Gender violence in Kashmir, the systematic targeting of women through forced marriages and female deportation
Gender violence in Kashmir, the systematic targeting of women through forced marriages and female deportation
Gender violence in Kashmir, the systematic targeting of women through forced marriages and female deportation
1.Abstract
The
Kashmir conflict, marked by militarization and displacement, has severe yet
underexplored gendered consequences. This study examines how women are
systematically targeted through forced marriages and deportation, practices
that function as tools of coercion, cultural erasure, and population control.
Drawing on Human Security and Feminist International Relations frameworks, the
research shows women face double marginalization: direct violence and lack of
legal protection. Findings reveal forced marriages dismantle cultural identity
while deportation uproots women into lasting insecurity. The study underscores
the urgent need for accountability, policy reforms, and stronger human rights
interventions in Kashmir.
2.Introduction
The Kashmir conflict, one of the
longest-running territorial disputes in modern history, has produced a
humanitarian crisis with profound gendered dimensions. Since the late 1980s,
armed insurgency and militarization have resulted in widespread violence, mass
displacement, and systemic human rights violations. While both men and women
have suffered from the conflict, women’s experiences have been uniquely
traumatic, marked by forced displacement, coercion, and violations of bodily
autonomy .The displacement of Kashmiri Pandits in the early 1990s was
accompanied by targeted harassment of women, where threats of sexual violence
and public intimidation were deliberately employed to instill fear and drive
migration [1]Women
were forced to leave their homes and communities, finding themselves in
unfamiliar regions without social networks, legal support, or institutional
protection.
The use of forced marriages and
deportation has compounded this vulnerability, functioning as systematic
strategies of control. In conflict-affected societies, women are often treated
as symbolic bearers of cultural identity, making them prime targets for
coercion. Forced marriages during armed
conflicts serve to assimilate women into hostile groups and dismantle the
cultural continuity of their natal communities.[2] In
Kashmir, anecdotal evidence points to cases where women were coerced into
marriages with members of militant or opposing communities under the threat of
violence. Similarly, deportation of women whether through direct intimidation,
false accusations, or deception has been used to uproot them from their
environments, erasing their cultural identity and reducing their security. Such
practices not only silence women but also weaken the social fabric of entire
communities.
Despite significant scholarship
on displacement and militarization in Kashmir, there remains a notable research
gap concerning the specific dynamics of forced marriages and female
deportation. Many scholarly work provide detailed insights into displacement
and harassment but devote less attention to marriage coercion, while it develops
a theoretical framework for gender violence in conflict zones its without
empirical depth on Kashmir.[3]
This absence of focused research on these practices has led to an
underestimation of how deeply they impact women’s autonomy, dignity, and
identity in Kashmir.
This study seeks to address this
gap by analyzing how forced marriages and female deportation function as
deliberate tools of control in conflict-affected Kashmir. It builds upon the
Human Security approach, which emphasizes the protection of individuals over
the state, and Feminist International Relations, which critiques the neglect of
gender in conflict analysis. The central research question guiding this study
is: How are women more prone to forced marriages and female deportation in
conflict-affected Kashmir? The hypothesis underpinning this inquiry is that
forced marriages and female deportation in Kashmir are used as tools of control
due to militarization, the absence of legal protection and accountability
mechanisms.
By focusing on these dimensions,
the research highlights how women in Kashmir are subjected not only to direct
violence but also to structural forms of coercion that reinforce their
vulnerability and perpetuate cycles of insecurity.
3.Historical
Context
The conflict in Jammu and Kashmir
is rooted in the unresolved legacies of partition, contested sovereignty, and
the intensification of militarization since 1947. Women have disproportionately
borne the brunt of this protracted violence, as their bodies and social roles
have been transformed into battlegrounds upon which questions of honour,
identity, and power are played out. Legal frameworks such as the Armed Forces
Special Powers Act (AFSPA) grant extraordinary powers to security forces,
including the right to search, seize, arrest, and use lethal force without
accountability, creating a system of near-total impunity.[4]
This legislation entrenches militarization as the dominant mode of governance
in the region and erodes protections for civilian populations.[5]
The presence of half a million
troops and fortified camps since the late 1980s has blurred the line between
battlefield and community, destroying spaces of safety for women.[6]
The normalization of violence in the public sphere inevitably seeps into
domestic spaces, producing what feminist theorists describe as a continuum of
violence, where the boundaries between political and personal violence
collapse.[7]
Within this continuum, forced marriages and female deportation emerge not as
isolated practices but as extensions of entrenched militarization.
