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Bollywood film to focus on rights abuse in Kashmir
Krittivas Mukherjee
(from reuters.com)
MUMBAI, March 6 (Reuters) – A well-known Bollywood filmmaker hopes to prick the conscience of viewers about human right abuses in Indian Kashmir with a movie on police killings of innocent people in staged gunbattles to win rewards.
“Dhoka”, or Betrayal, is the latest offering from a Hindi film industry — the world’s largest by number of tickets sold — that has been forced by a maturing audience to diversify from its formulaic song-and-dance fare into more realistic themes.
Mahesh Bhatt, known as much for his fluffy musicals as for handling controversial subjects such as Hindu-Muslim riots, says “Dhoka” will turn the spotlight on “state atrocities” in the insurgency-torn Himalayan state of Jammu and Kashmir.
“There is a need to speak about the misdeeds of the state, the betrayal of police in each of those regions where human rights are trampled upon everyday,” Bhatt, who is producing the movie and helping daughter Pooja direct it, told Reuters.
“Dhoka” will be partly shot around Kashmir’s verdant valleys and snow-capped peaks but Bhatt did not give a release date.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed or have disappeared in mainly Hindu India’s only Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir during a 17-year-old separatist revolt.
Kashmiris say some of those who have disappeared are innocent people killed by police in fake gunbattles to claim rewards and earn promotions meant for eliminating militants.
In late January and February, protests erupted in the Kashmir Valley following the alleged killing of five innocent Kashmiris in staged gunbattles by Indian forces, who then passed off the dead men as militants.
Seven policemen have been charged with the killing of one of the men — a carpenter and father of five. Police said they were also investigating the four other cases.
SLEEPING CONSCIENCE?
“The conscience of the country hasn’t been questioned on these gross violation of rights of the people of Kashmir,” said Bhatt.
The filmmaker is also completing a movie that delves into the mind of a potential suicide bomber in a story set against the backdrop of the 2005 London train and bus bombings.
In the past, Bollywood’s offerings on Kashmir have generally been populist, patriotic fare which cast neighbouring Pakistan and menacing Muslim extremists as the villains, and the Indian security forces as heroes.
But films like “Mission Kashmir” have generally failed to impress critics.
In contrast, “Dhoka” is the story of a young Kashmiri man grappling with the staged killing of someone close to him and aims to highlight the plight of Kashmiris whose lives have been touched by violence.
The conflict has officially killed more than 40,000 people. Human rights groups put the toll at about 60,000 dead or missing.
“Custodial deaths and fake gunbattles of police are a menace in Kashmir,” said Bhatt, who is also known as an activist for creative freedom and religious harmony.
Authorities deny allegations that security forces regularly pick up people in Kashmir and kill them in fake gunbattles.
Bhatt has chosen a Kashmiri newcomer to play the lead in Dhoka, hoping the actor can inject some realism into the film.
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Tags: Bollywood, Freedom Struggle, Human Rights, Hurriyat, India, Indian Army, Innocent Killings, Jammu and Kashmir Police, Kashmir, Kilings, Mahesh Bhat, Massacre, Militants, News, Police, Terrorism, Terrorism in Kashmir
‘Time to end armed struggle’
(from greaterkashmir.com)
Islamabad, Jan 20: All Parties Hurriyat Conference (M) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has called for giving up armed struggle to pave the way for fruitful negotiations for a lasting settlement of the Kashmir dispute.
The Mirwaiz, who along with other senior leaders of the APHC, is on a visit to Pakistan, stated this after a series of meetings in Islamabad, including crucial talks with President General Pervez Musharraf.
Speaking at a dinner meeting with Pakistan-administered Kashmir Prime Minister Sardar Attique on Friday, the APHC leader said peaceful negotiations were the only way out. “We have already seen the results of our fight on the political, diplomatic and military fronts which have not achieved anything other than creating more graveyards.”
The Mirwaiz said some people involved in the struggle could still have some reservations, but as far as the APHC was concerned, “we are not prepared to sacrifice any more of our loved ones.” He said with their new strategy they would convince India to arrive at a more agreeable settlement.
Earlier in the day, the APHC leaders held a detailed meeting with President General Pervez Musharraf, which was part of what is being described as a fresh effort to push forward the three-year-old peace process between Pakistan and India.
The meeting attained a lot of significance because soon after their arrival in Pakistan, the APHC leaders had declared that their separatist organisation and the majority of Kashmiris living on the Indian side of the divide supported President Musharraf’s four-point settlement formula for Kashmir.
