rape during the kashmir conflict rape during the kashmir conflict the kashmir conflict has been beset by large scale usage of sexual violence by multiple belligerents since its inception. rape types acquaintance rape campus rape corrective rape lgbt victims date rape gang rape genocidal rape gray rape live streaming rape marital rape prison rape rape chant serial rape statutory rape unacknowledged rape rape by deception effects and motivations effects and aftermath pregnancy from rape rape trauma syndrome causes post-assault mistreatment weinstein effect sociobiological theories rape culture by country afghanistan belgium china democratic republic of the congo egypt finland france germany india pakistan papua new guinea philippines saudi arabia south africa sweden united kingdom united states during conflicts circassian genocide nanking massacre world war ii eastern front italian campaign occupation of germany / japan / poland liberation of france / serbia kashmir conflict vietnam war 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rape by deception corrective date gang genocidal in war marital prison statutory virgin cleansing myth widow cleansing disfigurement acid attack breast binding breast ironing female genital mutilation gishiri cutting infibulation foot binding other issues narcissistic abuse gaslighting dating abuse domestic violence outline management and pregnancy droit du seigneur eve teasing forced abortion force-feeding forced marriage forced pregnancy forced sterilisation marriage by abduction marry-your-rapist law raptio witch trials international legal framework dedaw cedaw vdpa devaw belém do pará maputo istanbul related topics prosecution of gender-targeted crimes women's shelter 25 november 6 february by country violence against women violence against men violence against lgbt people mass rapes were carried out by dogra troops as well as hindu and sikh mobs during the 1947 jammu massacres, and by pakistani militia when the conflict broke out in 1947, including the mirpur massacre. numerous scholars and human rights agencies assert that since the onset of the insurgency in jammu and kashmir in 1988, rape has been leveraged as a 'weapon of war' by indian security forces comprising the indian army, central reserve police force (crpf) and border security personnel. however, the government rejects such charges. separatist militants have also committed rapes, which remain under-researched but are not comparable in scale to that of the indian state forces. history of the conflict there have been many incidents of rape in the princely state of jammu and kashmir. a large number of muslim women were abducted and raped in the jammu region of the state, during the 1947 jammu massacres in october–november 1947, which were carried out by extremist hindus and sikhs, aided and abetted by the forces of the dogra state headed by the maharaja hari singh. in october 1947, armed pashtun tribesmen from pakistan, who had support from the pakistani administration and army, invaded kashmir and committed atrocities such as raping and looting the locals, including muslim girls, during the beginning of first kashmir war. they took place in and around muzaffarabad and baramulla. rape was also reported in the mirpur region of today's azad kashmir during the 1947 mirpur massacre which was carried out against the hindu and sikh refugees. many women were also abducted. rape by militants (post-1988) in 1989, attacks on kashmiri hindus escalated and muslim insurgents selectively raped, tortured and killed kashmiri pandits, burnt their temples, idols and holy books. the pandits fled en masse from the state after which their houses were burnt by militants and their artwork and sculptures were destroyed. while cases of systematic rape of kashmiri muslim women by the indian military are well documented, the details and scale of sexual violence against kashmiri pandit women remain yet to be researched. according to human rights watch, despite threats by islamist groups to women since 1990, reports of rape by militants were rare in the early years of the conflict. since 1991, reports of rape by islamic militants have increased. in some cases, women have been raped and then killed after being abducted by rival militant groups and held as hostages for their male relatives. in other cases, members of armed militant groups have abducted women after threatening to shoot the rest of the family unless she is handed over to a militant leader. local people sometimes refer to these abductions and rapes as "forced marriages". in 1992, a case of rape and murder by militants attracted publicity, partly because the incident provoked street protests condemning the militants for the crimes. according to the 1993 human rights watch report, rape by militants is less common but has increased in frequency over the years. a 2010 us state department report blamed separatist insurgents in kashmir and other parts of the country of committing several serious abuses, including the killing of security personnel as well as civilians, and of engaging in widespread torture, rape, beheadings, kidnapping, and extortion. some incidents of rape by militants appear to have been motivated by the fact that the victims or their families are accused of being informers or of being opposed to the militants or supporters of rival militant groups. according to the human rights watch, the rape victims of militants suffer ostracism and there is a "code of silence and fear" that prevents people from reporting such abuse. it says that the investigation of cases of rape by militants is difficult because many kashmiris are reluctant to discuss it for the fear of violent reprisals. the increase in number of rape cases has resulted in an increased number of abortions, leading in one case to murder of a doctor. the doctor was accused of being an informer by the islamic militant groups hizbul mujahideen and al jehad. rape by indian forces (post-1988) human rights abuses in jammu and kashmir notes international people's tribunal on