US-based Kashmiri community outraged over girl rape in Kashmir

WASHINGTON, April 20 (APP):The Kashmiri and Pakistani-American communities have expressed their outrage over the rape and killing of an 8-year-old Muslim girl in the Indian held Kashmir by Hindu men, including two state ministers, to harass Muslims nomads in the region, saying this is a crime against the humanity.
The incident happened in January but drew media attention this month after police filed charges against the accused, including top government and police officials, who raped and killed Asifa Bano in a Hindu temple in Kathua, a city in the Indian-held Kashmir.
In an opinion article by the Editorial Board of the leading American newspaper the New York Times, Indian Prime Minister Naraendra Modi was severely criticized over his silence on this barbaric killing which, the Board, said was not an isolated, random act but part of the ongoing campaign by Hindu zealots to intimidate Indian minorities.
Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Secretary General of the World Kashmir Awareness Forum said the whole purpose of this heinous crime was to dislodge the small Muslim community of Bakarwals and the rape was used as a weapon of war.
“This is a crime against humanity which needs to be condemned by all and one in the comity of nations,” he said in a statement issued in Washington, highlighting the fact that the accused including
two sitting state ministers who belonged to Mr. Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Dr. Fai said that young Muslim Kashmiri girls were living under tremendous stress, uncertainty, and insecurity and the endless turbulence, including the rape, have changed the entire life pattern of the residents of Kashmir. “The entire concept of childhood has undergone a radical change because of the fear of being abducted.”
He lambasted the response of the Modi-led Indian government in New Delhi which seems to protecting its party leaders involved in the crime and said that the coalition government in Kashmir, of which BJP is the part, must be held accountable for their actions. “Peace will only come to Kashmir when the Indian authorities realize that the people of Kashmir are not the problem, but rather part of the solution.
He thanked Antonia Guterres, the Secretary General of the United Nations, who expected that the authorities will bring the perpetrators to justice so they can be held accountable for the murder of this young girl.
“The people of Kashmir look up to United Nations as a savior where some resolution of this situation is looked into, and a stable future is assured for the ones who have suffered the most” the hapless women of Kashmir,” Dr. Fai said.
“Given the interest of the Secretary General of the United Nations in peace and stability all over the world in general and in the region of South Asia in particular; and the support for democracy and human freedom, we urge him to forge a peaceful political solution to the conflict through his good offices by bringing all the concerned parties to the negotiating table” the Governments of India & Pakistan and the leadership of the people of Kashmir, Fai said.
There have been protests in some cities as people also took to the social media to vent their anger and fury over the incident and the complicity of politicians in such horrific crimes against the Indian minorities.
The NYT Editorial Board in an article published on Monday said that crimes like the murder of the Muslim Kashmiri girl was ” part of an organized and systematic campaign by nationalist forces that want to terrorize women, Muslims, Dalits and other underprivileged citizen”.