State Sponsored Violence against Kashmiri Children by Indian Forces

By : Urooj al Ummar

The state sponsored violence against children within Indian Occupied Kashmir is not a new phenomenon. It started right from the day when Indian forces occupied Jammu & Kashmir in 1947 with use of force. Thousands of innocent children have been killed in cold blood, thousnads molested, tortured and have gone missing in last 63+ years. Few days ago I met an Indian citizen who told me that this practice is common all over India during tribal or family feuds, where children become main targets of violence. He further told me that the idea behind this brutal practice is simple "If you kill the father his son will take the revenge, but if you kill his child there is no one who can take the revenge, the family gets shattered and is never able to even live a normal life after the death of their moral, emotional and physical psychological support, their son." This ruthless practice has well taken by Indian Occupational Forces or Forced Backed by Indian agencies.

Javaid Ahmed Dar was one of those kids who became victim of Indian brute and tyranny.Javaid's maternal grandfather admitted him into Child Care Public School after he persuaded his parents to that he will get good education in Srinagar. On 3 October 1990, he was enforced to Involuntary Disappearance. After a lot of efforts his family was informed by police that he was lodged in Joint Interrogation Center, Jammu on 16 January 1991, but he could not be traced afterwards. His grandparents died in his longing but he still remains a Victim of Enforced Disappearance.

Today hundreds of Kashmiri children languish in Indian Jails and one of them is Tawseef Hussain Bhat, who is 16 years old. High Court quashed his PSA. But He still languishes in Jail for alleged charges of stone pelting on Indian Occupational Forces.