As many as 50,000 Indian-Pakistani families have been divided by the disputed Kashmir province since 1989. Among them are several hundred women who have not seen their husbands in decades, and are subject to harassment and worse.
According to Women’s E News, Hanifa Aktar has lived alone for years on the Indian-controlled side of the border, separated from her husband and daughter in nearby Pakistani territory.
Although the official peace process has allowed some 2,000 people to reunite in Kashmir, Aktar’s petitions to cross have been repeatedly denied.
The Web site reports that Indian authorities, convinced that her husband is a separatist, have registered her name on a computerized blacklist, confiscated her passport, block phone contact, and periodically raid her home.
Source:
“Conflict leaves women stranded in divided Kashmir”
Women’s E-News (NY), October 14, 2007