Documenting plight of present-day J&K

Translation of Women’s Voice - a fact-finding report released

Sthree Koottayma, a women’s collective, on Tuesday released the Malayalam transliteration of Women’s Voice -a fact-finding report that was brought out by a five-member group of activists after they visited Jammu and Kashmir to take stock of the plight of women and children in the State since the revocation of its special status.

The report had been recently launched by the team that comprised Annie Raja, Kawaljit Kaur, and Pankhuri Zaheer of National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW), Poonam Kaushik of Pragatisheel Mahila Sangathan, Delhi; and Syeda Hameed of Muslim Women’s Forum in New Delhi.

Visits several villages

The team had visited several villages in four districts in Jammu and Kashmir between September 17 and 21 to document the plight of the local communities since the revocation of the special status of the State.

In their report, they have claimed that several youths have been picked up by the Army and detained in places as far as Agra and Jodhpur. Besides, it also narrates personal accounts of people who fear similar action for keeping the lights on in their houses beyond 8 p.m., failing which allegedly amounts to ‘breaching the curfew’.

Besides highlighting the trauma faced by women and children, the report also deals with the difficulties caused by the communication blockade that has been continuing in the State for 65 days.

In confines

Senior journalist-activist Geetha Nazeer, who presided over the function, said the region had been turned into an open jail with people being forced to live their lives within the confines of their homes and in darkness.

She stressed on the need to create a wider platform of women activists to sensitise the public to the plight of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Kerala State Planning Board member Mridul Eapen said the issue had to be fought politically. Sadly, many political parties had welcomed the Centre’s move to abrogate Articles 370 and 35A of the Constitution.

Many academics, activists and writers, including J. Devika, Aleyamma Vijayan, C.S. Chandrika, and R. Parvathi Devi participated in the programme.