The meeting largely focused on President Musharraf’s proposals which include self-governance, demilitarisation and joint control of the disputed territory.
Conscious of the expected opposition to such a settlement from hardline groups, President Musharraf called for discouraging elements hostile to the peace process.
Earlier, in a meeting breakfast with the APHC leaders, PML chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said: “Time has come for a bold decision, even if it is an unpopular one.” He said that at this crucial moment in history there was no time to remain bogged down in a debate on the UN resolutions.
“Resolution or no resolution, now all sides need to consider what was in the best interest of the Kashmiri people, and then push for a settlement of the dispute,” the PML leader added.
APHC leader Abdul Ghani Bhatt on the occasion said that there was little room to include the Kashmiris in the negotiations between India and Pakistan. “These talks are taking place between two the sovereign states, and ours is just a disputed territory,” Bhat said.
“So, instead of creating problems, we think our purpose is solved by separately holding negotiations with both India and Pakistan,” he said. However, Bhatt was quick to clarify that these were his personal views, and not those of the APHC.
The Mirwaiz said there were many groups and parties in Kashmir, but it was the APHC which truly represented the aspirations of the people of Kashmir.
He said since President Musharraf publicly presented his proposals for a lasting settlement, the majority of the people in Jammu and Kashmir had accepted them as the best possible solution, adding that now it was time for India to match its efforts to move the peace process forward.
The APHC leaders also had a series of meetings with the Indian side, but their scheduled meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was postponed.
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Tags: Azad Kashmir, Freedom Struggle, Hurriyat, India, Kashmir, Militants, Mirwaiz, News, Pakistan
‘When GoI Could Push The Most Popular And Towering Kashmiri Politician Like Sheikh Abdullah To The Wall, Then What Is The Worth Of Hurriyat (M)’
Tariq Naqash
(from greaterkashmir.com)
Muzaffarabad, Jan 20: An alliance of Kashmiri militant groups has rejected the call of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq to give up armed struggle to pave the way for fruitful negotiations for a lasting settlement of Kashmir issue.
The militant leaders have been shocked by the baseless and uncalled for statement of Mirwaiz and his colleagues who are ignorant of the background and realities of Kashmir issue,” said a spokesman for the United Jihad Council (UJC) in a statement here on Saturday.
“The statement of Mirwaiz may please some Western circles and Indian leaders, but it cannot change the ground realities,” he added.
The militant leaders, he said, had made it clear time and again that only a “strongly coordinated state-wide” armed struggle, enjoying the patronage of sincere, robust and representative (political) leadership, could take the freedom movement to its logical end.
“A freedom movement can weaken due to any temporary defeat, it can also grow longer than the anticipated time but it can never die down unless the freedom seekers surrender themselves before the tyrants out of spinelessness,” the spokesman said.
He also rejected the reported statement of Mirwaiz that UN Security Council resolutions on Kashmir had become redundant and said people saying such things appeared to have forgotten the fact that these resolutions made Pakistan a party to the Kashmir dispute.
“The people who make mock of the issue’s recognised status as well as the sacrifices of Kashmiris have no right to take any decision or give suggestions on Kashmir…”
The spokesman recalled that the people of Kashmir had taken up arms against their will after failure of their peaceful political and diplomatic struggle spanning over 42 years.
During the ongoing armed struggle and prior to that, he said, “nearly 475,000 people laid down their lives for the noble cause of freedom while material losses worth billions of rupees and other inhuman atrocities unleashed by the occupying forces are in addition to that.”
“These unmatched sacrifices were not offered for self rule, internal autonomy or for that matter for an irrelevant ceasefire line (Line of Control) but for the Kashmiris’ internationally acknowledged and inalienable right to self determination,” he said, adding, “those who have turned a blind eye towards these sacrifices and are showing signs of retreat have no right to lead the nation.”
“If Mirwaiz and other leaders of his like have become tired, disenchanted or hopeless about the future of freedom struggle due to adverse circumstances, we suggest them to sit back in their homes to lead a life of comfort. But they should not teach the lesson of cowardice and hopelessness to the caravan of freedom seekers,” he said.
The spokesman said the people of Kashmir had proved by observing a state-wide strike on Jan 17 that they could not back out from their sacred mission and that they were instead prepared to shed the last drop of their blood to achieve this goal.
