THE ‘K’ FACTOR - Irrationality of rational realist films..

Films From Kashmir,
Films For Kashmiris,
Without Kashmiri Pandits!

In the world of documentaries, every artist has the freedom to choose and deliver at his own will. All the more better if supported by the government and masses. As every filmmaker tricks the audience into believing his theme as abject truth, the masses too tend to drown themselves into it.

This weekend proved to be a crammed package of films on J&K. As one channel flashed a documentary based on a famous poem, the other channel followed with a special report on the children of conflict. Like always this viewer remained glued hoping against hope to catch a minority face…but I am glad my hopes were not raised. The first film reiterated their ‘freedom struggle’ as ‘satyagraha’; the other believed that the children of the valley are the worst victims.

Once more we had to watch the pain of the majority (Muslim) community, their kith and kin and their troubles caused at the hands of the ruthless Indian government. Once again the filmmakers decided to ignore that ‘there once lived a minority that now has the whole galaxy as their home except their own valley’. It is always troublesome to watch young lives suffer, their faces becoming a paradox to peace. But to believe that the conflict war zone weighed heavy only on population presently in the valley, one is mistaken.

As I saw snowy white faces of little kids in Kashmir, as cameras zoomed on the cherry red glow on these cheeks; I suddenly saw myself in Jammu. The same white cheeks of some Kashmiris have turned coal black; the only margin remained the ‘athoor’ dangling from female ears. When I heard a completely tanned teacher recite a Sanskrit prayer at the overcrowded Purkhoo camp and saw him scold some students in Kashmiri, the irony of calling them Kashmiris struck like a sword.

The above statement is anything but racist. The tanned skin mirrored years of hopelessness and eternal toil seep out with sweat on their faces. There was no red glow I could zoom into. I saw frustration and frustration little more. The news channel cut into a break which brought me back to my room and I lay frozen with the remote, knowing not what to do. At times I wonder if Hindus of Kashmir really exaggerate their pain or is it because we form the majority of this nation that we fail to make good news stories as victims.

Some refer to the Jammu refugee camps as a political gimmick, but it is the cowardice of educated filmmakers that they use their prerogative to ignore us. Ajay Raina, Ashok Pandit and Rajesh Jhala are some who dared to shed light on the issue. But then looking at the statistics, for one documentary on the Hindu minority there are ten for the majority. A film on the desecration of temples is termed communal while stories on Ayodhya/AFSPA are screened worldwide. Surprisingly the filmmakers and reporters who glorify the terrorists as ‘saviours of Kashmiris’ saw the same Kashmiris boycott separatists to vote for a record 65% in the recently held elections.

Howzzaat.!!

There is no doubt that films cannot transform the world, they do not possess that much power. However, as a filmmaker one still tries to use this freedom of expression to put forth the hidden truth. Every draconian law and every suppressed community has a filmmaker to boast of… except for the Hindus in forced exile. Some day in near future we too shall have a document of minority in the valley that the world can peak through- a document that delves deep into broken temples, broken families, broken hearts… above all a broken state.

Finally to conclude with how ignored we remain here’s the following truth- When Pakistan sponsored terrorism hit the valley, Kashmiri Pandits screamed their hearts out. When their homes burnt to ashes in front of their wet eyes, they stood up in protest. The Indian government was asked to take stringent steps. No one heard Kashmiri Pandits back then… No one heard them now as Mumbai burnt.

And yet we all know the truth. Don’t we?

(The author Pooja Shali is a Mass Communication masters student at New Delhi's A.J.K. MCRC. She can be reached at poojashali@gmail.com)

A Lesson in the End.....

The gruesome killing of "The Daughter of the East" sent shivers down our spine.Tragic but only the naive would not have expected this.It was waiting to happen.

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Pakistan for long has used terrorism as an instrument of State Policy and Benazir's regime was no exception. Not only did she not check the spread of this malignancy she actually abetted and endorsed it. She conveniently used terrorism to make "India bleeed through thousand cuts". All that happened in Punjab and what is still happening in Kashmir had her blessings.

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Amit Baruah's column "Pakistan's Darkest Hour" in "The Hindustan Times" today makes for an interesting reading. He writes "The terror the Pak state spawned has claimed one of its last hopes for the future. The cancer is now in its malignant phase"

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Benazir though an English speaking moderate was not alien to process which churned out monsters day out and day in. She was a fellow traveller alongside the armed forces which created these monsters to fight "infidels". When she could have treated the cancer, she looked the other side. Rather she aided in spreading its malignancy. Little did she know then that one day it will come back only to consume her.

