Pakistan expresses solidarity with Kashmiri Women on International Day.

ISLAMABAD -- Today, on the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, we draw the world's attention to the plight of Kashmiri women in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ and K),who have been frequent targets of sexual violence by Indian occupation forces. In the past three decades, more than 11,000 women have been victims of rape or gang-rape at the hands of Indian occupation forces in occupied Jammu and Kashmir. We reaffirm our complete solidarity with these Kashmiri women and their families.

Women in IOJ and K have frequently been targets of violence and aggression as a means to punishing their families and communities for standing up against illegal and forcible Indian occupation. Abduction and molestation of young women during so-called 'cordon-and-search operations'has been used as a punitive tool by Indian occupation forces to punish entire communities.

These repugnant acts of violence against women are enabled through a pervasive culture of impunity, reinforced by draconian laws such as Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) that shield the Indian security forces from prosecution from their crimes of sexual violence. India's resort to sexual violence in the conflict situation of IOJ and K has been documented by the two reports of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human...

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