4.Legal
Impunity and Sexual Violence as a Weapon of War
A major theme across the literature
is the weaponization of sexual violence, enabled by laws that guarantee
impunity. AFSPA has been described as a modern-day Rowlatt Act that has
produced a “culture of impunity,” allowing rape to be used systematically as
punishment against Kashmiri resistance.[8]
Analyses of incidents from 1991 to 2016, including the Kunan Poshpora case,
reveal consistent patterns: investigations obstructed, survivors silenced, and
perpetrators shielded by military authorities.[9]Not
a single successful prosecution has followed decades of allegations, confirming
that sexual violence functions as sanctioned policy rather than individual
misconduct.[10]
The scale of abuse is staggering.
Between 1989 and 2016, more than 10,000 cases of rape and molestation were
officially reported, though many more remain unreported due to fear of stigma
and reprisal.[11]
Rape in Kashmir is not an incidental byproduct of war but a deliberate tactic
of counterinsurgency a tool of humiliation, domination, and collective
punishment. International observers, including Human Rights Watch, describe it
as a “weapon of suppression.”[12]
Testimonies of women trafficked from regions
like West Bengal and sold as brides into Kashmiri households demonstrate the
commodification of female bodies under conflict.[13]
Though these accounts differ from academic research in method, they provide
crucial lived evidence of how militarization and patriarchy intersect to deny
women autonomy.
The theoretical implication is
clear: impunity transforms sexual violence into a deliberate weapon of war.
Feminist scholars argue that militarized masculinity thrives in such contexts,
equating domination over territory with domination over women’s bodies.[14]
5.Forced
Marriages, Widowhood, and Coercive Patriarchy
Beyond physical violence, the
conflict creates conditions where women are coerced into exploitative social
arrangements, particularly forced marriages and widow remarriages. Women whose
husbands have disappeared commonly termed half-widows are left in conditions of
economic precarity and social stigma.[15]
They are often pressured by families or community elders into remarriage,
sometimes with relatives of their missing husbands, under the guise of
protection and economic stability. Such practices reinforce patriarchal control
while denying women autonomy.
Feminist perspectives highlight
that half-widows occupy an especially precarious intersection of militarization
and patriarchy. They are stigmatized as inauspicious, denied inheritance
rights, and excluded from social participation.[16] Postcolonial
critiques add that dominant feminist discourses in India often erase these
realities, attributing Kashmiri women’s oppression solely to “Islamic
patriarchy” while ignoring the central role of military occupation.[17]
The collapse of household security
caused by militarization also fuels coercive marriages. When men are killed,
imprisoned, or disappear, families often push women into marriages framed as
survival strategies.[18]
This dynamic reveals how militarization reshapes gender relations by scripting
women’s roles as dependent subjects. Journalistic evidence similarly
underscores how trafficked women, promised livelihoods, are instead sold into
marriage markets in Kashmir, commodifying them under the pretext of family
protection.[19]
6.Female
Deportation and Displacement
Another key mechanism of control
is the forced displacement of women, either within or beyond the valley.
Following incidents of mass sexual violence, survivors are frequently
stigmatized and expelled from their communities, resulting in what has been
termed “social death.”[20]
In the aftermath of Kunan Poshpora, entire villages of survivors were
ostracized, with women unable to secure marriage partners and often forced to
leave their homes. Families, fearful of dishonour or retaliation, sometimes
send female relatives away, effectively deporting them from their own
communities.
The repression of protests and
violent crackdowns further drive female displacement.[21]
Such relocations are rarely voluntary; they are shaped by structural coercion
where stigma, fear, and militarization leave women with no choice but to leave.
The collapse of human security economic, personal, and community under
prolonged conflict ensures that displacement becomes an unavoidable outcome for
many.[22]
Journalistic accounts again
illustrate this reality. Women trafficked into Kashmir are displaced not only
from their communities but also across regional and cultural boundaries, cut
off from kinship networks and absorbed into exploitative households.[23]
Deportation, in this sense, is both social and spatial: whether through
community rejection or cross-border trafficking, women are stripped of /security,
dignity, and belonging.
7.Theoretical
Frameworks: Feminist and Human Security Approaches
Feminist and human security
theories provide indispensable tools for analyzing gender-based violence in
Kashmir. Feminist perspectives emphasize that war and gender relations are
mutually constitutive, with militarization reinforcing patriarchal control and
scripting women’s roles as subordinate dependents.[24]They
also stress intersectionality, noting that class, religion, and regional
location shape how women experience conflict. Postcolonial feminist critiques
further reveal how dominant discourses obscure Kashmiri women’s political
realities, reducing them to cultural symbols rather than political actors.[25]
Feminist Security Studies (FSS)
extends this analysis by framing militarization as a structure that pervades
both public and private life. Concepts such as “militarized masculinity”
explain how violence against women becomes normalized as an extension of state
power.[26]
Within this framework, sexual violence is not incidental but strategic an
institutionalized method of domination.