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Her lectures particularly the one which almost facilitated the ouster of an entire community of infidels from the holy land of Jehad returned to haunt as I was stuck between grief and despair. She shouted "bacha bacha bolega aazadi,har gali se awwaz aayege aazadi,kashmir ki awam rassol-e-pak ke jehad ki awwaz ko buland karaenge,jab tak har ek kafir kashmir chod kar naheen jayega tab tak chain se nahee rahenge kashmir ki awaam...". (watch the below video) Little did she realise that her adrenalin pumping hateful speech would mean death to many infidels and ethinic cleansing of half a million infidels'.

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As always I was reminded of the Kashmiri saying that I keep using here on this blog "Aenem soy vavem soy lajem soy paanesey" (I sowed the seeds of the poision ivy and got consumed by them.)

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In what happened to Benazir, is a lesson for everyone who wishes to use terrorism as tool for bringing someone to the negotiation table I again refer to Amit Baruah's column "Long used to directing the Bhindrawales to Afgahnistan and Kashmir,Pakistan's formidable military establishment seems helpless in dealing with the jihadis operating with impunity against their own people across the country"
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While I mourn her death,I do hope our neighbours learn a lesson from this and desist from creating more monsters, not for our sake but for their own peace.
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May her soul rest in Peace, Amen!

Freedom Song - by Rhythma Kaul (in Mail Today)

Rapper Hash sings of a lost land and the sorrow of the homeless, giving a new edge to the demands of Kashmiri refugeesThe first thing you want to know about rapper Emcee Hash is what his name stands for. It’s ‘Heavily Affected by Smoking Herb’, typicalstreet lingo that you would expect a rapper to use. But then take a look at his lyrics and it sounds as if it is 80’s broken hearted reggae or pop that talks of the romance of revolution and struggle.“Live long, pray, our story recited /for y'all to hear /refugee from the place called home/our family tree began there homes/ now we set free, with an A-k/ready to deliberate”, he sings.The California- based, Emcee Hash is not talking of a forgotten revolution. With his rap number released on the net on November 17, he has become the voice of the Kashmiri Pandits whose struggles and tears his lyrics reflect. Hash, whose formal name is Ashish Kaul, was born to immigrant Kashmiri parents who reached the US via Australia. “Such songs may help in rekindling lost hope and bringing a new zeal to realize the ultimate goal of our homeland,” says Aditya Raj Kaul, 18-years-old social activist. The fact that a US based rapper, --the song has seen about 200 downloads in the one week since it was posted on his site -- has taken up the cause of Panun Kahsmir has given even the elders of the community hope that their cause will attract international attention. “It feels nice to see that the youth has taken charge of things. It will keep our hope alive that some day we may be able to return to our homeland,” says Somnath Wali, an octogenarian activist based in Ahmedabad,Though his lyrics reflect the pain of a community driven from their land and living as refugees, Ashish Kaul hasn’t had any a feel of his place yet. Though the history of his people and the experiences that ‘scarred his brethren,’ have come to him through stories told to him and what he has read, Kaul feels that he is one among the suffers. “The song ‘Panun Kashmir’ is a work that I have wanted to do for a long time, particularly ever since I embarked on my career as a musician. Although, I haven’t personally experienced the ache and misery that KPs underwent, I feel that my inner self can express similar feelings of pain and frustration through songs like this one,” Hash told Mail Today in an e-mail interview. Hash describes himself as a Kashmiri first and then a hybrid of Indian, Australian and American cultures. “I have had the opportunity to assimilate into multiple cultures in my young life and that has only helped me in my understanding of these entirely different worlds and situations,” he says. A major reason behind the anguish and frustration so visible in his lyrics is the condition of his grandfather, who stays with him in the US and has been suffering from dementia caused by a stroke he had when circumstances forced him to sell his ancestral home in the valley. “I wanted to write a song that would highlight our story, our struggles and bring them to the forefront of the minds of people,” Ashish Kaul says. Hash, 29, who has been a profesional musician doing gigs in and around California, intends to inspire people all over the world— Hindus, Muslims and all, to realize that, “It’s not about religion, it’s about terrorism, and it is high time we take a stand and unite to destroy this horror that has molested people all over the world and particularly for over a decade the people of my community,” he says. Then why the talk of hitting back with guns in his lyrics? “My reference to using guns and fighting back do not have to be taken as literals, they are expressions of my frustration, and the important message is unity and taking a stand. I hope that is how people take it.”The rap number was in the making for quite some time. He could not begin the song until I had found the perfect instrumental for it; as soon as he heard the beat created by Rapid Fly Beats), he got to writing, and when he did, he could not stop till the song was complete. Having completed the lyrics for the song, which was in early August of 2007, Hash forwarded them to his harshest critics— his family and friends, who came up with an encouraging feedback. “I knew this would be a song that people would appreciate and would associate with, and I am glad that my assumption is becoming a reality,” he says. His Kashmiri fans are hoping that such songs will start a journey of reconciliation for them.

