Srinagar, March 14 (UNI) General Officer Commanding of the Srinagar-based sensitive 15 Corps, Lt General DP Pandey on Monday said victims of the 1991 Kunan Poshpora were “used by a nexus” through a “fake narrative”.
The senior-most Army officer was speaking to reporters at Kunan in frontier district of Kupwara. Lt Gen Pandey revealed that 10/11 months before, a delegation from Kunan Poshpora came to him and they said they have suffered because they were used “through a nexus”, particularly through a “fake narrative” in 1991.
“They said they were left alone not only by the nexus, but by the people of the nearby villages and were isolated. So it is a request to do something ,” he said. The Corps Commander said they had certain demands, especially for sports development, self-employment generation training for girls, computer centres, etc. “I had told them I will visit after meeting some of the demands.
So, I have kept the promise made to the villagers of Kunan-Poshpora. They have some other demands which will be looked into,” he said. In 1991, there were accusations that soldiers cordoned off Kunan and Poshpora villages of Kupwara and allegedly raped the women.
Lt Gen Pandey said the biggest change he saw in these villages was that he saw that parents, who did not allow their daughters to go out, were voluntarily letting them go out.
“It is the biggest change because there is security, safety and if people think the girls can go out and study, then it is the biggest progress,” he said. “The other change is that there are no terrorists in Kupwara ..The first impact of terrorism was on Kupwara because terrorists used to come through here, used to train here.
The people have seen the worst and they have understood how they were being fooled,” he added.