Human security theory complements
this approach by shifting focus away from state sovereignty toward individual
survival, dignity, and livelihood.[27]
In Kashmir, the collapse of these securities through loss of income,
displacement, and constant militarized surveillance explains the proliferation
of practices like forced marriages and deportation. International frameworks
such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and UN Security Council
Resolution 1325 underscore the normative obligation to protect women in
conflict, obligations that remain unfulfilled in Kashmir.[28]
Together, these theoretical
lenses demonstrate that forced marriages and deportation are not aberrations
but systemic extensions of conflict-related gender violence, embedded in
militarized and patriarchal structures.
8.Psychological
Trauma and Social Stigma
The effects of violence on women in Kashmir
extend far beyond the immediate act, producing long-term psychological and
social consequences. Survivors frequently experience post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, and in some cases suicidal ideation,
caused both by the violence itself and the lack of accountability.[29]
The case of Kunan Poshpora is particularly revealing: the entire village became
stigmatized as the “village of raped girls,” with women unable to find marriage
partners and living under collective shame.[30]
In another case, a woman named Shakeela was abandoned by her husband after
bearing a child conceived through rape, underscoring how patriarchal blame
compounds trauma.[31]
This phenomenon is described as “social death,” where survivors are
ostracized, excluded from economic opportunities, and denied normal social
relations.[32]
the psychological trauma of survivors is aggravated by the absence of justice,
leaving wounds unhealed for decades.[33]
Journalistic accounts, such as the Al Jazeera feature on trafficked women sold
as brides, add another layer: displaced women suffer both physical and mental
abuse, isolated from kinship networks and trapped in households where shame and
silence dominate their existence.³³ Stigma, in this sense, not only silences
survivors but actively enables perpetrators by discouraging reporting and
sustaining impunity.
9.Economic
Insecurity and the Burden of Survival
Conflict-related violence has
also left Kashmiri women burdened with unprecedented economic responsibilities.
With thousands of men killed, disappeared, or imprisoned, women are often
forced into the role of primary earners without education or financial
security.[34]
The loss of male breadwinners drives women into “unpleasant responsibilities”
such as low-paying labor or coerced remarriages framed as survival strategies.[35]
Half-widows face an even more precarious existence, denied property and
inheritance rights while struggling to provide for their children.[36]
These vulnerabilities are further
exploited by trafficking networks. In many cases poverty
in states like West Bengal fuels the trafficking of women into Kashmir, where
they are sold into exploitative marriages under the guise of economic
opportunity.[37]
In such cases, female displacement and forced marriage are not only outcomes of
militarization but also symptoms of economic desperation. Public protests
against violence often spiral into instability, exacerbating the climate of
economic insecurity that pushes families to desperate choices.[38]Thus,
economic precarity functions as a structural form of violence, forcing women
into marriages or displacements that strip them of autonomy.
10.International
Human Rights and the Silencing of Kashmiri Women
Despite extensive documentation,
international responses to gender-based violence in Kashmir remain limited and
inconsistent. Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and
Human Rights Watch, have repeatedly condemned the use of rape as a weapon of
war, yet little tangible accountability has followed.[39]
Reports highlight that Indian military authorities routinely obstruct
investigations, producing a culture of impunity that contradicts international
human rights obligations.[40]
Human security theory, invoked in
the study, critiques this failure by emphasizing the security of individuals
rather than states. UN frameworks such as the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights affirm the right to life, liberty, and security of person, while
Security Council Resolution 1325 calls for the protection of women in conflict
and their participation in peace processes.[41]
Yet women in Kashmir remain excluded from formal negotiations and are silenced
by both state narratives of “national security” and patriarchal community
pressures.[42]
Scholars note that even within
feminist discourse in India, Kashmiri women are often marginalized portrayed
either as victims of “Islamic patriarchy” or reduced to symbolic figures rather
than active political actors.[43]
This erasure deepens their vulnerability by denying them agency in shaping the
terms of justice and peace. In sum, the literature underscores that the
silencing of Kashmiri women in international and domestic fora perpetuates
cycles of impunity, leaving structural violence unchallenged
11.Conclusion
This paper demonstrates that gender-based violence in Kashmir is systemic, strategic, and rooted in militarized impunity. From sexual violence to forced marriages, from social ostracism to female deportation, women’s lives are systematically targeted as part of broader strategies of control. The combination of militarized governance, patriarchal norms, and economic vulnerability converge to deny women autonomy and dignity. Feminist and human security theories underscore that these practices are not peripheral but central to the functioning of militarized conflict.
Feminism reveals how women’s bodies are turned into battlegrounds of patriarchal and military control, while human security shifts attention to the lived insecurities economic, psychological, and social that force women into coerced marriages or exile. This study thus positions forced marriages and deportation as critical mechanisms through which conflict perpetuates gendered subjugation, ensuring that violence against women operates not only as physical assault but also as structural domination embedded in the fabric of Kashmiri society.
