ISLAMABAD:(Parliament Times) In a statement issued here today, AJK President Sardar Masood Khan condemned the gang rape and brutal murder of Asifa Bano in the Indian Occupied Kashmir.
The Hindu extremists, instead of showing any sympathy for the victim, are demonstrating against the arrest of eight accused Hindus. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) extremists have been terrorizing 1.1 million Gujjars in Jammu for years. This time, he said, their persecution has moved to a higher pernicious level whereby they have used rape of an 8-year girl as an instrument of hatred, religious fanaticism and war against the Kashmiris. President Masood Khan said that the Indian occupation forces in Jammu and Kashmir have created a culture of impunity for crimes against humanity. Extremist gangs, therefore, feel encouraged to victimize young girls and that’s why they are coming to the defence of the accused.Since 1989, he said, Indian occupation forces have raped and molested thousands of women to teach Kashmiris a lesson and to subjugate them. Sexual violence, he said, is used a weapon of war throughout the occupied territory.
Over the years nomadic Muslim shepherds have been a target of Hindu extremists and Asifa bano is the latest victim, he said. They use these tactics to force Gujjars and Nomads out of Jammu, but they will never succeed because Kashmiris are determined to get their freedom. The President said that it is also very disturbing to learn that the lawyer community in Jammu who are supposed to uphold the law are supporting Hindu extremists. President Masood Khan thanked political leaders and civil society activists in India who are protesting against Asifa’s rape and murder. “It is high time Indian civil society woke up and saved Kashmiris from bondage, killings, torture and rape. Women and children have no security”, he said.President Masood khan said that the matter should be raised in the Human Rights Council, the UN General Assembly and the UN Commission on the Status of Women.