human rights and justice in kashmir jammu & kashmir human rights commission papa ii 1990 exodus of kashmiri hindus 1990 gawkadal massacre 1990 zakoora and tengpora massacre 1991 kunan poshpora incident 1993 1993 lal chowk fire 1993 bijbehara massacre 1993 sopore massacre 1995 1995 kidnapping of western tourists in kashmir 1996 jalil andrabi murder case 1997 1997 sangrampora massacre 1998 1998 wandhama massacre 1998 chapnari massacre 1998 prankote massacre 2000 2000 chittisinghpura massacre 2001 2001 kishtwar massacre 2001 chalwalkote massacre 2002 2002 kaluchak massacre 2002 qasim nagar massacre 2002 raghunath temple attacks 2003 2003 nadimarg massacre 2004 2004 teli katha massacre 2006 2006 doda massacre 2009 2009 shopian rape and murder case 2018 2018 sunjuwan attack 2019 2019 pulwama attack 2022 2022 srinagar bombing background in the aftermath of the allegedly rigged 1987 elections in the state of jammu and kashmir, where islamic parties were prevented from winning several seats in the state assembly, a popular anti-indian separatist movement and militancy gained momentum in the kashmir valley, a territory disputed between india and pakistan since 1947. to counter the insurgency, india militarised the valley, deploying a huge number of troops in the region. the critics of the indian military presence in the valley contend that 600,000 troops are present in the state, according to which the region possesses the highest ratio of troops to civilians in the world. since january 1990, indian forces committed a number of human rights violations against civilians, including mass rape. rape as a weapon of war according to a 1993 human rights watch (hrw) report, the security forces use rape as a method of retaliation against kashmiri civilians during reprisal attacks after militant ambushes. most rape cases, according to the same report, have occurred during cordon-and-search operations. according to a 1996 hrw report, security personnel in kashmir have used "rape as a counterinsurgency tactic". scholar inger skhjelsbaek states that the pattern of rape in kashmir is that when soldiers enter civilian residences, they kill or evict the men before raping the women inside. scholar shubh mathur calls rape an "essential element of the indian military strategy in kashmir." according to seema kazi, there is no difference between the motivations behind rape in kashmir with those which caused rapes to be committed in rwanda and the balkans. kazi opines that rape in kashmir is a "cultural weapon of war" and that the rape of kashmiri women by indian security forces, in the background of a mainly hindu country repressing a muslim populace, functions as a tool of "subordinating" kashmiri males and the wider kashmiri community. she also states that rape is used to demoralize the kashmiri resistance and that there have been documented cases of soldiers confessing that they were commanded to rape kashmiri women. at the 52nd united nations commission on human rights, professor william baker gave testimony that rape in kashmir was not merely a case of isolated incidents involving undisciplined soldiers, rather the security forces were actively deploying rape on the kashmiri populace as a method of humiliation and frightening. he cited as evidence his interviews with several victims whose family members, including husbands and children, were made to witness their rapes. an amnesty international report in 1992 stated that rape is conducted during counter-offensives against militants as part of a bid to methodically shame local kashmiri communities. dr maiti, a professor of political science at burdwan university, has condemned the oppressive indian use of rape, noting that most of the kashmiri rape victims have been civilians. during some interviews of soldiers on why they raped local kashmiri women, some responded that kashmiri women were beautiful. others said it was a non-family station. in one case, a soldier replied that he raped a kashmiri woman out of revenge because "their men did exactly the same to the women of his community''. extent a study in 2005 by médecins sans frontières concluded that the rate of sexual violence against kashmiri women was one of the highest among the world's conflict zones, with 11.6% of respondents, out of a total 510 people in their survey, reporting personal experience of sexual abuse. the study also found that in comparison to many other regions experiencing conflict, such as chechnya, sierra leone and sri lanka, the number of witnesses to rape in kashmir was far greater. 13% of respondents in the study stated that they had witnessed a rape after 1989, while the proportion of those who had heard about a rape since 1989 figured at 63%. the proportion of respondents who had heard about more than five rape incidents stood at 59.9% . the proportion of those who had personally been witness to even more than five incidents of rape was 5.1%. according to kazi, international awareness is low about the large extent of sexual violence in kashmir. scholar dara kay cohen from harvard university lists the conflict in kashmir, alongside bosnia and rwanda, as among the "worst" of the "so-called mass rape wars". according to human rights watch:there are no reliable statistics on the number of rapes committed by security forces in kashmir. human rights groups have documented many cases since 1990, but because many of the incidents have occurred in remote villages, it is impossible to confirm any precise number. there can be no doubt that the use of rape is common and routinely goes unpunished. it was reported that indian forces committed gang-rape of 882 kashmiri women in 1992 alone. the humanitarian law project/international educational development documented more than 200 cases of war rape from january 1994. many cases are not reported because of the shame and stigma associated with rape in kashmir. human rights groups state that 150 top officers, of the rank of major or above, have participated in torture as well as sexual violence and that the indian government was