‘Do you remember Kunan-Poshpora?’

This book recounts the tragedy etched in the collective memory of Kashmiris

Sheikh Saleem

Srinagar, Feb 23: ‘Do you remember Kunan-Poshpora?’, a book recounting the horrific mass rapes in the twin villages of Kupwara district 25 years ago, was released here Tuesday.

The book has been authored by five Kashmiri girls- Samreen Mushtaq, Ifrah Butt, Essar Batool, Natasha Rather and Munaza Rashid- who had earlier filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) for reopening of the case in the high court, bringing back the case into focus.

The book sheds light on the turn of events on the intervening night of February 23 and 24 in 1991. It talks about the legal struggle of the survivors and the experience of the authors in getting the case reopened. The book examines questions of justice, stigma and the long-term impact of trauma in the light of the experiences of the survivors.

The authors said they came together to “undo enforced official obliteration of public memory”, which they believe is the “biggest injustice that could ever have been perpetrated against the survivors of the mass rape”.

“In this book we describe the process that led us to our investigation and the legal battle that is still being fought by the survivors,” they said.

The mass rapes in the twin villages of Kunan and Poshpora, committed allegedly by Army’s 4th Rajputana Rifles, marks one of the darkest chapters of Kashmir’s history.

The book release function was organised by JK Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS). A panel discussion, moderated by senior journalist Riyaz Masroor, was held on the occasion wherein the authors shared their experiences of fighting for justice in the case.

Taking cue from Nirbhaya Delhi gang rape case of 2012, Ifrah Butt said they approached high court with a PIL praying for reopening of the case “but the state used every possible tool to discourage us”.

She said in the beginning the court demanded ID proofs of the 100 victims who were ready to come forward but after that only 50 women came forward and submitted ID proofs before the court for identification as petitioners of the PIL.

“Memory is a weapon against oppression.  If we don’t remember the atrocities, how can we confront the perpetrators?” Irrah said.

“People remember everything. But just they don’t want to talk. They are frightened,” the co-author added saying that the book will help others to overcome the fear “and more voices will rise against the violence”.

Another co-author Essar Batool said: “If we continue to be in fear, then voice will continue to get buried…we just overcome that fear”.

Batool said the perpetrators always use fear tactics to keep victims silent.

She said the state tried to humiliate victims.

“There was intimidation from the state. Army council in Kupwara court would reveal names of victims in open court and sometimes police asked victims to record statement in open court,” she added.

Another co-author, Munaza Rashid said the documents they got through RTI revealed that it was a pre-planned operation.

“Two policemen were forcibly made to sign NOC. One among them- Abdul Gani who belonged to same village resisted and followed the case. He was tortured and later killed by unknown gunmen,” she added.

Natasha Rather, another co-author, said though the word ‘rape’ has social taboo attached to it and girls are not expected to use this word but they talked about it. “To remain silent is an easy way to get oppressed. Our effort will develop a culture to talk to power,” she added.

Dedicating the book to the victims, she said it was the women of Kunan-Poshpora who acted as torch bearers for them.

“Despite being aware about the repercussions, the women of those twin villages stood against the power and spoke truth when whole world was against them blaming them of speaking lies. It is easy to speak now but it was really difficult to speak in those times of terror,” Natasha added.

“We got inspiration from them. These victims broke that taboo long back and stood up against oppression.”

Background

After the incident police had lodged an FIR under Section 376, 452 and 342 at police station Trehgam against the Army.

In 2011, State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) asked the state government to re-open the case while judicial Magistrate Kupwara ordered re-investigation of the case with an officer not below the rank of SP as the investigating officer.

Following SHRC recommendations, the high court directed for compensation of 2 lakh to the victims. However, the state has challenged the court directions in Supreme Court. SHRC had also asked the state government to prosecute the then Director Prosecution who had sought closure of the case saying that the perpetrators were “untraceable”.

“The then Director Prosecution had overstepped his brief prosecution proceedings should be initiated against him and those officers who had approved his report,” the SHRC bench recommended.

The five girls filled a PIL in JK High Court seeking reinvestigation in the case. “We filed the petition not because we expect justice from the system, but because we wanted to make Indian army answerable and to make them understand they cannot go scot free to repeat the same crime. Our struggle is not about the outcomes but developing culture of resistance where people would question impunity and where we will not remain silent in the face of injustice,” they added.