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| Kashmiri Women |
Re-reporting by Carolyn Bennett
KASHMIR
History
The United States is on record assenting to Pakistan and
India’s militarized nuclear power. The United States allies with India while
bombing Pakistan; and effectively sides with India against Pakistan and with
India against Kashmir. The United Kingdom, having occupied India and the
Kashmir region is also implicated in today’s conflict in the region.
This area and its inhabitants extend to the third century, prospering
through the ninth and twelfth centuries; and, after having been under a
succession of Hindu dynasties, Kashmir in 1346 came under Muslim rule. After
five centuries, the Sikh kingdom of the Punjab (1819) annexed Kashmir then the
Dogra kingdom of Jammu (1846) annexed it. In its contemporary form, Kashmir
dates to 1846.
People
The people in the Jammu area are Muslim in the west; in the
east Hindu and speak Hindi, Punjabi, and Dogri. Inhabitants of the Vale of
Kashmir and the Pakistani areas are mostly Muslim and speak Urdu and Kashmiri. Inhabiting
the sparsely the Ladakh region and beyond are Tibetan peoples, who practice
Buddhism and speak Balti and Ladakhi.
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| Kashmir |
Land
The Kashmir region is a predominantly mountainous region
with deep, narrow valleys and high, barren plateaus lying in the northwestern
Indian subcontinent. Its bounding areas and countries
Northeast:
the Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang
East:
the Tibet Autonomous Region (both parts of China)
South:
the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab
West:
Pakistan
Northwest:
Afghanistan
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| Kashmir |
Since the Subcontinent was (UK) partitioned in 1947, India and
Pakistan have disputed administration of this region of some 85,800 square
miles (222,200 square km). Pakistan administers the northern and western
portions made up of Azad Kashmir, Gilgit, and Baltistan (the last two part of a
territory called the Northern Areas). India administers the southern and
southeastern portions made up of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.
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| India Kashmir north |
Since the 1950s, China has been active in the eastern area
of Kashmir and since 1962 has controlled the northeastern part of Ladakh (the
easternmost portion of the region).
A ‘line of control” divides the Indian- and
Pakistani-administered portions by agreement signed in 1972 but neither country
recognizes this line as an international boundary.
O
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| Pakistan Kashmir north |
ver the past 20 years, reports reveal thousands of people in
Kashmir have been killed.
Conflicts have been exacerbated by foreign policies
and interference of Western industrialized countries, extending
across South/Central Asia. Kashmiris are in crisis and in revolt.
Current
Late last year thousands of protesters in Indian-administrated
Kashmir took to the streets of winter. They condemned killings
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| Anti-U.S. 2012 Kashmir |
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| Srinagar |
In the Indian states of Mumbai and Rajasthan, two young
people of Kashmir ancestry died under what has been called “mysterious
conditions”; and this month, in the face of heavy paramilitary and police presence,
thousands of angry protesters took to the streets. Authorities routinely deploy large police and
paramilitary troops in most parts of the capital of Srinagar to
prevent fresh street demonstrations and separatist leaders have called on the Indian
government to hold security forces accountable for human rights violations in
Kashmir. Pro-independence groups who oppose New Delhi rule over the
Muslim-majority region had called a strike.
Srinagar: In the Kashmir region on the Indian subcontinent, Srinagar is the city and summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir State (Jammu is the winter capital); its industries include carpet and silk mills, silverware and copperware manufacture, leatherworking, and wood carving; it lies along the banks of the Jhelum River at an elevation of 5,200 feet (1,600 meters) in the Vale of Kashmir.
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| Vale of Kashmir |
The Srinagar contains the
area’s most fertile agricultural land and is one of the most densely populated
parts of the Kashmir region (Population, 2001: 898,440)
Vale
of Kashmir: Intermontane valley lying wholly within the
Indian-administered portion of the Kashmir region flanked by the main range of
the Himalayas on the northeast and the Pir Panjal Range on the southwest. An
ancient lake basin about 85 miles (135 km) long, 20 miles (32 km) wide, and
5,300 feet (1,620 meters) high that is drained by the upper Jhelum River; lined
by mountains that rise 12,000 to 16,000 feet (3,600 to 4,800 meters); and sheltered
from the wet southwest monsoon.
The Kashmir region’s population is
concentrated in the valley, at the center of which lies Srinagar. Fertile soil
yields rice, corn (maize), fruit, and vegetables, and scenic mountains and
lakes (notably Wular, Dal, and Nagin) attract many tourists.
Women rising
New Delhi has reportedly remained in a state of denial
concerning human rights abuse under its administration. Kashmiri women maintain that “the first step to peace in the region” is the delivery of “justice”
in all human rights cases.
Though they have been equally affected by the heat of
conflict in the past twenty-three years, Kashmiri women’s
participation on political and social fronts has been missing but the status quo changing. Kashmiri women “are becoming politically sensitive”; they have realized that, while "women have suffered equally (with men), their voices remained
unheard" because they were absent on "the political and social front.”
Realizing that they can play a part in ensuring justice in human
rights cases, fifty Kashmiri women in a wide span of age groups have joined in
pressing for justice in all cases of human rights violations that have happened
since 1989, and that involved mostly women. In their first case, a February
1991 case of “mass rape of nearly 100 women by Indian security forces,” the women’s
group filed a petition in Kashmir’s high court and achieved their first
success.
After two decades of denials, the court accepted the case and ordered its
reopening and re-investigation. The women's success has boosted confidence and their initiative
has been highly valued; but group members believe that “greater participation
of women” is necessary “on all the fronts” to ensure the hearing of women’s
voices.
Sources and notes
“Jammu & Kashmir witnesses rally against U.S., Israel,”
December 16, 2012
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/12/16/278459/jammu--kashmir-witnesses-antius-rally/
“Kashmiris stage massive protest rallies amid tensions,”
July 16, 2013,
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/07/16/314073/kashmiris-hold-massive-protest-rallies/
“Kashmiri women launch campaign to push for rights,” July
14, 2013
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/07/14/313802/kashmiri-women-launch-campaign-to-push-for-rights/
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Bennett's books are available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire http://www.facebook.com/#!/bennetts2ndstudy
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