World
APHC calls for talks with India, Pakistan Kashmiris go to vote SHOPIAN: Indian forensic experts exhumed the bodies of two slain Kashmiri women Monday in an investigation aimed at defusing the latest tensions plaguing this bloody Himalayan region.
Many in Muslim-majority Kashmir accuse Indian security forces of raping and murdering the women and say justice will only be served when the troops leave.
'India has militarized every facet of Kashmir. These kinds of incidents are bound to happen as long as this occupation continues,' said school teacher Fayaz Ahmed.
Underscoring the ongoing violence in the region, claimed by both India and Pakistan and a perennial flashpoint between the rival nations, three suspected militants and a civilian woman were killed Monday in a shootout with security forces in the village of Tral in southern Kashmir, said Col. K. Umamaheswar, an army spokesman. Two paramilitary soldiers were wounded, he said.
The attacks on 22-year-old Neelofar Jan and her 17-year-old sister-in-law Asiya Jan dramatically rekindled anti-India sentiments in the territory, where militant groups have been fighting for independence since 1989 but where violence has been waning over the past few years.
The two disappeared in May as they walked home from their family's apple orchard. Local authorities first said the women had drowned when they found their bodies a kilometer apart in a shallow stream on May 30. But police later declared the two had been raped and murdered.
Authorities, however, failed to make any arrests and called in national investigators after weeks of violent protests by residents. The national investigators, and the security forces, have declined to comment.
The deaths led to 50 days of violent protests that shut down Shopian as protesters chanted 'We want freedom,' hurled rocks at security forces and ransacked government offices. Troops responded with gunfire and tear gas.
At least two people were killed and 400 injured in the clashes that spread across the Kashmir valley.
On Monday, police and paramilitary forces with rifles and flak jackets closed the main roads leading to Shopian. The paths to the Muslim cemetery where the two women were buried were sealed with razor wire, and a tent shielded the grave sites from view.
A team of Indian doctors and forensic experts in the tent exhumed the bodies and conducted autopsies on the bodies throughout the day Monday, a local official who witnessed the process told The Associated Press.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media while the investigation was ongoing.
The mood in Shopian was somber Monday, despite deep skepticism that the investigation will lead to arrests. Businesses were closed, and the streets were empty of vehicles as residents shut down the town, 35 miles south of Srinagar, the main city of Indian-controlled Kashmir.
'We have decided to fully cooperate so that they don't have any excuse to say that locals disrupted the exhumation process,' said Javaid Ahmed, a local activist.
The Shopian protests reflect the deep-seated skepticism in Indian-controlled Kashmir that India's security forces would be held to account. Human rights groups have long accused the troops here of brutality and using rape to intimidate residents.
'The government and its institutions have no credibility in Kashmir. People say, from experience, that these probes are conducted to camouflage reality,' said Sheikh Shokat, a law professor at the University of Kashmir in Srinagar. He said only an international investigation would satisfy the public.
Four police officers arrested on charges of suppressing and destroying evidence in the case were freed earlier this month, further stoking skepticism.
Throughout Shopian, black flags in memory of the women hang from shops and buildings. Dozens of women, some wailing with grief, gathered at the homes of the victims' families near the graveyard Monday.
'This fear will remain with us forever,' Neelofar Jan's mother, Ayesha, said as she sobbed. 'We are exhausted now. What can we do with this pain?'
When the investigators left the cemetery in the evening, hundreds of residents ran inside, shouting, 'We want justice,' and 'We are ashamed, sisters, that your killers are still alive.'
'All one can do is wait to see what the investigators can do,' said resident Abdul Ahad, an apple farmer from Shopian. 'But frankly speaking, no one expects the state to indict itself.' -AP
Re: Women that were raped, murder and dumped in the stream by the Indian army exhumed
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September 29 2009, 8:02 AM
the following articles are the record of indian army long history of gang rapes and murder
Kashmir troops held after rape
News of the rape brought demonstrators to the streets
Authorities in Indian-administered Kashmir have arrested three Indian paramilitary soldiers following the gang rape of 17-year-old girl.
