Rifat Mohidin
SRINAGAR: Victims of the KunanPoshpora mass rape incident and the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) have vowed to fight for Justice, days after a local court ordered re-investigation into the 23-year-old case.
“We are not only fighting for ourselves. We are fighting for whole Kashmir. We want to make sure that it should never happen with any Kashmiri mother or daughter,” said one of the victims in a broken voice at a press conference today.
“We don’t need any money or compensation. We are alive only to see justice and we will fight till our last breath.”
On February 23, 1991 army soldiers are alleged to have raped 36 women after they cordoned off the Kunan-Poshpora villages in north Kashmir and launched a house-to-house search for militants.
According to the villagers the troops ordered menfolk out of their homes and then raped the hapless women.
That year a team of the Press Council Of India headed by B G Verghese gave a clean chit to the troops and said there were inconsistencies in testimonies of the women. It also called the charges against the army men “a well-concocted bundle of fabricated lies”.
Kashmir-based media persons as also human rights activists had dismissed the report as a “cover up”. The authorities, however still, closed the case.
But earlier this week, Judicial Magistrate J.A Jeelani ordered “further investigation to unravel the identity of those who happen to be perpetrators of the alleged crime.”
The JKCCS had filed a protest petition on behalf of the women.
‘To Expose India’
Convener of the JKCCS and a prominent Human Rights activist, Khurram Parvez said the reopening of the case was an “achievement”, but said he still had no hopes for justice.
“Yes, it is the same police which will carry out further investigations. Yes, it is the same Indian army from whom “co-operation” for investigations will be sought. All this is known and understood. But, struggle and resist one still must,” he said.
“Not to repose confidence in the State, but to push it, and along the way expose it as not being willing to provide justice, thereby strengthening the argument for a turn to international law. This engagement seeks to unveil and unmask the Indian State.”
He said the people of Kunan Poshpora have understood this “and will continue the fight.”
The victims and the JKCCS has also demanded that the Press Council of India member B.G Vergese be declared a persona non grata and boycotted “socially and professionally” until criminally prosecuted for “covering up the truth” in 1991.
