Srinagar: The two-day seminar on “Human Rights Violations by terrorists and how they have impacted Kashmiri citizens in last 30 years” culminated today at BB Cantt Srinagar, said PRO (Defence) Srinagar.
“On the last day of the seminar two sessions were conducted which essentially focused on the topic, ‘Systematic subversion of women empowerment in Kashmir’ and on ‘Impact of conflict on Civilian institutions in J&K’,” the PRO said.
“The speakers highlighted how the three decades of conflict imposed by Pakistani proxies had systematically disempowered the women of J&K. A society where women icons like Kota Rani, Lal Ded and Habba Khatoon are the cultural souls of Kashmir, the radicals have consistently tried to push the women to the sidelines. The Kashmiri women have continuously fought these radicals. The state institutions specially education and various arms of the state administration were systematically infiltrated and subverted to benefit a few at the cost of the masses. This lead to weakening of the quality of education leading to poor employability of the Kashmiri youth and high levels of corruption in most parts of public life,” he said.
“Lt Gen DP Pandey, GOC Chinar Corps in his Closing Remarks highlighted that Pakistan has absolutely no interest in the wellbeing of Kashmiris and has been consistently using Kashmir as a tool against the ‘Idea of India’. He urged the citizens of Kashmir to speak out against the controlled narrative and divisive politics of Pakistan. The GOC elaborated on the term terrorism, where he emphasized that the terrorists were easy to deal with, however the radicals, fear mongers and Pakistan’s affiliates are the followers of the second part of the term – ‘ism’. He said that society needs to raise their voice against terrorism and put an end to the Nexus’ free run of enjoying the fruits of conflict economy. The GOC observed that the culture of bandhs, stone pelting, killings of innocents, subversion of education and denial of freedom of speech and right to livelihood can be stopped only by the intervention of society. He also asked the society to call out Human rights organisations and media houses which have silently stood against the human rights violations carried out by the gun-wielding and the white-collar terrorists’ nexus since past thirty years,” the PRO said.
“Lt Gen DP Pandey complimented all the speakers for their well-researched talks and free and frank observations during the interactive sessions. He exhorted the Kashmiri society to indulge in similar sessions, where the voice of silent majority can be heard too, to bring about change and usher in ‘Naya Kashmir’,” he added.
