In 2002, an independent investigation report noted that for Kashmir’s society “of all atrocities committed by the security forces, the treatment of Kashmiri women has been embittered the people of the valley the most”. State responses to the sexualized contours of India’s illegitimate war in Kashmir have been characterized by silence, denial and/or the obfuscation of facts. The legislative measures currently in place in Kashmir together with the impunity accorded to members of security forces makes it extremely difficult to secure justice for victims of rape and sexual abuse. Public anger has justifiably centered on India’s extraordinary military presence that is perceived as the root cause of citizen’s insecurity in Kashmir.
The tragedy at Shopian is different from the general trend of sexual violence against women by security forces in that it involves i) the complicity of the state police in the willful destruction of vital evidence and subversion of investigative process and ii) brazen attempt of the highest executive authority of the state to paper over a grisly crime. If Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s statement alleging that this was a case of drowning and not of rape and murder, symbolizes his contempt for democratic accountability, his suggestion that “the media not to blow trivial things out of proportion” and the post-Shopian unwritten order to cable TV operators to restrict all news and current affairs programmes to 15 minutes a day reflects his attempt to the media in order to shore up his own crumbling legitimacy in the Valley. Abdullah reserved his patronizing best for the women of Kashmir. Neelofar and Asiya, he claimed, were like his “sister” and he as a “brother” could feel their pain. In absence of public accountability for horrific crime by uniformed guardians of the state that served to further insecure the women in the Valley, Abdullah’s words were cold comfort to Kashmiri Muslim women who desire justice, security and accountability. Not crass, paternal rhetoric.
Seema Kazi
[Courtesy Conveyor Magazine]
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