The girl was assaulted in Pahalgam, 90 km south of the capital Srinagar late on Thursday
Deputy Inspector General of Police Ashok Gupta told the BBC that a medical examination of the girl had confirmed that she had been raped.
The three Border Security Force (BSF) personnel were arrested after an identification parade.
The region's Inspector General of Police K Rajindra Kumar said the soldiers would be brought to justice.
Justice
According to a report lodged with the police, a patrol of BSF soldiers entered the victim's house on Thursday on the pretext of carrying out a search.
They forced the victim's mother and uncle out of the house and three of them then raped the girl.
Mr Kumar said there were 15 BSF soldiers in the patrol.
There have been many allegations of rape against Indian security forces during the 13-year old armed conflict in Indian-administered Kashmir.
The Indian military and paramilitary forces have the power to search any house without a warrant.
About half a million Indian troops have been fighting militant groups in the region since a violent insurgency began in 1989.
Pakistan Airforce: The largest distributor of Indian airforce parts in Asia
Pathankot Strike
8 F-86Fs of No 19 Squadron led by Squadron Leader Sajjad Haider struck Pathankot airfield. With carefully positioned dives and selecting each individual aircraft in their protected pens for their strafing attacks, the strike elements completed a textbook operation against Pathankot. Wing Commander M G Tawab, flying one of the two Sabres as tied escorts overhead, counted 14 wrecks burning on the airfield. Among the aircraft destroyed on the ground were nearly all of the IAFs Soviet-supplied Mig-21s till then received, none of which were seen again during the War.
Re: Women that were raped, murder and dumped in the stream by the Indian army exhumed
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September 29 2009, 8:04 AM
Soldier jailed for Kashmir rape
India says Pakistan is behind the violence
The Indian army has sentenced one of its officers to seven years imprisonment for raping a young girl in Indian administered- Kashmir.
An army spokesman in Jammu said the soldier had been dismissed from service last month following allegations that he had raped a girl in a village in Doda district last February.
The incident led to angry demonstrations by villagers calling for the punishment of the officer.
The army promised an inquiry and the soldier - whose rank was captain - was found guilty of committing the crime and dismissed.
The army spokesman said that a special police officer had also been involved in the incident.
Rare departure
The BBC's Binoo Joshi in the Kashmiri winter capital, Jammu, says the case marks a rare departure for the army, both in terms of making the case public and in taking such severe action.
She says that although there have been allegations of violence and even rape against the security forces, the army has rarely made public any action it has taken.
Human rights groups have voiced concern about the behaviour of Indian forces, in particular alleged extra-judicial killings and the disappearances of those suspected of involvement in militant activity.
India and Pakistan both lay claim to Kashmir, and Indian forces have faced an insurgency in the territory for the past decade.
India says Pakistan is behind the violence, a charge Pakistan routinely denies
Indian experts exhume Kashmir rape victims’ bodies
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September 29 2009, 8:07 AM
Indian experts exhume Kashmir rape victims bodies
Monday, 28 Sep, 2009 Local authorities at first said the women drowned, but later classified their deaths as rape and murder. Photo by AP World
APHC calls for talks with India, Pakistan Kashmiris go to vote SHOPIAN: Indian forensic experts exhumed the bodies of two slain Kashmiri women Monday in an investigation aimed at defusing the latest tensions plaguing this bloody Himalayan region.
Many in Muslim-majority Kashmir accuse Indian security forces of raping and murdering the women and say justice will only be served when the troops leave.
'India has militarized every facet of Kashmir. These kinds of incidents are bound to happen as long as this occupation continues,' said school teacher Fayaz Ahmed.
Underscoring the ongoing violence in the region, claimed by both India and Pakistan and a perennial flashpoint between the rival nations, three suspected militants and a civilian woman were killed Monday in a shootout with security forces in the village of Tral in southern Kashmir, said Col. K. Umamaheswar, an army spokesman. Two paramilitary soldiers were wounded, he said.
