HOW KASHMIR TURNED INTO A HUB OF SEXUAL EXPLOITATION BY JIHADIS

Gun toting terrorists from across the border believed they had the right of unrestricted access to young women, whether daughters and wives of innocent citizens.

- LEVINA NEYTHIRI

A picture of an aged Kashmiri man kissing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s large standee went viral on social media recently. Detractors of PM Modi called it a PR stunt “managed” by the ruling BJP. But in reality, it was a common Kashmiri acknowledging the changes sweeping the Valley after the removal of Article 370.

For several decades, Kashmir’s most scenic valleys have hidden some of the deepest perverse stories of the brutal sexual violence perpetrated against the local women by the jihadis. For the terrorists in Kashmir, sex with innocents was their occupation and the valley their playground.

Burhan Wani, who became a face of terrorism in the valley in the past decade, forced innocents to grant him unhindered access to several Kashmiri local homes. Wani’s multiple mobile devices, after he was killed by the Indian Army in an encounter, revealed hundreds of sexually awkward pictures of girls and a long list of such contacts.