A recent viral video on social media captured non-local men seated inside a vehicle, staring at Kashmiri women with unrestrained lust. This incident, however, is not new. Similar videos have surfaced in the past where we can see the shameless and unchecked behavior of these outsiders who now flood every corner of our homeland. What remains unseen on social media is far more alarming—an epidemic of silent predation where thousands of non-locals, working as carpenters, painters, barbers, masons, and in countless other roles, have turned our streets, markets, and workplaces into their hunting grounds.

The question that demands an answer is this: How have these men, hailing from a place we rightfully call Rapistaan, grown so audacious that they now openly violate the sanctity of our society? How have we allowed their perverse gaze to become an unchallenged norm in Kashmir? And are we truly unaware of how dangerously this erosion of our cultural and societal integrity will unfold?

History teaches us that in every colonial occupation, the oppressor’s obsession with the women of the occupied territory is both systematic and deliberate. Kashmir is no different. The Indian state, in its ceaseless campaign to subjugate us, has always targeted our women. The presence of non-locals in our streets, brazenly ogling and filming our sisters, is not a random occurrence. It is part of a larger colonial design. In every occupied land, women are not just seen as individuals but as embodiments of a nation’s honor which makes them prime targets in the psychological warfare of imperial control.

The Indian state and its foot soldiers have long used rape as a weapon of war against Kashmiris. The horrific incidents of Kunan-Poshpora, Shopian, and scores of other untold horrors stand as grim reminders of their brutality. Soldiers of the occupying force have repeatedly committed heinous crimes against our mothers and sisters, not just as acts of individual perversion but as a well planned strategy to break our resolve. The perversion of an occupying force extends beyond the battlefield. It infiltrates the everyday, where even those non-local men working mundane jobs believe they, too, have a right to degrade our women with their gazes, their cameras, and their lecherous thoughts. The same men who bear the Government of India’s weapons later return as occupying soldiers in our land. Whether in uniform or disguised as civilians, their predatory instincts toward our women remain unchanged.

What is even more alarming is our silence. How have we reached a point where this growing menace is tolerated? Where our markets, workplaces, and streets have become sites of voyeurism and predation? We must recognize that looking away, hoping it will stop, is not a solution. It is rather complicity.

This isn’t merely a case of outsiders behaving inappropriately; it is a war against our honor. Every lewd gaze cast upon a Kashmiri woman is an act of aggression, an attempt to chip away at the dignity of our people. And yet, we are expected to be silent? To watch passively as these men, for whom we have opened our kitchens and places of worship, now threaten the very fabric of our society?

We may not be able to confront them openly without dire consequences, but there are countless ways to make them realize that this will not go unanswered. It is upon us, the youth, to devise strategies and to ensure that any non-local who dares to violate our women’s dignity understands the heavy price they will pay. The streets of Kashmir must not become an unchecked playground for outsiders who have been emboldened by the occupying state’s impunity.

Every society has its own norms, and any outsider, whether a tourist or a laborer, must respect them. Kashmir is Perwaer, Reshwaer—a land of dignity and honor, not a place where invaders can degrade our values with their presence.

Let this be made clear that our women are our honor. Their dignity is not up for negotiation, and we will not sit idly by as the occupiers, in their many forms, continue their war against us. If we do not act now, the erosion of our culture, our values, and our identity will be irreversible. It is time to rise, strategize, and ensure that the sanctity of our land and its people remains untouchable.