KPs in US International Religious Freedom Report 2007 by Neeraj Santoshi(in Indian Express)

The US Government has categorically raked up the issues of the displaced Kahmiri Hindus and the atrocities meted out to them in the insurgency ridden Jammu and Kashmir, in its recently released report and expressed concern over their plight.

The US State Department in its annual International Religious Freedom Report, released on September 14, has stated in its section on India that ``Terrorist groups perpetrated atrocities against civilians, including minority Hindu members of the Pandit (Hindu Brahmin) community, in the long-lasting insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir''. The report states that `` Kashmiri Hindus remained vulnerable to violence. Most lived in refugee camps outside of the valley awaiting safe return. ''

The International Religious Freedom Report 2007 was released by the US Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labour. Emphasising that U.S. Embassy and the three U.S. Consulates continued to promote religious freedom through discussions with the country's senior leadership, as well as with state and local officials, the report further adds, ``Mission officers also monitored the plight of internally displaced Kashmiri Hindus, known as Pandits, who fled their home areas in the valley of Kashmir starting in 1989 due to attacks on them by terrorists seeking to drive out non-Muslim minorities'' .

During meetings with key leaders of all significant religious communities, U.S. senior officials discussed reports of ``harassment of minority groups, converts, and missionaries, as well as state-level legislation restricting conversion, the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat, and the plight of displaced Kashmiri Pandits'', adds the report. Giving a detailed account of Displaced Kashmiri Hindus, the report says that approximately 4,778 Pandit families from Jammu and Kashmir still were living in 12 refugee camps in Jammu at the end of the reporting period, and 238 families were still in Delhi's 14 camps.

The reports also stresses that militants tried to disturb the inter-religious harmony across India by their violent activities. The reports points out that the, ``terrorists attempted to provoke interreligious conflict by detonating bombs in Hyderabad in May 2007, in Nanded (Central Maharashtra) in February 2007, in the Muslim majority town of Malegaon (North Maharashtra) in September 2006, and in commuter trains in Mumbai in July 2006''. The reports also maintains that in India ``The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the National Government generally respected this right in practice. However, some state and local governments limited this freedom in practice''.

Commenting on the references of displaced Kashmiri Hindus in the report, Dr Ajay Chrungoo, leader of the frontline Kashmiri Pandit organisation, Panun Kashmir told The Indian Express that report has vindicated the Hindu dimension of the Kashmir issue, with international bodies now increasingly realizing that the forced displacement of the Hindus from Kashmir valley is a very important issue, which needs to be addressed. ``The international recognition of our issues is the result of the struggle launched by the Pandit groups during last 17 years of exile. The significant part of the report is that it has categorically mentioned that terrorists are bent upon to disturb the religious harmony across the country. What happened first in valley, is now happening across India. Terror has become a pan-India phenomenon now with global linkages'', he asserted.

The agents of the 'enemy' -How much more brazen can Yasin Malik get while GoI warms up to him

The Official website of J&K Govt says" JKLF militnats gunned down 4 IAF men near Rawalpora, Srinagar in Jan. 1990".
http://jammukashmir.nic.in/profile/majev2.htm

Rediff says - in its report the following

http://www.rediff.com/news/1999/dec/13blood1.htm

The agents of the 'enemy'

Srinagar. January 25, 1990 Squadron Leader Ravi Khanna's misfortune was that he was in uniform.

That winter morning nine years ago, he and his colleagues were waiting near the Rawalpura bus stand. An Indian Air Force bus was to reach them to the airport.

At around 0730 hours a Maruti Gypsy and a two-wheeler carrying four to five Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front militants drew up. The next thing that Khanna knew was bullets pumping into his body. That was the last thing he knew. Around him 13 more fell. Three of them dead, 10 were injured. Hardly 50 yards away was a Jammu and Kashmir police picket, manned by a head constable and seven subordinates. Their eight .303 rifles remained silent as the militants finished emptying their weapons and, taking a clockwise circuit of the roundabout ahead, vanished unhurriedly into Srinagar's numerous back lanes.

Even after he gave up the gun, JKLF leader Yasin Malik was to defend the killings: The IAF personnel were not innocent victims. They were the agents of the 'enemy'.

