Geneva: Prominent Kashmiri human rights activist and terrorism survivor Tasleema Akhter made a heartfelt plea to the international community, sharing her personal story and the ongoing suffering of countless families in Jammu and Kashmir due to Pakistan-sponsored terrorism.
Speaking as both an activist and a daughter of Kashmir, she recounted the traumatic events of April 11, 1999. At just eleven years old, she witnessed the abduction of her father and elder brother by a group of local militants backed by Pakistan. While her father was eventually released in a tortured state, her brother endured seven days of captivity, forcing the family to abandon their ancestral home. “From that moment, my childhood was stolen forever,” she said.
Akhter also revealed that ten of her classmates were orphaned by the same wave of violence sweeping through the valley. “Children who once laughed with me in school were left without parents, their lives destroyed before they even began,” she said, emphasizing that such tragedies reflect the collective pain of Kashmir’s terror victims.
Over the past three decades, she highlighted, Pakistan-sponsored terrorism has devastated the region. Teachers have been killed in classrooms, migrant workers attacked on the job, and worshippers targeted in mosques and temples. Entire communities, including Kashmiri Pandits, were forced into exile.
Akhter called for urgent global action, outlining three key demands: recognition of terror victims as a human rights priority, accountability for states that sponsor terrorism—particularly Pakistan—and meaningful rehabilitation programs for widows, orphans, and displaced families.
She concluded with a message of resilience and hope: “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 to ensure that victims of terrorism are not forgotten, and to help restore Kashmir as a land of peace and humanity.
