths, drove over 60,000 people and revealed some of the most outrageous cases of sexual abuse against women in the region.
In August 2023, UN experts contacted India to inquire about the situation in Manipur and were looking for answers immediately. In Some of the cases they identified“Women and girls were reportedly attacked in their houses, pulled on the street, tortured or beaten heavily before they were raped and killed. A victim was supposedly hacked to death. In some of these cases, the corpses of the victims still have to be found or recovered.”
In view of the continuing violence against women, thousands of women in Manipur have taken to the streets to face the injustice and violence with which they are exposed. The continuing violence in Manipur against women really shows how often women fall victim to patriarchal violence.
Women defend themselves
Due to the inability to achieve justice, numerous protests have taken place against the Indian army in Manipur. A remarkable incident during the protests was the emblematic moment of “Indian army raped us”. About 30 Manipuri women gathered in front of the Assam Rifles headquarters in Imphal and showed a banner with the inscription “Indian army rape to us”.
Source: the Hindu
This is a mighty and outstanding representation of strength and resistance to gender violence and illustrates the essential efforts of women to combat them.
Even after more than 30 years, women from Kunan and Poshpora are still out there and fight for justice. As early as 2013, a group of young women from Kashmir took the initiative to reopen the investigation of the mass rape taking place in Kunan and Poshpora.
Natasha rather one of the women who remember a reopening of the case and also one of the authors of do you meled, kuann poshpora, said to BBC“This was such a big case of mass rape in which those affected had actually reported and showed so much courage.”
“And there was also a large number of evidence. So we had the feeling that this case had to be reopened.”
Women defend themselves, and if they do it, they not only disassemble the oppressor, but also destabilize the unequal relationship between men and women. They destroy the hegemonic patriarchal institutions and systems. In such a courageous example, women in Kashmir, who are described as half -widows by men who are targeted by forced disappearance, can build slogans in public and have songs against the oppressive state, which has committed social, economic and cultural violence against them, their sons, fathers and husbands committed goals of forced disappearance.
The women have also formed a resistance movement against violence that the state has orchestrated against them by forced them to live a life in economic and social isolation because their men are nowhere to be found.
Women have faced the mighty Indian army in areas such as Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and Kashmir, to name just a few. You have worked hard to get rid of hard laws such as AFSPA (Armed Mecid Special Powers Act) that enable the army to operate in these areas of conflict without any restrictions. Irom Sharmila, known as Manipur’s iron lady, had one of the longest battles against Afspa. Sharmila made these long hunger strikes to protest the hard AFSPA in the area.
Women defend themselves and do this for years; They break the patriarch’s bonds and reduce the hegemonic patriarchal systems to ashes.
Shahinda is a multimedia journalist with an experience of more than five years. She has an interest in reporting politics, gender, conflicts and gender -specific violence/crime. In addition, she has experience in reporting, photography and documentary. She made her master in mass communication by AJK MCRC Jamia Millia Islamia, Neu -Delhi.
