SRINAGAR: On the eve of 23rd anniversary of infamous Kunan-Poshpora mass rape by army, Hurriyat Conference (G) chairman, Syed Ali Geelani, Saturday reiterated his demand for investigation into the incident by an independent agency.
“Though some Kashmiri women have filed a PIL in the local court to reopen and reinvestigate the case, but we should not expect any justice or any punishment to the criminals in Indian courts as army will use its special and unlimited powers to provide a safe passage to these criminals of humanity,” Geelani said in a statement.
Geelani said that rape has been internationally recognized as a “war crime” and a “form of torture.”
“And from last 25 years, the rape has been routinely used as a weapon of war in Jammu and Kashmir,” Geelani said.
Geelani said that till now about 7.5 thousand women have been raped or molested in state by forces.
“The black laws like AFSPA and Disturbed Areas Act have provided a licensee to the Indian army to kill and rape that is why a single criminal of war crime has not been presented in the civil court nor has anybody been punished till date,” he said.
While repeating the demand for the independent investigation of the mass rape cases of Jammu and Kashmir including Kunan-Poshpora by the ‘United Nations War Crime Tribunal’, Geelani said “this institution needs to play the same character in Jammu and Kashmir which it played in Bosnia and other subjugated nations.”
Geelani also appreciated the civil society for organizing a special program on February 23 as, “Kashmiri Women’s Resistance Day.”
A statement issued by Hurriyat Conference Jammu and Kashmir said that its leaders held a protest sit in at Srinagar’s Pratap Park to express solidarity with the Kunan-Poshpora rape victims and to seek justice for them.
The statement said that its leaders Shabir Ahmad Shah, Nayeem Ahmad Khan, Shabir Ahmad Dar, Muhammad Yusuf Naqash, Muhammad Yusuf Ataai and Aijaz Ahmad Mir and hundreds of activists attended the protest demonstration.
While speaking to media on the occasion, Shah expressed serious disappointment over the criminal silence adopted by world bodies over the Kunan-Poshpora mass rape incident and criticized them for not raising their voice against India in this regard.
“He lashed out at India and its stooges in Jammu Kashmir for not holding the culprits of such crime accountable,” the statement said.
The statement also said that the victims of Kunan-Poshpora were scheduled to join the sit it along with Chairman, International Forum for Justice and Human Rights, Muhammad Ahsan Untoo, but they were prevented by a large contingent of Police at Goshi Pora, Kupwara and were directed to return.

Reader correspondent