pakistan.......i still remember ...my bangldeshi frind said,...he is a "war
child" of 1971.....who did that? is that indians or pakistani? ......
I don't belong to B'desh...but that is my second home....
why shud u all think about kashimere ..when u urself having kasmire in ur
country...pls respond.....i have seen political situation in the south
asia...i found bangldesh is the worst one...if u consider the present
scenario...why ...the deep sea port to USA? ..why the goverment hasn't
prepared for the recent cyclone and is asking fro 1 biillon help from other
countries..lets make our home safe first and then talk about others...my
wife is bangldeshi...thast why i told u all this...
chao.....rahul
>From: "Md. Aminul Islam" <aminul_islam_raj@yahoo.com>
>Reply-To: chottala@yahoogroups.com
>To: khabor@yahoogroups.com, notunbangladesh@yahoogroups.com,
>vinnomot@yahoogroups.com, dahuk dahuk <dahuk@yahoogroups.com>,
>sonarbangladesh@yahoogroups.com, chottala@yahoogroups.com
>Subject: [chottala.com] Re: [Dahuk]: The plight of Kashmir's 'half widows'
>Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2007 00:26:16 -0800 (PST)
>
>we pray to Allah for the end of oppression in Kashmir by the Indians.
>
>mokarram hossain <mokarram76@yahoo.com> wrote: source:
>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7097737.stm
>
> The plight of Kashmir's 'half widows'
>
> By Altaf Hussain
>BBC News, Srinagar
>
>
> The half widows hold protest rallies every month
>
> "Every day I wake up in the morning, I think he might be at the door. In
>the evening while I lay the table for dinner, my eyes are fixed at the door
>in the hope that he may just come in," says Zainab, whose husband went
>missing 10 years ago. Zainab's husband was allegedly arrested by soldiers
>fighting separatist militants in Indian-administered Kashmir in a conflict
>notorious for its human rights abuses. There has been no information
>about him since then. Zainab is someone that people in Kashmir refer to
>as a "half widow". A prominent human rights organisation, the Coalition
>of Civil Society, says there are between 1,500 and 2000 half widows in the
>state. Most have given up hope that their men will ever return. Yet
>hardly any are ready to marry again. 'Worse than a widow' Shabnam was
>married to a lorry driver, Abdul Rashid, for 12 years when he disappeared
>in 1997. Shabnam has spent 'a fortune' trying to find her
>husband
>
> "My parents insisted that I should re-marry. But I thought of my
>children. I am both mother and father to them. I cannot desert them," she
>says. Shabnam breaks down while talking about her husband. "I miss
>Rashid so often and miss him so badly. My heart bleeds for him. He was such
>a good man. I cannot find another Rashid," she says. "Had it not been for
>my children, I couldn't have lived." Rafiqa, whose husband disappeared 13
>years ago, says a half widow is worse than a widow. "If I knew for sure
>that my husband was dead, I would give up on him. But, we have been kept in
>the dark. We think he might still be alive. The uncertainty is so agonising
>- for me, for the children, for everyone." The half widows are worse off
>for one more reason. They have to spend a "fortune" to search for their
>missing husbands. Duped "We visited every detention centre across the
>state. We had to spend a huge sum of money. We sold our house and several
>household articles. But
> all in vain," says Shabnam. Many such women have been defrauded of
>their money by rogues. "Many people came to me saying they had seen my
>husband. I paid them a lot of money to buy his freedom. I could have set
>aside the money for my children. First I lost my husband and then my money
>too," says Rafiqa. Some half widows have been supported by their parents,
>in-laws or other close relatives. Thousands of civilians
>have disappeared in Kashmir since 1991
>
> But in most cases the relatives themselves are too poor to do much for
>them. Safia, who lives in Rajbagh in Srinagar, says, "My only brother is
>a meagrely paid salesman. What can he do for me? Both my parents are ill.
>Everyone from my husband's family has been caring, but they have their own
>families to look after." Safia had to give up her teaching job for health
>reasons. She has now set up a stationery shop to make a living. The
>president of the Coalition of Civil Society, Pervez Imroz, says 85% of the
>half widows are poor as most of the disappeared men were from the weaker
>sections of society. Traumatised "It is the backward communities that
>are most vulnerable to human rights violations because they are voiceless,
>powerless," he says. Mr Imroz says a recent survey by his group in
>Baramullah district indicates that more than 60% of the disappeared persons
>were civilians; only the remaining were militants or those connected to
>them. Mr Imroz says the half
> widows and their children also suffer from post traumatic distress
>syndrome (PTDS). "They need counselling but none is available to them,"
>he says. Many of the half widows have been campaigning under the banner
>of the APDP (Association of the Parents of Disappeared Persons). They
>hold protest rallies and demonstrations at least once every month. They
>have also filed petitions in the state high court which, given the slow
>pace of the Indian judiciary, makes justice a distant dream. They have
>been demanding that the government declare their missing husbands dead if
>they are not alive. Theoretically, the government has to pay 100,000
>rupees ($2,500) and provide job to one family member as compensation to the
>kin of any civilian killed by militants or the security forces. But the
>family of a missing person has to wait for five years before they can apply
>for such benefits. The APDP says less than 400 half widows have received
>the relief. The authorities put the
> number of missing people at 3,931 but APDP says 8,000 to 10,000 people,
>mostly civilian, have disappeared since the outbreak of the armed conflict
>in Kashmir 19 years ago.
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