By IANS,
New Delhi: Women need to be included while addressing the issue of disarmament as illegal weapon proliferation has a direct effect on their lives and survival, say social activists.
Activists from various fields participated in a day-long seminar Wednesday on ‘Women, Peace, and Disarmament in the context of India’ organised by the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) and other NGOs.
“Every single day, 12 Indians are shot dead and India is the second most armed nation in the world, with over 46 million small arms in circulation.
“Large numbers of women suffer directly or indirectly from armed violence,” Control Arms Foundation of India (CAFI) secretary-general Binalakshmi Nepram said.
India has over 46 million guns in civilian hands, out of which only 5.5 million are registered.
“When guns flow freely in community settings, women run in high risk as thousands of women are robbed, raped, intimidated at gunpoint,” Nepram said.
Every woman who is killed or injured by a firearm is threatened — both in domestic situations and in war zones, she added.
Jawaharlal Nehru University’s School of International Studies professor Anuradha Chenoy said: “It is time to move discussion of disarmament out of the think tanks and into the streets and to the grassroot social activists, as they know the civilians problems.”
Chenoy said people with arms take advantage and referred to the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).
The AFSPA, which came into being in 1958 and is in force in Jammu and Kashmir and seven northeastern states, grants even a non-commissioned officer power to shoot based on mere suspicion.