Women in Jammu and Kashmir have been hit hard by the armed conflict since past 21 years. Labeled as widows half widows, wives of disappeared or slain husbands, mothers of disappeared sons wives of militants women victims of physical abuse rape victims women heads of households refugee women etc, they are the direct victims of violence ranging from rape to kidnapping murder to molestation. Voices unheard women conflict and Kashmir is a consortium of all such women voices from all the three regions of J and K. The book documents the experiences of Kashmiri women Pandit women Gujjar women Ladakhi women and those serving in the security forces in coping with the impact of conflict and the options before them. While there are stories about the women who faced violence perpetrated against them in politically conflicted and militarized areas that Jammu and Kashmir has become yet there are amazing stories about the resilience of these women who suffered a lot but the conflict provided them a space to resist negotiate cope and survive. These are the stories about their struggles and survival trials and tribulations life and death narrated in their own voices.
By sharing voices of women of Jammu and Kashmir the book tries to examine as how their multiple identities are created and recreated how women live up to their roles and how their roles change because of the situation they are in. Though a number of women perspectives have emerged from Kashmir in the past few years, yet the unique thing about this book is that it brings together a plethora of women voices from all the three regions of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. |
