Syed Tehmeena, a young Kashmiri woman activist has criticized the terrorist activities in Kashmir at an international forum in Geneva. Pointing out the drawbacks of the separatist movement, Tehmeena said that it oppressed and deprived women of their rights in the valley.
Speaking at the Geneva Press Club on a discussion centred around ‘Jammu and Kashmir: Sifting Facts from Fiction’ on the sidelines of 43rd session on United Nations Human Rights Council she said that Kashmiri women have been victims of social practices and militancy in the state.
She added that the Pakistan sponsored terrorism in Kashmir valley had deprived women of education, made them victims of domestic violence and excluded them from social and public life. People in rural areas of Kashmir are firmly steeped in feudal and medieval outlook and families refuse to give any choices to women in education, marriage, dress code, profession, and social interactions.
“Not only me but many young boys and girls have left the valley and settled in other parts of the country because the terrorist ideology has curtailed opportunities. Moreover, the ideology of freedom movement does not stand for the freedom of women,” she was quoted as having said.
Radicalization has had a deep impact on the Kashmiri society and there is a need to clean this up perhaps through mixed home allotments to people from different religious backgrounds. Activists and journalists from Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan occupied Kashmir, European parliamentarians and foreign dignitaries attended the event.
