A well-known Pakistani cleric claimed to have uncovered the systematic abuse of women by state-backed militants in Kashmir.
A Deobandi cleric from Pakistan, Mufti Saeed Khan — also known to be a close aide of former prime minister Imran Khan — made a public admission during a lecture titled ‘Kashmir and our hypocrisy’.
Khan claimed to reveal a dark reality of the insurgency, describing how insurgents – often glorified as religious warriors or “mujahideen” – coerced vulnerable female refugees into providing sexual favours in exchange for basic food. His remarks detailed how Kashmiri Muslim women and girls in refugee camps were forced to trade their bodies for “a single roti”.
According to top Indian intelligence sources, Khan’s statement is a rare internal confession from a figure within Pakistan’s religious and political ecosystem. It significantly undermines the country’s long-propagated narrative of a “pure jihad”.
The sources said Khan’s public admission matches declassified Indian dossiers previously shared with international partners. As the revelation originates from inside Pakistan’s own establishment, it carries “significant weight”.
They said the his remarks provide rare internal credibility to international human rights reports that have documented widespread sexual violence and the mistreatment of local residents by foreign-funded terrorists. By exposing the “dark reality” of the conflict, it corroborates decades of allegations regarding human rights abuses in the region, dealing a severe blow to the credibility of the Pakistan-backed insurgency. It highlights how the very groups claiming to fight for Kashmiri rights were, in fact, responsible for the exploitation of the region’s most vulnerable citizens, they added.
