Voice to the voiceless : Book highlighting Kashmiri women’s struggle launched

ISLAMABAD: Speakers at a book launch here lauded the effort by author Farhana Qazi in portraying the struggle of women living in Indian Kashmir and highlighting their pain and suffering to the world.

The Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad (ISSI) organised a book launch of “Secrets of the Kashmir Valley” by Farhana Qazi on Monday.

Ambassador Masood Khan, director general, ISSI, thanked Farhana Qazi for choosing the ISSI platform to launch her book which was published in India.

Senator Qayyum lauded the efforts of Farzana Qazi and said it was an intellectual endeavour which focused on sufferings in Kashmir. He regretted that the Kashmir dispute had been made a geographical dispute rather than a humanitarian issue.

Farhana Qazi said that her aim to write the book was to give a face to the faceless and highlight the pain and sufferings of the Kashmiri women to the world.

She said that Kashmir had always been defined in geopolitical framework; however, the book focused on the collective effort of Kashmiris.

She said that despite trauma and suffering there was hope among Kashmiri youth.

She made three broad observations that came out of her book: one, women are resilient; two, American involvement in Kashmir is irrelevant; and three, there is a huge demographic change taking place in Kashmir, particularly in terms of the youth bulge and secret societies.

She cherished the fact that Kashmiris were able to speak for themselves and their voices would be heard.

Farzana Yaqoob, minister of Social Welfare and Women Development, Government of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, said that despite the false Indian claims there were people in Indian society such as Arundhati Roy, who support the Kashmiri struggle and highlight the suffering of Kashmiri women.

Ambassador Arif Kamal said that the book described the oral history of women from 2007-2014. He appreciated the efforts made by the author in presenting the resilience and resolve of the Kashmiris through her book.

All the participants lauded the efforts of Farhana Qazi in highlighting the problems faced by the Kashmiris through her writings.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 31^st, 2016.