Journal of Information and Computational Science ISSN: 1548-7741 Armed Conflict and Violence against Women in Jammu and Kashmir 1Bilal Ahmad Mir 2Dr. K. Somasundaran Ph. D. Research Scholar, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Department of Sociology, Annamalai University Annamalai University Abstract: The aim of this study to highlight the dimensions of violence against women in an armed conflict situation. A quantitative study was adopted for this study. The multi-stage sampling technique was adopted. The primary information gathered from 339 married respondents belonged to 18- 40 years of age group by using an interview schedule. The simple Frequency and Mean-Rank Method were applied for the analyses. As per the analysis, data reveals that 88.5 per cent respondent have faced violence due to the armed conflict. Majority of the have faced violence in the form of; threaten, abuse, eve-teasing are at the top in the hierarchy according to Mean Rank Method. The result also shows that the respondents were faced violence by different armed groups, among them; 60.6 per cent respondents were faced by security forces and 52.5 per cent respondents stated that they have fear of social ostracism otherwise they can complain against them. So, it could be concluded that women are directly or indirectly facing violence due to armed groups in the conflict situation. Keywords: Armed conflict, Jammu and Kashmir, Violence, Women. Introduction Violence experienced by women and girls in an armed conflict, ranging violence from physical, sexual to psychological perpetrated by both state and non-state actors. They are involved in murder, unlawful killings, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, abductions, maiming and mutilation. The forced recruitment of women combatants, rape, sexual slavery, sexual exploitation, involuntary disappearance, arbitrary detention, forced marriage of women, forced prostitution, forced abortion, forced pregnancy and forced sterilization. Sexual violence has been used in an armed conflict situation for many different reasons, including in the form of torture, to inflict injury, to extract information, to degrade and intimidate, and to destroy communities. Rape of women has been used to humiliate opponents, to drive communities and groups off the land and to willfully spread HIV. They have been forced to perform sexual and domestic slave labour, abducted and then forced to serve as ‘wives’ to reward fighters. Volume 9 Issue 8 - 2019 464 www.joics.org Journal of Information and Computational Science ISSN: 1548-7741 Violence against women clear-cut itself as physical, sexual, emotional and economic. The most universally general forms of violence include; domestic and intimate partner violence, sexual violence (including rape), sexual harassment, and psychological violence. Sexual violence as a tactic of warfare and in the aftermath of emergencies is also common in the respective countries and affected areas. Violence against women is one of the most systematic and widespread human rights violations. It is rooted in gendered social structures rather than individual and random acts; it cuts across age, socio-economic, educational and geographic boundaries; affects all societies, and is a major obstacle to ending gender inequality and discrimination globally UN General Assembly (2006). The United Nations defines violence against women as “any act of gender- based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or any other form of suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life”. Presently, Kashmir is known more for violence less for scenic beauty. Last two decades, the conflict has not only made an irreparable loss to life and property but has done unimaginable harm to the womenfolk, who are at the receiving end directly and indirectly. The state authorities in a war situation used strict measures which include a curfew, search operations, arrests and third-degree torture which inflicted a devastating impact upon the local population, especially on women. It has been reported that around one lakh people have lost their lives in conflict mostly youth community and 10 lakh have injured due to the heavy weapons used. It has also been estimated that around 50,000 women have lost their husbands 4000 persons have disappeared in this ongoing conflict. Sexual violence against women not only occurs but is an essential aspect of conflict history. In Kashmir security forces have used it to intimidate, punish, coerce, humiliate and degrade the womenfolk. However, most of the crimes committed in Kashmir through security agencies went unnoticed because the victims used to face intimidation and social stigma. The conflict disrupted their education, job opportunities, and overall development, besides mental disorders assumed considerable importance among women in Kashmir due to the ongoing conflict. It reported from different studies, the psychiatric morbidity in patients increased from 9 to 25 per cent in 1995. As “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life”. Review of Literature Violence against women is a farthest form of male control over women. Men’s violence pushes women into a subordinate position. Domestic violence against women is on the rise in Jammu and Kashmir. Even the educated and the economically independent women are at the receiving end, according to anecdotal evidence contained in police data (Sharma, 2010). During the last two decades, violence against women has increased, and militancy and the effect of armed conflict had made the situation tenser. Domestic violence in the state are practised against Volume 9 Issue 8 - 2019 465 www.joics.org Journal of Information and Computational Science ISSN: 1548-7741 the women residing in urban as well as rural and in all economic, educational, cultural, social and age group and classes. About 15% of married women are physically and mentally tortured (Dabla, 2009). Ghulam Sarwer (2017) analysed that women in many regions of Jammu and Kashmir are still facing the issues and challenges related to education, health, domestic violence, politics, declining sex ratio, state violence, dowry harassment, eve-teasing, unequal wage, child labour and female feticide and infanticide etc. The armed struggle emerged in the late 1980s for the right to self-determination, mostly by the youth of Kashmir valley against India had a massive impact on the people of Kashmir at the whole especially women and children. There have been cases of both sexual and physical violence against women, committed by both, state as well as non-state actors (Nabi & Sharief, 2017). February 23, 1991, in Kunan Poshspora incident, occurred when units of the army launched a search operation in the village of Kunan Poshpora, located in Kashmir valley, Kupwara District. At least 53 women were allegedly gang-raped by soldiers during the night time. However, Human Rights organizations including Human Rights watch have reported that the number of raped women could be as high as 100 (Mattu, 2002). The Shopian rape and murder case is the alleged abduction, rape and murder of Asiya and Neelofar in mysterious circumstances between 29 and 30 May 2009 at Bongam, Shopian District. These two women were sisters-in-law went missing from their orchard on the way home at evening on 29 June 2009. The next day early morning, their dead bodies were found one kilometre apart to each other (GK, 2009). So many other cases occurred like in the State from last twenty years due to political turmoil. Statement of the Problem The effects of conflicts in Kashmir over have been documented in scholarly literature. These include death, displacement, health, and education. In the view of Yahaya (2011) conflicts banking, disrupts markets, and credit systems. In the dearth of all these facilities, life becomes unendurable for the society at the whole, but women face the consequences more than men because of cultural roles assign to them. Nevertheless, even when exposed to actual armed violence is limited, the effects in terms of income, loss of security, and displacement, service access and other such processes are considered. The discriminatory employment practices, limited access to schools and other facilities may have an extreme impact on women and result in a wide range of human rights violations. It is in line with this that this paper sought to study the dimensions of violence facing by women in the conflict situation due to the different armed groups in Shopian District, Jammu and Kashmir. The main objectives of this paper to examine the different dimensions of violence against women by the armed groups and why they are not a complaint against these armed groups in Shopian District of Jammu and Kashmir. Volume 9 Issue 8 - 2019 466 www.joics.org Journal of Information and Computational Science ISSN: 1548-7741 Consequently, little known about how women in conflict-affected communities experience the effects of armed conflict, or what legal and practical means exist to aid and support them. It has severe consequences for policy and programmatic interventions since effective measures require a full understanding of both the overall situation concerning armed conflict,