Muzaffarabad,
Pakistan administrated Jammu and Kashmir:
Saturday, September 10, 2010
A large
number of women protested against the recent activities of some banned Kashmiri
militant groups in Neelum valley area, reported Press For Peace (PFP) a civil
society organization working in Pakistan administrated part of Kashmir.
“Recent
movement of militants of outlawed Jahdi organizations in border areas, especially
Neelum valley, is a great danger for the peace in the local area,” women protestors
told Pakistani army officials.
Three
Pakistani troopers and one Indian soldier were killed on the concluding day of
last month in an exchange of fire by the rival militaries across their
sensitive border in divided Kashmir two weeks ago. And situation is still tense
as some more incidents of firing have been reported during last week.
According to
details compiled by Press For Peace (PFP) a local peace group, dozens of local women, some of them students,
marched from Shah Kot area to Athmuqam -a small town located along Line of Control
(LoC), which divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
They marched
to the local headquarters of Pakistan army and conveyed their demands to the
officials.
Women urged
upon Pakistani army to stop the movement of militants across the Line of
Control.
They warned
that militants would not be allowed to use the local land for their anti-
people designs.
“Local people
cannot afford another war- like situation and we would resist any possible efforts
conceived to ruin the peace along the border region”, they added.
They said
that people of Neelum Valley and other border areas have paid heavy price
during the shelling across the LoC before the ceasefire.
A ceasefire
has come into effect along the informal border dividing Indian- and
Pakistani-administered Kashmir on November, 2003.
Pakistani and
Indian armies have been trading heavy firing and shelling on defecto -border of
Kashmir when militancy erupted in Indian administrated Kashmir in 1989.
Remembering
the tragic outcomes and memories of those days,
Kashmiri women protesterers said that this war like situation lost our
generation.
“Our children
were abandoned illiterate, we lost our homes hospitals, and other basic
infrastructures due to the war, but we were not rehabilitated by the
government.”
They also called
upon Pakistani and Indian armies to reduce the tension on the borders.
PFP observed
that local media did not give any coverage to this procession which demanded
peace on the LoC. One of possible reasons of this media silence could be fear
of possible pressure from Jihadi organizations and other official circles that
have soft corner for militants. In the past Press for Peace (PFP) activists
have been threatened by state and non-state actors for carrying pro- peace
campaigns in these areas.
Leave Your Comments