Women and Armed Conflict: A Case of Kashmir Valley

During the period from 1989 to 1998, 92 out of 108 wars were domestic armed conflicts, with the highest number in Asia, followed by Africa and Europe resulting in the killing of thousands of people, mostly civilians. The valley of Kashmir has also been a witness to escalating violence and conflict over the last two decades resulting in the world attention. The violence has resulted in the loss of almost of thousands of lives, which also includes 8 to 9 thousand women. This high number of killings also rendered thousands of women as widows. Like any other armed conflict situation, the continuous violent situation prevalent in Kashmir since 1989 has hit the Kashmiri women in every aspect, every day due to the ongoing-armed conflict women continue to suffer. The present paper attempts to provide a picture of women in Kashmir with focus on women who are widows and sexually abused and are suffering continuously for almost two decade and find themselves trapped in the vicious cycle of violence. It also tries to highlight the various forms of atrocities-physical as well as psychological, inflicted on women by both parties to the conflict. The paper also suggests some strategies to improve the living situations of these women.