The attacks on 22-year-old Neelofar Jan and her 17-year-old sister-in-law Asiya Jan dramatically rekindled anti-India sentiments in the territory, where militant groups have been fighting for independence since 1989 but where violence has been waning over the past few years.
Authorities, however, failed to make any arrests and called in national investigators after weeks of violent protests by residents. The national investigators, and the security forces, have declined to comment.
The deaths led to 50 days of violent protests that shut down Shopian as protesters chanted 'We want freedom,' hurled rocks at security forces and ransacked government offices. Troops responded with gunfire and tear gas.
At least two people were killed and 400 injured in the clashes that spread across the Kashmir valley.
On Monday, police and paramilitary forces with rifles and flak jackets closed the main roads leading to Shopian. The paths to the Muslim cemetery where the two women were buried were sealed with razor wire, and a tent shielded the grave sites from view.
A team of Indian doctors and forensic experts in the tent exhumed the bodies and conducted autopsies on the bodies throughout the day Monday, a local official who witnessed the process told The Associated Press.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media while the investigation was ongoing.
The mood in Shopian was somber Monday, despite deep skepticism that the investigation will lead to arrests. Businesses were closed, and the streets were empty of vehicles as residents shut down the town, 35 miles south of Srinagar, the main city of Indian-controlled Kashmir.
'We have decided to fully cooperate so that they don't have any excuse to say that locals disrupted the exhumation process,' said Javaid Ahmed, a local activist.
The Shopian protests reflect the deep-seated skepticism in Indian-controlled Kashmir that India's security forces would be held to account. Human rights groups have long accused the troops here of brutality and using rape to intimidate residents.
'The government and its institutions have no credibility in Kashmir. People say, from experience, that these probes are conducted to camouflage reality,' said Sheikh Shokat, a law professor at the University of Kashmir in Srinagar. He said only an international investigation would satisfy the public.
Four police officers arrested on charges of suppressing and destroying evidence in the case were freed earlier this month, further stoking skepticism.
Throughout Shopian, black flags in memory of the women hang from shops and buildings. Dozens of women, some wailing with grief, gathered at the homes of the victims' families near the graveyard Monday.
'This fear will remain with us forever,' Neelofar Jan's mother, Ayesha, said as she sobbed. 'We are exhausted now. What can we do with this pain?'
When the investigators left the cemetery in the evening, hundreds of residents ran inside, shouting, 'We want justice,' and 'We are ashamed, sisters, that your killers are still alive.'
'All one can do is wait to see what the investigators can do,' said resident Abdul Ahad, an apple farmer from Shopian. 'But frankly speaking, no one expects the state to indict itself.' -AP
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Kashmir assembly session halted over murder dispute
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September 29 2009, 8:09 AM
SRINAGAR: The opening session of Indian-administered Kashmir's new state assembly was halted Monday as opposition members demanded a debate on the rape and murder of two Kashmiri women.
The crime has become a focus for large pro-independence protests in the Muslim-majority region, where many residents have long campaigned against rule from New Delhi.
Police initially said the two women drowned but later acknowledged they had been raped and murdered. Four officers have been arrested for destroying evidence.
Lawmakers from the opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP) demonstrated in the centre of the assembly, but the speaker rejected their calls for a debate on the issue.
Security guards were ordered to remove the protesting lawmakers after their leader, Mehbooba Mufti, grabbed the speaker's microphone. AFP
Re: Women that were raped, murder and dumped in the stream by the Indian army exhumed
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September 29 2009, 8:13 AM
"The most common torture methods are severe beatings, sometimes while the victim is hung upside down, and electric shocks. People have also been crushed with heavy rollers, burned, stabbed with sharp instruments, and had objects such as chilies or thick sticks forced into their rectums. Sexual mutilation has been reported".
(Amnesty International, March 1992)
"The worst outrages by the CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) have been frequent gang rapes of all women in Muslim villages, followed by the execution of the men".
