Indian occupying forces used rape of women as weapon of war to punish the entire Kashmiri community: Mushaal Mullick

ISLAMABAD, Nov 25, (SABAH): Mushaal Hussein Malick, wife of jailed Kashmiri Hurriyat Leader Mohammad Yasin Malik, said that Indian occupying forces used rape of women as weapon of war to punish the entire Kashmiri community.

Chairperson Peace and Culture Organization Mushaal Hussein Malick, in her address to a seminar organised by IPRI on International day for the elimination of violence against women, isaid that India has been violating the clauses regulating sexual violence under international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL).

She said that rape and violence used as a weapon of terror constitute a crime against humanity and those responsible should face criminal sanctions.

Mushaal Mullick said that the Indian army, police and paramilitary forces involved in sexual violence since 1989 and more than 11,000 women have been raped or gang-raped by Indian occupying forces in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). She further said that most vulnerable people in war zones areas are women and children.

She explained that women in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir have horrified titles of half-widow or half mothers and according to Kashmir human right organisation, around 2,500 women have been forced to live as half-widows.

She also cited the report of Kashmiri human rights organisations that revealed that 22,944 women have become widows as a result of the ongoing state terrorism by India since January 1989, as their husbands were killed by Indian forces or police.

Narrating her own story, Mushaal Mullick said that she and her two year old daughter also faced a worst kind of mistreatment in occupied Jammu and Kashmir when she went there to meet her husband.

She said that Indian government patronise rape as a weapon of war and i have witnessed cases of rape in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir. She asked the International community and global rights bodies to come forward as women in IIOJK have been enduring egregious human rights abuse, including sexual violence, rape, and molestation for over seven decades.