• Dr. Showkat Ahmad Wani

It is easy to say that this is the age of women empowerment when we take a look at ongoing trends in the world but how far is the notion of women empowerment valid When it comes to the disturbed areas, that still remains a question. We live in a world that is now of a multipolar nature and accordingly people in different realms have different ideologies. There are still places in the world whereby women are considered to be inferior to men and men are considered far more superior both physically and intellectually than their male counterparts. How far this notion is correct, everyone does know it very well. Women in India have a long history of struggle towards getting their basic and fundamental rights secured and yet, even at this point wherein we have plethora of laws meant for the benefit and protection of women, there are endless cases of Women discrimination against women happening all across the country at any given point of time. Kashmir is also seeing its share of discrimination against women when it comes to the handling of law and order and insurgency situations by the security forces. No matter who gets killed or injured, it is mostly women who are at the receiving end and since they are already considered as a vulnerable group, Women in Kashmir have become vulnerable to an utmost and an alarming level. From wailing mothers to Rape victims, from half widows to cold blooded murders, the women of Kashmir have seen it all. Who is responsible for all of it? Well, there is no single perpetrator of these acts nor is the state alone wholly responsible. But how far the rights of women have been violated through all these times and how effective have the laws been in securing the rights of the women of Kashmir, that is yet to be determined and once we know, how women rights are affected in Kashmir we will get to know the fact too as to why laws fail to get implemented in the valley and why no one takes responsibility of the acts that violate the basic, human and fundamental rights of women.

Gender Discrimination, Sexual Abuse, Authorities, Human Rights, Vulnerable groups, Insurgency, CASO, Collective Punishments, State and Non-State Actors.

"WOMEN OF CONFLICT: HUMAN RIGHTS AND KASHMIR", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.5, Issue 11, page no.254-262, November 2018, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIRDR06040.pdf

"WOMEN OF CONFLICT: HUMAN RIGHTS AND KASHMIR", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.5, Issue 11, page no. pp254-262, November 2018, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIRDR06040.pdf