(Eric Margolis, The Ottawa Citizen, December 8, 1991)
"Young girls were now being raped systematically by entire (Indian) army units rather than by a single soldier as before. Girls are taken to soldier's camps and held naked in their tents for days on end. Many never return home....Women are strung up naked from trees and their breast lacerated with knives, as the (Indian) soldiers tell them that their breast will never give milk again to a newborn militant. Women are raped in front of their husbands and children, or paraded naked through villages and beaten on the breasts."
(The Independent, September 18, 1990)
"While army troops dragged men from their homes for questioning in the border town of Kunan Pushpura, scores of women say they were raped by soldiers....a pregnant Kashmiri woman, who was raped and kicked, gave birth to a son with a broken arm."
(Melinda Liuin, Newsweek, June 24, 1991)
[Anthony Wood and Ron MaCullagh of the Sundav Observer (June 02, 1992) estimated that over 500 Indian army men were involved in this orgy of rape and plunder in Kunan Pushpura.]
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Re: Women that were raped, murder and dumped in the stream by the Indian army exhumed
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September 29 2009, 8:16 AM
Yeah i'm really sure you have sympathy for those women *******
RE : u as a certified dothead are shameless to the core... then again u come from a society that thinks it is cool to demand huge doweries from women and then burn them on the stove for not bring enough....
tsk tsk....'
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Kashmiri Women: The Weapon of War (Kashmir Watch file 2005)
By Abdul Latif Bhat
Al-Jazeerah, January 8, 2005
Despite the ice slowly melting in the relations between India and Pakistan and indications of change in the Indian thinking to deal with the disputed Kashmir issue, the suffering of women folk in the region continues. The promises of peace, so-called reduction of troops in Indian occupied region, exchange of journalists and citizens between the parts of Kashmir and the tremendous amount of hope it has generated for the embattled people is very much welcome and needed. However, the suffering of women has continued unabated. As the hopes of new solutions and reduction of troops and tension gained ground, the Indian army and paramilitaries action against defenceless Kashmiri women showed an unprecedented increase.
There were scores of incidents of rape, molestation and torture. In fact, the last quarter of the year 2004 showed such an alarming increase both in numbers and the methods of execution that analysts started to question the very actions of the Indian establishment to suggest that there is any change in Indian stance vis--vis Kashmir issue. Some Kashmir watchers agree that rape is being deliberately employed by the Indian armed forces not only to break the Kashmiris resistance but also to add fuel to the atmosphere of hatred and anger where no hope for any peaceful resolution could be cultivated, both at public and political level as the milieu around is poisoned.
While common Kashmiris have shown yet again their anger at these incidents by massive and simultaneous demonstrations, sit-ins etc., the political groups like All Party Hurriyat Conference and others have failed to come up with any reasonable political reaction or offer of any credible programme to channalize popular anger. Although pro-India National Conference joined forces with Mirwaiz Umar Farooq led Hurriyat Conference to pitch in at a symbolic hunger strike, it has met contempt from the Kashmiri people, as National Conference government earlier did not do anything to stop rapes, killings or torture. But this did add an interesting dimension to the human rights situation in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Following are some of the rape incidents that took place in Kashmir in later quarter of the year 2004:
1: Central Reserve Police Force gang rapes a girl (28th October 2004)
A Kashmiri girl Fahmeeda from Nowpora, Sopore in district Baramulla reached late from Jammu on 28th of October 2004. At the Tourist Reception Centre of Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Department in Srinagar, the girl asked for any hotels in the area and was directed to Guest House Sahara in Rajbagh Srinagar where she was raped by five persons which later turned out to be CRPF men. The local police arrested them as the doctors confirmed the examination report that the lady was raped.
2: Gang Rape in Mattan, Anantnag (6th November 2004) According to the local media reports a woman was gang raped by Indian armys Rashtriya Rifles (RR) in Sonabara, Mattan in Anantnag district. The Indian army rejected the allegations accusing the family of the victim for providing shelter to militants. But the locals rejected that view and took to streets demonstrating against the armys local unit against the gang rape of a local woman. The protestors also accused the army of threatening and harassing the victim and her family to retract her statements. The local government and civil authorities confirmed unofficially that the crime has been committed by the army and have ordered a probe into the incident.
