NEW DELHI: A five-member all-women team, which visited Kashmir last week, expressed several concerns about the condition of women and children arising out of severe restrictions put in place ever since the abrogation of Article 370.
The team, which was in Kashmir from September 17 to September 21, demanded a time-bound inquiry into the “excesses” committed by the Army during this period.
“Army’s role cannot be ignored. It cannot remain a holy cow. Young boys are picked up from their home at night. Families don’t know where many of them are lodged,” Annie Raja of National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) said, after releasing a report, ‘Women’s Voice: A Fact-Finding Report on Kashmir’.
The activists said, their findings were based on the interactions they had with locals in Srinagar, Shopian, Pulwama and Bandipora districts.
Syeda Hameed, a member of the team, said 13,000 youths are estimated to be behind bars since August 5.
Hameed said, her team had found that civilians had been asked to turn off all lights inside their houses after 8 pm.
She narrated an instance of Bandipora where a girl “made the mistake” of keeping a lamp-lit as she was studying. The Army personnel barged in and the father and son of the family were taken away.
The report said there is zero public transport and doctors have reported an increase in cases of mental disorders and heart attack. The team sought compensation for all families who lost their loved ones because of the non-availability of transport and the absence of communication.
All cases registered since the abrogation of Article 370 should be scrapped and the people also be released as a confidence-building measure, the team suggested.