Kashmir: Through a Pak militant's lens-Javaid Hussain Shah

Kashmir, the abode of saints and sufis, is bleeding. This symbol of unity in diversity is torn apart by intolerance and hatred. Once considered a paradise on earth, Kashmir is today a vast burial ground of thousands of Kashmiris punished for uncommitted sins.
Kashmir's journey from paradise to hell, like mine, began in 1989. It has since been bleeding, caught in a vortex of violence - violence which gets a two para mention, sometimes not even that, in our national newspapers. Kashmir is now a burial ground where even the dead get no peace. And as book after book is churned out and experts debate the Kashmir "dispute" in distant Geneva and the United Nations, the true story remains untold.
While Kashmir remains just another hotbed of fundamentalist violence for the West, the Indian press too has failed in its duty to put things in the right perspective. As for the protagonists of the Kashmir violence, they have so far avoided coming out in the open with the true story.
'Azadi' was at one time my junoon and it took me across the border to ISI camps in Pakistan, where I was trained to kill, plunder, loot - all in the name of Islam, I returned with power flowing from the barrel of the gun. I was trained by my "masters" in Pakistan to record the violence in such a manner that the blame shifted from the militants to the security forces.
I am one of the living characters of this untold story. I too had joined the forces of "liberation" way back in 1989. Being an ISI - trained Pakistani militant, I am a reliable witness to the mechanisations of the forces of destruction, disruption and fascist intrigues of Pakistan. I am fully aware of the true character of the living players of the untold story.
Having been shocked to see Kashmiris exposed of violence and brutality, hatred, aggression against peace-loving people, ethnic cleansing, distortion of socio-political history of Kashmir, and misery and poverty made me ponder over my role. My conscience revolted and I decided to come out with the untold story. I realised that I was fighting a futile battle. I was not fighting for Kashmir, but I was fighting Pakistan's battle against the Muslim of Kashmir.
ISI training had deprived me of rational thinking. My Pakistani trainers had trained me to hate the brighter side of a peaceful life of Kashmir. They made me robot performing mechanical motions and tasks. Like me, thousands of other robots are performing tasks on the whims of remote control masters.
I was trained to record the death dance through the eye of the camera with the sole aim of shifting the blame from Pak-trained terrorists to the security forces. Being a robot, I had no idea what I was recording could expose the criminality of the Islamic "Mujahideen" who are professing to liberate Kashmir.
Justice, equality, freedom of speech, tolerance, right to live and right to one's own belief are the basic tenets of humanity. But ISI -trained robots like me were taught that freedom, respect for each other and religious tolerance, are the anti-thesis of Islam. We were trained to demolish secular credentials of Kashmir, destroy symbols of temples of tolerance and age-old traditions of coexistence of different faiths. Though initially, I mechanically believed such un-Islamic interpretation of my faith, a time came when I revolted and decided to expose the true story.
Pakistan claims that it is lending moral and diplomatic assistance to the so-called freedom fighters and at the same time, professes to defend Islam by Islamic Jehad.
There was never any danger to Islam in Kashmir, Pakistan, in fact, has started Jehad not against enemies of Islam but against Muslims of Kashmir. I recorded killing of innocent children women and men; I recorded the devastation and destruction of all symbols of unity in diversity, ethnic cleansing; I am witness to the growth of Jamat-e-Islami - a savage enemy of the Sufi culture of Kashmir.
Yet, people ask who is responsible for all this. So-called human rights activists, self-proclaimed conscience keepers of the moth-eaten civil society, blame security forces for this madness. The press, in general, consciously or unconsciously, has failed in its national duty to put things before the people in the right perspective. Western countries are busy in their own power games in South Asia.
The blood-curdling pictures of butchered children, women and men (as shown in my book) have no name, no postal address and no identity of their own. The only fact about these pictures is that they expose the ugly face of Pakistan in Kashmir. There are no captions, and no details as the pictures themselves convey the real story.
On third cover and back cover of this pictorial booklet are pictures of the Dargah of Nund Rishi at Charar-e-Sharif. The dargah was destroyed by Pakistani robot Mast Gul, who crossed back to Pakistan where he was welcomed as hero of Islam. He does not need any introduction as during the siege of Charar-e-Sharif, print and electronic media were witness to the savage act of Mast Gul.
Words have lost their meaning, conditional or unconditional talks are meaningless, fiery speeches no more move the people. Promises of peace have no relevance. Pakistan continues to strike at the very roots of existence of Kashmir. Only blood-letting pictures have relevance.
Back cover has two pictures - one of Mast Gul among his armed band of hoodlums and other shows him in the company of Shabir Shah, the so-called Nelson Mandela of Kashmir, and Hurriyat leader A. G. Lone. Does it need any caption? Without any footnotes, it unfolds the truth about the untold story. I hope now body will ask the question: who is responsible for the ruination of the Paradise on earth. - CNF Service

http://www.kashmir.co.uk/militant_x.htm