On Wednesday evening, a large crowd gathered in front of the FC paramilitary building in Gilgit. The protesters accused the FC staff of molesting and raping local minor boys and offering them money to cover up the horrible crimes.
The Pakistani military’s sexual attacks on people in occupied Gilgit Baltistan are nothing new. Pakistani military staff feel that they are above civilian laws and thus unaccountable to local authorities. It is common in Gilgit Baltistan for police to be afraid and hesitant about filing an investigation report against the military. Local activist Manzoor Parwana established a magazine called Kargil International a few years ago, which, among other themes, also documented sexual abuse committed by Pakistani forces against women and children in Gilgit Baltistan.
In Kharmang district, a local man murdered a Pakistani soldier for raping his wife. He claimed that the law enforcement and the judiciary neglected to assist him against the accused. He had no choice but to take matters into his own hands since the protectors had become predators. Following such reports, authorities, under military pressure, closed the Kargil magazine and filed a sedition case against Manzoor Parwana.
Women in the Gangche district migrate to high pastures throughout the summer to graze their livestock. Locals claim that Pakistani soldiers stationed at mountain posts pursue the women for sexual favors. A big protest broke out in front of a police station in Sino village after a soldier attacked a female shepherd and slashed open her stomach for resisting rape. The protesters accused the police of shielding the soldiers and refusing to record the complaint. In the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, there is no justice or respect for the people of occupied Gilgit Baltistan.
In previous articles, I described how Pakistani soldiers and Islamic terrorists molest and rape children and women in Pakistan-occupied Jammu Kashmir (POJK). During cross-border shelling, soldiers enter the bunkers and underground shelters, such as in the Kishanganga valley, to rape the girls. Many girls were reported to have become pregnant, with some even committing suicide to avoid societal humiliation.
There is a long history of the Pakistani army raping its own citizens. In modern-day Bangladesh, which was once called East Pakistan, the Punjabi military officers justified raping Bengali women by claiming that they should not be expected to travel all the way back to Punjab for intimacy. General Niazi encouraged his soldiers to rape Bengali women to change the racial makeup of East Pakistan. The army held the Bengali women as sex slaves in their camps. According to the New York Times, 563 women kept in military brothels were not released because they were pregnant to the point where abortions were not possible.
According to media accounts, Pakistani soldiers force their way into homes in occupied Pashtunistan, molesting and raping women. The Balochistan press frequently reports that the Pakistani military kidnaps Baloch women for supposedly assisting the separatists and subsequently rape them in torture cells.
The people of Balochistan, Pashtunistan, Gilgit, and POJK are demanding freedom from Pakistan because the military rulers are above the law and refuse to allow people to live with dignity.
The British established Pakistan as a client state so that military mercenaries could continue to perform dirty strategic work for their masters. This country was not founded with the intention of ensuring its residents’ rights, security, and dignity. In this country, founded in the name of Islam, Islamic laws are only a means for controlling and oppressing people, not for granting them respect and rights. Only the dissolution of Pakistan will provide a sigh of relief to the occupied minorities and persecuted people.
Senge Sering
Senge Sering is a native of Pakistan-occupied-Gilgit-Baltistan and runs the Washington DC based Gilgit Baltistan Studies
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