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Prominent Kashmiri human rights activist and survivor of terrorism, Tasleema Akhter, delivered an impassioned appeal to the international community, recounting her own childhood tragedy and the continuing suffering of countless families in Jammu and Kashmir at the hands of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism.
Speaking as both a human rights activist and a daughter of Kashmir, she recalled the harrowing events of April 11, 1999, when, at the age of eleven, she saw her father and elder brother abducted by a nexus of local militants and Pakistan-backed terrorists. While her father was released in a tortured state, her brother endured seven days of captivity, a trauma that forced the family to abandon their ancestral home. "From that moment, my childhood was stolen forever," she stated. The activist also revealed that ten of her own classmates, boys and girls, were orphaned by the same wave of terrorism that swept through the valley. "Children who once laughed with me in school were left without parents, their lives destroyed before they even began," she said, stating that such tragedies are not isolated but represent the collective pain of Kashmir's terror victims. She highlighted how, over the past three decades, Pakistan-sponsored terrorism has devastated the region. Teachers have been murdered in classrooms, migrant labourers killed while working, and worshippers attacked in mosques and temples. Entire communities, such as the Kashmiri Pandits, were driven into exile. Calling for urgent global action, she laid out three key appeals: recognition of terror victims as a human rights priority; accountability for states that sponsor terrorism, particularly Pakistan's role in training and arming militants; and meaningful rehabilitation programmes for widows, orphans, and displaced families. Her closing words resonated with a message of peace and resilience: "We do not seek revenge; we seek justice. We do not seek war; we seek peace. We do not seek despair; we seek hope." She urged the world not to allow terror victims to remain invisible but to stand with them in restoring Kashmir as a land of peace and humanity. (ANI)
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