Samreena Mushtaq and Natasha Rather are the authors of the recent book Do You Remember Kunan Poshpora? In a conversation with journalist Majid Maqbool, they speak about the experience of reopening the eponymous mass rape case.
How did you come together to reopen the Kunan Poshpora rape case? At what stage did you feel the need to write about the incident in detail, in the form of a book?
Mushtaq: On February 23, 2013, we started thinking about filing a PIL to reopen the case. We decided to involve a large number of women. Since the case was against the State, women were reluctant to sign the petition. Somehow we managed to convince 50 women to sign. After attending hearings at the high court and sessions court of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, we decided to document this struggle beginning February 23, 1991. Most people believe that the Kunan Poshpora case was reopened in 2013 and that the people of Kunan Poshpora were silent all these years. But the truth is that they have been fighting injustice since the incident took place.
Rather: While attending the court hearings and trying to learn more about the case, we realised that there was a lot of information, that needed to be organised and put in the public domain. We also realised that there is a need to document the memory of this case. At this point, Zubaan, a leading feminist publishing house, was doing a project on Sexual Violence and Impunity. They got in touch with us through JKCCS (Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society) and decided to publish this document as a book. Both of us took up different aspects of the issue to research and write about. And thus the book was written.
Did the rape survivors feel comfortable sharing all the details of the two-decade-old incident with you, or were they sceptical of being treated as subjects of yet another research or a story?
Mushtaq: After filing the PIL, a group of petitioners went to Kunan Poshpora to inform the villagers about the case. At first, they were reluctant to meet us. They took us to the headman’s house in the village. They started the conversation by saying that many journalists, activists and photographers had come to the village in the past 22 years, but people made money and fame out of their tragedy and left.
When we met a mass rape survivor for the first time, she asked us to switch off our mobiles so that nobody could click any pictures. We have been closely involved with the Kunan Poshpora case and have attended almost every court hearing.
We have visited the twin villages many times and had many informal conversations with village elders, young people and survivors of mass rape and torture. So we share a trust-based relationship.
Rather: It was definitely easier talking to the women. But since we were much younger than the survivors, they did find it a little awkward talking about rape. Initially they were hesitant, but they opened up eventually, talking about the happenings of that night. The people of Kunan Poshpora were happy to know that for the first time, someone visiting them had done some concrete work and that they were not being treated as mere subjects of research. It was thus easy to gain their trust.
How difficult was it to seek reopening of the case and revisiting official records that date back to more than two decades ago? Did the people of Kunan and Poshpora villages cooperate with you when you would visit them to interview survivors?
Mushtaq: It was not easy to get the Kunan Poshpora case files from the police and when we got the files, they were illegible. People of Kunan Poshpora were continuously intimidated by the police, the Indian army and other agencies. But the people are very courageous and wanted to get the incident documented. Women used to revisit the trauma and cry while speaking about the incident.
Rather: Researching and writing about an incident was obviously difficult. We had to rely upon the memories of the survivors. These were memories that had been repressed and bringing them back brought pain and agony. It was a challenge to talk to the survivors as sensitively as possible. Also while researching, there were many reports that we could not find. But the people of Kunan Poshpora were very cooperative and encouraging about the fact that we were putting together their struggle in particular, and of the Kashmiri people, in general, in the form of this book. The elders of the village would have long discussions with us, making sure that we did not miss out on important details of that night and what ensued.
How did following the case and documenting it affect you personally? Did your families support you throughout this period, or were they apprehensive of you getting too involved in a case that questions the impunity of troops and state agencies?
Mushtaq: The women of Kunan Poshpora are courageous. They didn’t quit the case even after being intimidated and threatened. That makes my will to fight against oppression stronger. They inspire me. Initially, my family was not happy about the case and my frequent visits to Kupwara court and Kunan Poshpora. But they never forced me to quit and it worked out.
Rather: For me, researching and writing about this case has been enlightening. I grew up in a comfortable environment and I never had much concern for the Kashmir imbroglio. As I read more about similar cases of rapes by the Indian Armed Forces, I realised that impunity was a pervasive thing and how the state, the judiciary and the administration, all play their roles in protecting the army in cases of violence and abuse. Following up the case made me a witness to how the Indian state employs delaying tactics and how seeking justice in the Indian system is absurd. Luckily for me, my family was very supportive of what I was doing, although they did realise that this was a dangerous domain to venture into. My family did ask me to be cautious but apart from that, I got full support.
