Half-widow

Half-widow is a term given to Kashmiri Muslim women whose husbands are currently missing who have likely been abducted or detained and have been missing in the ongoing conflict in Kashmir.^[1] These women are referred to as "half-widows" because they have no idea whether their husbands are alive or dead.^[2][3]

Thousands of people in Kashmir have disappeared during the conflict.^[4]

Most of the half-widows have not remarried due to doubt about their husband's fate and a lack of consensus among Muslim scholars on the issue. In Kashmir, a group of religious scholars issued a fatwa on the 26 of December 2013 saying that half-widows are allowed to remarry after a waiting period of four years.^[5]