[1] Haq, S., & Sofi, A. Displacement and Gendered Violence in the Kashmir Valley: An Analysis. Journal of Political Studies, 2020
[2] Vanniaskam, Shelani. Thesis on Gendered Violence in Conflict: Comparative Study, 2017.
[3] Haq & Sofi, Displacement and Gendered Violence; Vanniaskam, Thesis on Gendered Violence in Conflict.
[4] Pakistan Vision 17, no. 1 (2016): 253
[5] Pakistan Vision 17, no. 1 (2016): 254
[6] Journal of Women, Peace & Security 1, no. 1 (2024): 46–48
[7] Armed Conflicts and Domestic Violence: The Case of Kashmir (MA thesis, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, 2022), 9.
[8] Pakistan Vision 17, no. 1 (2016): 253.
[9] Journal of Women, Peace & Security 1, no. 1 (2024): 49.
[10] Journal of Women, Peace & Security 1, no. 1 (2024): 49
[11] Pakistan Vision 17, no. 1 (2016): 254
[12] Pakistan Vision 17, no. 1 (2016): 255, 261
[13] Rifat Fareed, “‘We have no one’: The Women and Girls Sold as Brides in Kashmir,” Al Jazeera, January 15, 2023.
[14] Laura Sjoberg and Sandra Via, Gender, War, and Militarism: Feminist Perspectives (Santa Barbara: Praeger, 2010), 8
[15] Pakistan Vision 17, no. 1 (2016): 268
[16] Journal of Gender Studies 33, no. 2 (2024): 117
[17] Journal of Gender Studies 33, no. 2 (2024): 120.
[18] Pakistan Journal of International Affairs 5, no. 1 (2022): 87.
[19] Rifat Fareed, “‘We have no one’: The Women and Girls Sold as Brides in Kashmir.”
[20] Pakistan Vision 17, no. 1 (2016): 268–269
[21] Journal of Women, Peace & Security 1, no. 1 (2024): 47–48.
[22] Armed Conflicts and Domestic Violence: The Case of Kashmir (2022), 10.
[23] Rifat Fareed, “‘We have no one’: The Women and Girls Sold as Brides in Kashmir.”
[24] Journal of Gender Studies 33, no. 2 (2024): 118.
[25] Chandra Talpade Mohanty, “Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses,” Boundary 2 12, no. 3 (1984): 333–358.
[26] Pakistan Journal of International Affairs 5, no. 1 (2022): 90.
[27] Sabina Alkire, “A Conceptual Framework for Human Security,” CRISE Working Paper 2 (2003): 2–5.
[28] United Nations Security Council, Resolution 1325, “Women, Peace and Security,” October 31, 2000
[29] Muhammad Uzair and Qaisar Khalid Mahmood, “Conflict-Related Sexual Violence (CRSV) In Indian Occupied Kashmir: An Examination of Rape Incidents Committed by Indian Forces,” Journal of Women, Peace & Security 1, no. 1 (2024): 48.
[30] Massarrat Abid and Ayesha Ashfaq, “Atrocities on Woman Committed by Indian Armed Forces in the Indian Held Kashmir,” Pakistan Vision 17, no. 1 (2016): 268.
[31] Abid and Ashfaq, “Atrocities on Woman,” 268.
[32] Abid and Ashfaq, 269
[33] Uzair and Mahmood, “Conflict-Related Sexual Violence,” 49.
[34] Rifat Fareed, “‘We Have No One’: The Women and Girls Sold as Brides in Kashmir,” Al Jazeera, January 15, 2023, https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/1/15/we-have-no-one-the-women-and-girls-sold-as-brides-in-kashmir.
[35] Uzair and Mahmood, “Conflict-Related Sexual Violence,” 48.
[36] Abid and Ashfaq, “Atrocities on Woman,” 269.
[37] Sonia Zeeshan and Hanife Aliefendioglu, “Kashmiri Women in Conflict: A Feminist Perspective,” Women’s Studies International Forum 101 (2024): 9.
[38] Fareed, “‘We Have No One’.”
[39] Uzair and Mahmood, “Conflict-Related Sexual Violence,” 47
[40] izzat Razzak and Muhammad Usman Askari, “Militarization and Violence against Women in Indian Held Kashmir: An Analysis of International Human Rights Discourse,” Orient Research Journal of Social Sciences 7, no. 1 (2022): 123.
[41] Uzair and Mahmood, “Conflict-Related Sexual Violence,” 46.
[42] Razzak and Askari, “Militarization and Violence,” 125.
[43] Zeeshan and Aliefendioglu, “Kashmiri Women in Conflict,” 11.
Related Research Papers