What did your research reveal about the probes ordered in the rape incident so far, and have they resulted in any prosecution? The book mentions that in the last 12 twelve years (from 2002 to 2014), “there have been 173 probes instituted which have not resulted in a single prosecution.”
Mushtaq: The AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act) and other draconian laws give perpetrators licence to kill, rape, torture and abduct the people of Kashmir in the name of nationalism.
Rather: One of the tactics of the Indian state in dealing with cases related to army atrocities is ordering probes and setting up enquiry commissions. These probes and commissions are an eyewash.
In many cases, the reports of the enquiry commissions have never been made public or if they have, the facts are misrepresented. Not a single crime committed by the armed forces has been tried in a civilian court and no prosecutions have been made.
The Indian armed forces are protected by the AFSPA but the judiciary and the administration are hand in glove with the perpetrators. This happened in the Kunan Poshpora case, where the enquiry reports falsified the survivors’ claims and accused them of acting at the “behest of the militants”. The Indian state and the armed forces are in complete denial of this.
How did the then police and state government authorities respond to the incident involving the army personnel? Were they unable to bring to book the perpetrators and do justice with the victims?
Mushtaq: The state administration and the police have always tried to bury the truth and provided impunity to the perpetrators since 1991. Improper investigations were carried out by army in which they have labelled the people of Kunan Poshpora as 'militant sympathisers'. (Chapter: Inquires and Impunity, Do You Remember Kunan Poshpora). Wajahat Habibullah, the then Divisional Commissioner, also tried to protect the perpetrators. His report reveals that the state administration also collaborated with the perpetrators to vindicate them.
Rather: After the mass rape happened in Kunan Poshpora, it was a struggle for the people to even have an FIR registered. On the 25th of February 1991, the villages wrote a complaint letter bearing the thumbprints of 30 men and women, but this letter was filed on March 4 and an FIR was registered on March 8 by the then DM, SM Yasin, after protests outside his office. After a series of cover-ups and false investigations by the police, the case was closed as untraced. A closure report was filed in 2013, days before the PIL for the reopening the case was filed. The state administration, including the then Divisional Commissioner, Wajahat Habibullah played an important role in the cover-up.
How difficult have the past two decades been for the rape survivors and their children and families who have had to bear the stigma that came to be associated with the incident?
Mushtaq: It’s difficult for the children of Kunan Poshpora to continue their education as people outside their village humiliate them and are hostile towards them. Getting married has also become difficult for the girls of the village. They have to make compromises in order to get married. People outside village ask them questions about the incident and call them raped women or women of raped village.
Rather: Rape has been used a weapon of war by the Indian armed forces by targeting the patriarchal setup of the society. In a society that expects women to uphold its honour, rape is seen as devastating. Rape survivors become victims of a social stigma and are treated as outcasts. This happened in the case of Kunan Poshpora. It was very difficult to arrange marriages for both young girls and boys. It was more difficult for the girls. Many marriages were a mismatch and girls were forced to accept any proposal that came to them. These women faced insults from their in-laws place for coming from a village where women were raped. Young children were teased and derided in schools/colleges for simply belonging to Kunan Poshpora. Many children dropped out of school owing to the unbearable shame. This is a crime that we must be accused of as a society – of being completely unfair to our own women who suffered for simply being Kashmiris.
The case is now in the Supreme Court, which has stayed the proceedings after the Army objected to fresh investigation. Are you hopeful that the victims will get justice from the Supreme Court?
Mushtaq: Nothing has happened in the Supreme Court till now. We don’t expect justice from the system. But it’s important to show that the system supposed to provide justice is instead protecting the perpetrators.
Rather: The case is currently in the Supreme Court. For the past one year, the Supreme Court has failed to issue notices to the parties in the case. This is indeed just another delaying tactic of the Indian state. Looking at the history of prosecutions in cases of army atrocities, justice is not something that the survivors expect. The struggle is what we see as significant. It is a struggle against giving up and making the Indian state accountable for its crimes.
Majid Maqbool is a Srinagar-based journalist and writer; @MaqboolMajid