Women Fight Back Series

Women fight back every day around the world against oppression, crime and brutality. But these stories rarely ever make headlines.

Instead, the media continues to push the "helplessness" theory of women by continually reporting on the negative.

Therefore, we've started a new series: Women-Fight-Back to update you with stories of women who have taken responsibility for their own personal self defense safety and have found the courage to defend themselves and their families.

The first story we bring you is out of India and reported by Telegraph in the UK. The full story can be found here.

The headline reads - Farmer's daughter disarms terrorist and shoots him dead with AK47.

Rukhsana Kausar, 21, was with her parents and brother in Jammu and Kashmir when three gunmen, believed to be Pakistani militants, forced their way in and demanded food and beds for the night.

Their house in Shahdra Sharief, Rajouri district, is about 20 miles from the ceasefire line between Indian and Pakistani forces.

It is close to dense forests known as hiding places for fighters from the Lashkar-e-Taiba group, which carried out the Mumbai terrorist attack last November.

Militants often demand food and lodging in nearby villages.

When they forced their way into Miss Kausar’s home, her father Noor Mohammad refused their demands and was attacked.

His daughter was hiding under a bed when she heard him crying as the gunmen thrashed him with sticks. According to police, she ran towards her father’s attacker and struck him with an axe. As he collapsed, she snatched his AK47 and shot him dead.

She also shot and wounded another militant as he made his escape. Police have hailed the woman’s bravery. They said she would be nominated for the president’s gallantry award.

Supt Shafqat Watali said Miss Kausar’s reaction was “a rude shock” for the militants. “Normally they get king-like treatment but this was totally unexpected,” he said.

Miss Kausar said she had never fired an assault rifle before but had seen it in films and could not stand by while her father was being hurt. “I couldn’t bear my father’s humiliation. If I’d failed to kill him, they would have killed us,” she said.

The key here is that she TOOK action, USED the element of SURPRISE and turned her FEAR into ANGER. Women are capable of fighting back and making a difference in the world. Don't underestimate your own powers.

To learn more on how you can become a woman who fights back, check out our upcoming classes.

**Angie M. Tarighi is the CEO & Founder of Women’s Self-Defense Institute providing self defense training, education awareness & personal protection products empowering women to fight back against crime.