WOMEN PAY HEAVY PRICE AS KASHMIR MILITANTS TARGET THEM

July 27, 2004 - (IANS) The women of Jammu and Kashmir are paying with their honour and lives as terrorists target the families of those who they feel have betrayed them.

Mariam Begum of Gandoh in Doda district was raped for days together before she was defaced by militants, who chopped off her nose and ears. She had to pay with her honour because her brother, a militant, had decided to lay down arms and live a normal life.

"How could that be?" Mariam's captors reportedly asked her as long as she was in their captivity last month.

If Mariam, who is in her twenties, is thanking god that she survived to live another day, women in the border district of Rajouri have not been so lucky.

Teenaged Zarina, for whom her father Mohammad Shafi was looking for a match as girls in rural areas are married off at an early age, was lowered into a grave Monday afternoon. Her beheaded body had to be put together before the last rites. Militants had slit her throat.

Her father and brother were also buried in a similar condition the same day.

A week ago, two female members of Abdul Ghani's family were among five people shot dead by Lashker-e-Taiba terrorists.

The fault of both these families was that their men were suspected of siding with the Indian security forces.

Women, in most cases, are raped, if not killed as the militants attempt to humiliate families suspected of working with the security forces.

"The women are targeted because this is the raw nerve of all the families and the militants have used rape as a tool against these families," said a police officer.

"This also helps the militants launch their aggression against the hapless and spread terror and a message not to cooperate with the security forces," the officer said.

Even the official documentation of such incidents does not tell the whole story. Most cases of rape go unreported as shamed families keep matters to themselves, police said.

From: http://news.newkerala.com/india-news/index.php?action=fullnews&id=4555