Make sure no child is killed in Kashmir, women's group urges

Why has Kashmir lost children to a conflict they don't even understand?" a women's organization that calls itself 'Mothers of India' asked on Friday and urged the government to stop innocent killings in the troubled valley. Calling for a "peaceful resolution to (the) mindless violence" in Jammu and Kashmir that has left nearly 50 people dead in three weeks, 'Mothers of India' called all mothers across India to "make sure that no child is killed in Kashmir, that no mother cries in silence and that violence does not beget more violence". A statement from the outfit, with signatures from 100 women activists from across India, said the sound of mothers in Kashmir was not being heard even as they were crying "waiting for their children to return knowing that they may not. Wailing, as they wonder why their young ones were killed". Striking an emotional chord with the bereaved mothers of the Kashmir Valley, it said, "Mothers all over the country need to demand answers. Why has Kashmir lost children to a conflict they don't even understand? We, the mothers, must raise our voices against any kind of extremism. After all we do not give birth to our children to see them killed brutally by bullets. How can we justify the violence on either side? How long can we be mute spectators and not respond to the pain of our sisters in Kashmir?" "We need to raise our voices for dialogue and debate. We need to look at a peaceful resolution to this mindless violence." The Mothers of India said the situation in Kashmir could still be retrieved if the government acknowledges that young people are feeling alienated. "Treating it as a law and order problem will only deepen conflict and alienation."