Introduction
During the 1947 illegal invasion of Jammu and Kashmir, the horde of mercenaries that included Pakistan army regulars and lashkars indulged in large-scale massacre, rape loot, and arson destroying everything that came in their way. The world knows how Pakistan used rape as a weapon during the 1971 Indo-Pak war as part of their Operation Searchlight against the people of East Pakistan. Thousands of Bengali women were abducted, confined in Pakistan Army’s barracks, described as rape camps, and assaulted many times.[i] The common thread between the 1947 invasion and the 1971 genocide was the cruelties and murders of men and children. Women were ruthlessly raped, kept as sex slaves or killed. These war crimes by Pakistani soldiers and militia went unacknowledged and unpunished. This was a destructive precedent that mainstreamed rape culture in Pak military.
Reminiscent of their policy of rape and plunder during the OP Searchlight, the all-powerful Pakistan Army has now moved their genocidal rage toward PAK Occupied Kashmir (PoK), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA (tribal region)[ii] also targeting the ethnic minorities living in Sindh.
Swat Valley
On the pretext of conducting military operations in the Swat Valley, the Pakistan Army abducted over a thousand of women. The ‘Islamic honor code for women’ and fear of the military did not let the families to bring the mayhems to the fore.[iii]
Balochistan
Balochistan human rights activists’ reports about existence of a system of organized killings, rapes and sexual slavery by the Pakistan Army. Pakistan Army took several hundred Baloch civilians into custody. They separated young women and adolescent girls from their families and other detainees and moved them with their units. Their heinous acts are nothing short of war crimes. Many abducted women and girls have disappeared like they never existed. A few fortunate ones remained continuously traumatized because of the pains they had to endure. The human rights activists interacted with the women and girls who were fortunate to escape. Different Army men raped the women multiple times. They also saw other abductees being molested.
In April last year, a ten-year-old Baloch kid and his brother were allegedly picked up by Pakistan’s Frontier Corps in Balochistan’s Hoshaap, Kech. The two of them were brutally tortured and then the younger one was raped by a paramilitary personnel of the Frontier Corps. [iv]
In January 2005, Dr. Shazia Khalid, a serving doctor at Pakistan Petroleum Limited’s Sui gas plant, Balochistan, was brutally beaten raped by accused Captain Hammad of Pakistan Army. However, the rapist wasn’t even arrested. [v] He was declared innocent by the then Army Chief and Dictator General Pervez Musharraf and no inquiry report on the case was made public.[vi] The incident of rape of a kind doctor in Balochistan was a termed as breach of code of honour by the Bugti clan and led to widespread protests against the Army and a civil warlike situation emerged. [vii]
In the same year, members of Mujahid Battalion of the Pakistan Army were alleged to rape a 30-year-old woman of Palri village, Muzaffarabad, POK and an attempted rape of another woman of Bun Chhattar village.[viii]
Pakistan Occupied Kashmir
To facilitate infiltration of terrorists into India during their intrusion attempts, the Pakistan army gives them cover fire by shelling villages and military posts on the Indian side of Kashmir. Pakistan military’s uncontrolled libidos become ever more aggressive when they found POK women taking shelter in bunkers at night during cross-border shelling. Sexual assault against shelter seeking women in bunkers has turned into a raging epidemic, a war crime that remains un-reported. Neither the local police nor civilian courts have any authority to investigate criminal proceedings against the PAK armed forces’ personnel. [ix]
One gang-rape victim, Ms. Maria Tahir of Bhimber, amidst the threats of kidnapping, extortion and murder stood up to file a case against the culprits. Sadly, the chief justice’s advice: “You are already married, not a virgin. You should not mind rape. Please drop the case”, [x] represents the fact that the male chauvinist society can never fathom sexual violence against a woman.
In another incident, Pakistan Army officer Zawar Hussain raped an 11-year-old Kashmiri boy in Charala Village of Dhir Kot in POK. [xi]
Sindh
There are multiple instances of rapes, kidnapping and forced conversion of young girls belonging to minority communities living in Sindh province. Those who speak against the extremist forces have either ‘disappeared’ or been ‘silenced’ by Pakistan authorities. [xii] As per the report of Asian Human Rights Commission, saxual assualts and forcible conversions happen with 20-25 Hindu women every month. [xiii]
Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA)
In the garb of conducting military operations in the Swat and Waziristan regions, Pakistan Army had bulldozed Pashtun villages, picked up Pashtun girls and raped them. They had also abducted hundreds of Pashtun women and pushed them into flesh trade by imprisoning them in Lahore’s prostitution centres as sex slaves. [xiv]
Sexual Predators on Prowl over the world
In the year 2014, Pakistan’s Army soldiers sent for peacekeeping duties in Haiti’s northern city of Gonaives raped a mentally disabled 14-year-old boy in a vehicle. Although proven guilty, the soldiers were let off lightly citing UN immunity. [xv]
Pakistani soldiers continued to give a bad name to UN peacekeeping force. In the year 2017, a Pakistani peacekeeper slipped inside the home of a 14-year-old Congolese refugee girl and assaulted her in front of the other children. The poor girl got no help from the U.N. She became pregnant and had to bear a baby borne out of the rape. [xvi]
Epilogue
Rapes are publically written off as consensual sexual conduct between the victim and the rapist. Rape victims are committing suicide as Pakistan delivers only despair as far as justice for them is concerned. Most of the sexual violence cases go unreported in Pakistan, as victims are shunned out of the society by families and married off with the rapists or face ‘honor killing’. The society is in total denial as they do not wish to acknowledge the gender-based violence. Pakistan’s patriarchal society brings forward ‘women’s honor’ to hide sexual misconducts by men. The non-existent criminal justice system is at the forefront of denial of justice to sexual violence victims.
