‘Women here are extremely isolated’

The alarm bells are ringing loud and clear for Dr Edit Schlaffer. Edit, who started the international organisation Women Without Borders and SAVE (Sisters Against Violent Extremism) that is headquartered in Austria, has been interacting with women across the world — women who have been directly affected by terror attacks, who have lost family and limbs and even grieving mothers who woke up one day to realise that their sons, their own flesh and blood have declared themselves jehadis.

Social scientist, author and activist Edit is in India conducting workshops with women who have been widowed in last year’s terror attacks, In fact, our sources tell us that her organisation is trying to contact the late Inspector Ashok Kamte’s wife Vinita to collaborate on the international project.

Edit admits, “Making the victims pour out their personal stories is extremely difficult.” Her experiences of dealing with women here make her conclude, “The way women in India react to loss is very strange from the same in the West. Women here are extremely isolated and do not get the social support that they require. In the West, the civil society is very strong.”

To empower women in India, Edit is organising a student movement across the country to organise workshops for terror victims, and also has entered into an agreement with the Austrian government for a mega project in India this January, where terror afflicted women will be counseled through water therapy. Edit claims, “The entire cost is being borne by the Austrian government.”

After travelling through terror ridden countries across the globe, Ireland, Yemen, England, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Rwanda, Edit’s focus is now on India. One of their primary concerns now is to deal with mothers whose own sons have become terrorists. Edit who is also a trained psychoanalyst says, “It is often frustrating in trying to convince our patriarchal society that women can make so much of a difference to this global concern.”