We need rehab more than quota

Prashun Bhaumik |

By Arif Bashir

The Women’s Reservation Bill has been welcomed by women in the Valley. Minister for social welfare Sakina Itoo and other leaders of political parties and religious bodies hailed it as a “historic step in the largest democracy of the world.”

Speaking with Current Itoo said this ‘historic step’ would help women of the country and in the state to come out of the confines of narrow mindedness and help lead the nation.

She said, “Things are changing and women could certainly come forward and share greater responsibility with their male counterparts.” She said there were only a few female members in the state Legislative Assembly and none in the Legislative Council.

“If available data are taken as a pointer, it goes without saying that women have suffered the worst during the past two decades,” the minister pointed out.

Sociologist Bashir Ahmed Dabla’s regretted that women in Kashmir have been subject to most violations at the hands of those players in the conflict. “Women have been the worst hit during the conflict due to the absence of societal as well as any government discourse.

Pointing out that political, social as well as other engagements were a healthy for women, Dabla expressed the need for such laws aspromised under the Women’s Reservation Bill in places like Jammu and Kashmir.

Psychiatrist Mushtaq Margoob seconds Dabla by saying that the conflict in Kashmir had mostly victimized women who continue to remain in a state of distress and. “Women constitute more than 55 per cent of patients visiting Kashmir’s lone mental health hospital in Srinagar. Most of them suffer from post traumatic stress disorders (PTSD),” Margoob says.

Terming it as the “tip of an iceberg,” Dr Mushtaq Margoob further said that “women in Kashmir need rehabilitation more than reservation.”

Meanwhile, politicians as well as social activists have welcomed the bill calling it a “historic decision.” Those who welcomed the decision included the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti, CPI(M) state secretary and MLA Kulgam, MY Tarigami, Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress president, Saif Uddin Soz, deputy chief minister Tara Chand and others.