Pakistan military has mainstreamed the cultural acceptance of sexual assault and rape. The then-President of Pakistan General Pervez Musharraf had said in an interview to Washington Post, “If you want to go abroad and get a visa for Canada or citizenship and be a millionaire, get yourself raped.” [xvii] Pakistan Army’s atrocities and crimes against humanity against Sindh’s ethnic minorities, Baloch, Pashtun tribes and in PoK clearly points toward Operation Searchlight-II.
In a country where physical assault, sexual crimes, discrimination, violence and objectification of women are rampant, Pakistan is ranked as 6th most dangerous country for women in the entire world, 3rd last country on Gender Development Index.
Aurat March (The Women’s March)–“Mera Jism Meri Marzi.” (My body my choice.)
As Pakistani women’s right activists are preparing to hold the fifth annual Aurat March on March, 08 2022 with slogan “my body, my choice”, there are widespread protests against the peaceful movement. Petitions are filed in courts, demanding a ban on the event. Termed to promote Vulgarity, the protestors were pelted with stones by extremists. The fifth Aurat March conveys that despite of the patriarchal approach of society, the hope for justice still prevails.
Amongst the chaos of male dominated society, Aurat March comes out as a fresh breath. It seeks to break the shackles of patriarchy demands personal liberties, social welfare and legal framework for issues concerning Pakistani women. While seeking an end to violence against women, discrimination, forced conversions, marriages, and subjugation, the Aurat March stands tall for the women.
The strong and explicit slogans of the March: “Mera Jism Meri Marzi” (My body my choice), Khana khud garm karo (heat the food yourself), “Keep your dick pics to yourself”, “Mein awaara, Mein baddchalan” (I loiter, I’m characterless), “Divorced and happy” and “Anything you can do, I do while bleeding” etc., use words considered taboo for women to shock and awe the male-controlled society.
Writer is a Veteran of Indian Navy.
sorces:
[i] https://womensmediacenter.com/women-under-siege/conflicts/bangladesh
[ii] Pashtun, Sindhi activists hold protests against atrocities by Pakistan army – Times of India https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/pashtun-sindhi-activists-hold-protests-against-atrocities-by-pakistan-army/articleshow/74528254.cms
[iii] Reports of Alleged Rape by Pak Army Not Only From Khyber Pakhtunkhwahttps://www.thequint.com/voices/opinion/pakistani-army-rape-allegations-pashtun-tribes
[iv] Balochistan: 10-year-old child tortured and raped by personnel of Pakistani forces –
[v] Pakistan tribal uprising leads to arrests of army officers over rape https://www.independent.ie/world-news/asia-pacific/pakistan-tribal-uprising-leads-to-arrests-of-army-officers-over-rape-25999635.html
[vi] Major cases: What happened to the convicts of violence against women?
[vii] Pakistan tribal uprising leads to arrests of army officers over rape https://www.independent.ie/world-news/asia-pacific/pakistan-tribal-uprising-leads-to-arrests-of-army-officers-over-rape-25999635.html
[viii] Pakistan soldiers accused of rape http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4725157.stm
[ix] Anam Zakaria, Jalaluddin Mughal, Maria Abi-Habib – Women Face Dilemma in a War Zone: Risk the Blasts or Sexual Assault https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/15/world/asia/kashmir-pakistan-shelters-assault.html
[x] In Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, ‘Jihad’ Encourages Sexual Slavery
[xi] Pak Army officer rapes a Kashmiri boy in POKhttps://www.newsintervention.com/pak-army-officer-rapes-a-kashmiri-boy-in-pok/
[xii] Pashtun, Sindhi activists hold protests against atrocities by Pakistan army – Times of India https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/pashtun-sindhi-activists-hold-protests-against-atrocities-by-pakistan-army/articleshow/74528254.cms
[xiii] Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor 2010 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices Report April 8, 2011https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2010/sca/154485.htm
[xiv] Pak Army using Pashtun women as sex slaves: Separatist community leaderhttps://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ani/pak-army-using-pashtun-women-as-sex-slaves-separatist-community-leader-117011400196_1.html
[xv] The UN let off peacekeepers involved in a Haitian boy’s rapehttps://theworld.org/stories/2014-10-02/un-let-peacekeepers-involved-haitian-boys-rape
[xvi] UN peacekeepers in Congo hold record for rape, sex abuse https://apnews.com/article/united-nations-pakistan-africa-sexual-abuse-international-news-69e56ab46cab400f9f4b3753bd79c930
[xvii] Glenn Kessler – Washington Post Staff Writer: Musharraf Denies Rape Comments https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/18/AR2005091800554.html
Manan Bhatt is a Veteran of the Indian Navy. He has served onboard Frigates & Corvettes with 15 years of service under his belt, including service during Operation Talwar (Kargil War) and Operation Parakram also assignments at the Integrated Headquarters of Defence and DRDO.