3: Mother and daughter duo raped by army (7th November 2004) An Indian army major from Rashtriya Rifles (RR) raped mother-daughter duo in Badar-I-Payeen (Langate) Handwara triggering massive public protests converging the public and media attention to the growing criminalisation of Indian army in the region. On 7th November, 2004 twenty nine year other mother of six, Aisha and wife of Abdul Rashid Dar and her daughter Shabnum 11 were raped by an Army Major in Saturday night. Family members said that a Major of 30 RR along with his men forced his entry into the house of one Abdul Rashid Dar, a Tonga (horse-cart) driver for search operation and forcibly took her wife Aisha into a separate room where they raped her. Later, the army tore the clothes of Aishas 11-year-old daughter and raped her too.
While a group of the army was raping the women, another was torturing the male family members in another room including ten-year-old Altaf, a 5th class student.
The army and the local government tried to play down the incident as usual, but the massive public protests all across the Jammu and Kashmir region forced them to order a probe and assure the public for investigations, a tactic army and civil authorities use to calm the public in such situations.
4.Woman raped and killed (19th December 2004)
Local media reported that the Indian army raped and murdered a woman in Bhalesa village of Doda . Quoting Malik Noor Mohammad Fayaz, Hurriyat leader and personal secretary of chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani, said four soldiers of 26 RR raped and subsequently killed Sara Begum wife of Mohammad Din on December 14. The alleged victim was a resident of Tanta, Bhalesa in Doda and troops allegedly fired upon her after committing rape in the adjoining forest area. The Hurriyat condemned the incident and termed it as the worst example of "state terrorism".
5: A 60-year-old woman raped by Indian army (22nd December 2004)
Indian army stationed at Sallar, Pahalgam in Anantnag near hometown of Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed raped a 60-year old woman. According to the local residents the troops of 3 Rashtriya Rifles forced their entry into the house of Syed Aalam of Sallar, Sheikhpora Pahalgam and herded the entire family in a room. The troops then dragged Hakim Jan 60, wife of Syed Aalam, a mother of four children, into another room and allegedly raped her. The cries of the other family members were suppressed by the threats and beating of the troops. The Indian army once again denied any wrong doing and said that no rape had taken place quoting medical examination of the victim. However, as the public pressure grew, the chief minister Mufti Sayeeds position grew precarious in his own home turf. Later, the investigations conducted both by the police and the army found two people guilty and they were fired from their jobs. However, the army stopped short of admitting that its members committed the crime.
These heinous attacks on Kashmiri women show that Indian security forces have not changed their attitudes towards the local civil population since the mass uprising started in early 1990. These incidents are as significant as the mass rapes of Konanposhpura, Kupwara in early 1990. Much before the army or the civil authorities announced a probe, the government was already busy in defending the security forces.
While the army indulged in double speak of taking action against the accused found guilty, at the same time on the old misplaced plea of not letting such accusations demoralise the forces, defence handouts and planted information from defence sources were doing their business of building up a propa****a in media. This was done in two major ways. Firstly by seeking to justify the acts of security forces by magnifying similar acts committed by militants on innocents. Secondly, there was also a direct bid to salvage the pride of the army with statements and planted stories in media about the medical examination of the rape victims establishing that in Badar-I-Payeen incident, the woman had been raped but her ten year old daughter was only stripped naked and molested. Why was such information leaked out if the army and government promised a fair probe?
All this has not only added to the wounds of the victims but has also made them captives of a life long stigma which is propelled by giving the accused a clean chit or underplaying such a heinous crime.
The writer can be reached at editor@kashmirwatch.com
Investigate systematic rapes of Kashmiri women by Indian troops, Lord Nazir
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September 29 2009, 8:19 AM
Investigate systematic rapes of Kashmiri women by Indian troops, Lord Nazir
LONDON, July 3 : The British member of Parliament Lord Nazir Ahmad has lauded the decision of the UN Security Council recognising rape as a genuine war crime and urged the UN to initiate investigation into the systematic rapes of Kashmiri women by the Indian troops from 1989 .
