ISLAMABAD, Oct 26 (APP):At least 16,397 women and girls, including minors, have gone missing in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) since 2019, with 4,271 still untraced, raising serious concerns about their safety under Indian occupation. The data was accessed through an RTI application filed with the IIOJK Home Department. The figures show that 14,593 adult women went missing in IIOJK between 2019 and June 2026. Of them, 11,338 …
ISLAMABAD, Oct 26 (APP):At least 16,397 women and girls, including minors, have gone missing in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) since 2019, with 4,271 still untraced, raising serious concerns about their safety under Indian occupation.
The data was accessed through an RTI application filed with the IIOJK Home Department. The figures show that 14,593 adult women went missing in IIOJK between 2019 and June 2026.
Of them, 11,338 were traced, while 3,255 remain missing. Similarly, 1,804 minor girls went missing between 2019 and August 2026. While 788 were traced, 1,016 remain missing.
2025 worst year for women safety
Overall, 12,126 of the 16,397 missing women and girls were traced, leaving more than 26 per cent of cases unresolved.
The number of missing adult women stood at 1,388 in 2019 and 1,398 in 2020 before rising to 1,854 in 2021. The figure dipped slightly to 1,766 in 2022, but witnessed sharp increase in subsequent year, when 2,242 women were reported missing.
Official records show that 2025 recorded highest number of missing adult women at 2,595 cases. Of these, 2102 were traced, while 493 remain untraced.
Minor girls still untraced
A similar trend was observed among minor girls. While 150 girls were reported missing in 2019, the number dropped to 122 in 2020 before increasing to 221 in 2021 and 249 in 2022. The cases further rose to 261 in 2023, before dropping to 226 in 2024 and reaching 289 in 2025.
Among girls below 18 years of age, 2025 recorded 289 missing cases, with 166 still untraced. This year, up to August, 286 girls were reported missing, of whom 158 remain untraced. The figures are particularly worrying because more than half of all missing minor girl cases reported since 2019 remain unresolved.
As per Crime Records Bureau data for 2024, IIOJK recorded 1,202 cases pertaining to kidnapping, abducting or inducing women to compel them for marriage.
Indian army, NGOs behind menace
Observers and rights activists say Indian army and its backed NGOs are exploiting conflict-hit psychological mentality of womenfolk, luring women and girls in name of jobs and other incentives, taking them to New Delhi and other Indian cities, where they are forced into labour jobs, forced marriages, and other immoral activities.
End to exploitation linked to Kashmir settlement
Hurriyat leadership and religious scholars have sought intervention of international community for settlement of Kashmir dispute to put an end to such exploitation in the conflict-hit territory, warning that continued occupation and unresolved political uncertainty is pushing vulnerable sections, particularly women and minors, into grave insecurity.