In his letter to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, the House of Lords member said many rogue armies used this heinous act to intimidate and still fear within their victims.
He mentioned examples in Africa, South Asia and Russia as well as in former Yugoslavia.
Lord Ahmad also drew the attention of the World Body chief to the mistreatment of women and girls by the Indian Army in the Occupied Kashmir and said incidents of both gang rapes and rapes have been reported by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Asia Watch and Physicians for Human Rights.
Such atrocities are being carried out as we speak, yet there is no attention, whether political or through the media, being directed to such gruesome attacks that are being carried out by the Indian soldiers. They have rape as a form of systematic humiliation and as a weapon of war.
He urged the UN to initiate investigation into the systematic rapes of Kashmiri women by the Indian troops from 1989 and treat this heinous act as a war crime and hold them to account.
The British Parliamentarian appealed to Mr.Moon to consider appointing a special representative to investigate these war crimes and pursue these cases through the international courts allowing the victims to seek justice.
[Note: In the 19 years of armed conflict in the U.N. recognized disputed state of Jammu & Kashmir , there have been many allegations of rapes and molestations particularly against the Indian troopers. A 1994 United Nations publication (E/CN.4/1995/42, pp.63-69) says that 'during 1992 alone, 882 women were reportedly gang-raped by Indian security forces in Jammu and Kashmir'.
According to the Kashmiri-Canadian Council, more than 6,300 Kashmiri women have been raped. According to a report by Human Rights Watch 2001 "Rape is used by the Indian security forces to attack Kashmiri women suspected of sympathizing with Freedom Fighters."
Women separatist leader Aasiya Andrabi attributes the absence of rape in the report to "well entrenched Indian policy".
"Basically India uses rape as a war crime and they don't treat it as a HR violation. So it employs all curbs and other tactics on the rights groups to pressurise them to desist from publishing it".]
Re: Women that were raped, murder and dumped in the stream by the Indian army exhumed
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September 29 2009, 8:21 AM
RE : u as a certified dothead are shameless to the core... then again u come from a society that thinks it is cool to demand huge doweries from women and then burn them on the stove for not bring enough....
My father never accepted a dowry lol
Speaking of cultures, you come from one where a woman's own father and brother stone her because she had a boyfriend
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Re: Women that were raped, murder and dumped in the stream by the Indian army exhumed
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September 29 2009, 10:36 AM
seems like a personal xperience of prado .. so how many zapped so far ************
RE: i have seen more indian girls with africans than pakistanis.. (never even heard of such a case)....
punit.. come with more intelligent lines than copying my posts..look i know u r a indian and that 2 from north india (so u r not smart),... but try and come up with something orginal.
at least i give credit to bun.. he comes up with camp rape stories, cow sex topics, why indians get asss raped in Oz... and so on...
This message has been edited by PradoTLC on Sep 29, 2009 11:20 AM
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Re: Women that were raped, murder and dumped in the stream by the Indian army exhumed
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September 29 2009, 11:03 AM
lol i asked a simple question .. why u r boiling in ur pants ,
ps: i had no idea that u like bun so much , now all depends on bun SURRENDER OF PAKI ARMY IN 1971 1N 1971 A NEW HISTORY AS WELL AS A NEW NATION WAS CREATED BY WE THE INDIANS..
This message has been edited by punit_prakhar on Sep 29, 2009 11:05 AM
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Re: Women that were raped, murder and dumped in the stream by the Indian army exhumed
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September 29 2009, 12:50 PM
"sexual relations out side the family r not permitted... so? dont like it u can leave islam and join what ever crap religion suits u..."
yeah sure, only cousins can lay their hands on cousins and uncle can phuck their neice and nephews- poor antiindian.
i dont think the word "Behnchod" (sisterphucker) is a abuse in phuckistan is it? I mean you guys are cool with cousins sleeping with cousins and sexual relations within your family as permitted in Islam.
And Indian army still beats the living sh1t out of phuckistan army, so whats your point. 90,000 of your forefathers surrendered to Indian army, tsk tsk....
colours of Kaziranga
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