He said Mirwaiz knew well that he could not secure release of even two detainees from New Delhi during the several rounds of talks with Indian leaders while showing unilateral flexibility and deviation from the traditional stand of Kashmiris.
“When the Indian government mercilessly could push the most popular and towering Kashmiri politician like Sheikh Abdullah to the wall, then what is the worth of this group of people who have conflicting views and interest,” he said of the moderate leaders.
The militant leaders, according to the spokesman, had expressed serious desire that all ‘sincere political leaders’ should unite to achieve the Kashmiris’ right to self determination because friction and differences among them had caused irreparable losses to the freedom movement.
“Still there is time for political leaders to rise above their personal and organisational egos and interests and launch joint struggle for right to self determination and freedom. Otherwise there will be no space for them in the chapters of history.”
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Tags: Azad Kashmir, Freedom Struggle, Hurriyat, India, Kashmir, Militants, Mirwaiz, News, Pakistan
Jan 6, ‘93 when 57 people were massacred in Sopur
Ghulam Muhammad
(from greaterkashmir.com)
Sopur, Jan 5: Massacre of 57 unarmed civilians in Sopur town 14 years back is one of the few massacres that got a few columns of space in prestigious TIME magazine. The magazine described the massacre, and the protests that ensued thus:
“Perhaps there is a special corner in hell reserved for troopers who fire their weapons indiscriminately into a crowd of unarmed civilians. That, at least, must have been the hope of every resident who defied an army-enforced curfew in the Kashmiri town of Sopur to protest a massacre that left 55 people dead and scores injured.”
“It was India’s latest blow in a three-year campaign to crush the predominantly Muslim state’s bid for independence. In retaliation for the killing of one soldier, paramilitary forces rampaged through Sopur’s market setting buildings ablaze and shooting bystanders. The Indian government pronounced the event “unfortunate” and claimed that an ammunition dump had been hit by gunfire, setting off fires that killed most of the victims.”
The magazine had titled the news report (on January 18, 1993) “Blood tide rising: Indian forces carry out one of the worst massacres in Kashmir’s history.”
In the reconstructed Iqbal Market it is hard to find the traces of the carnage the Border Security Force troopers carried out on January 6, 1993, killing 57 persons, most of them roasted alive in shops, buses, and houses. The troopers set about 100 houses and 300 shops on fire after dousing them with gunpowder, the local residents recall.
It was the chilly morning of January 6, 1993 when militants attacked the troopers of BSF at Baba Younis Lane near the Sopur town’s main street, killing two of them. The militants also took away the rifles of the slain troopers. The troopers went berserk and opened indiscriminate fire on unarmed civilians and set on fire markets, mainly Iqbal Market, and Women’s Degree College.
The local residents regard the incident as one of the worst massacres in the history of Kashmir.
“I cannot forget that horrendous incident till I am alive; the troops were on rampage; I lost two relatives in the incident,” said Ali Muhammad, an eyewitness and survivor of the carnage. “I wonder can doomsday be worse,” he says.
The mayhem continued for more than 2 hours with people—helpless and hopeless—watching the devastation from a distance. None from the civil administration or Fire Service Department came to the rescue of the hapless people. Only the valor and heroism of the local populace made its appearance, helping each other. In one hour, the locals recovered the dead bodies of more than 50 civilians and miraculously rescued many more.
Some fifteen civilians who tired to rescue their brethren were also shot dead by the troopers, said Abdul Majid, a survivor. Ghulam Nabi Bhat of New Light Hotel shouldered 11 dead bodies and before he could carry the 12th, he too was shot dead.
For three days people rummaged the debris for dead bodies. Strong protests rocked the town for many days continuously. Many charities came up but soon vanished. The insurance companies refused to give any compensation to the victims. The victims knocked the doors of government offices but to no avail.
“The massacre would haunt us as long as we are alive,” said Muhammad Abbas of Sopur.
Names of few slain:
- Abdul Majid Sofi, 35, s/o Muhammad Shafi r/o Krankshiwan
- Abdur Rashid War s/o Ghulam Muhammad War r/o Tujarsherief, Sopur
- Abdul. Khaliq Malik s/o Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din r/o Arampora
- Abdul Ahad Kanjwal r/o Muslimpeer
- Abdul Ahad Shalla r/o Shallapora
- Abdur Rashid Sofi s/o Abdul Jabbar r/o Wanagam, Bandipora
- Abdul Ahad Liloo,70, r/o Bba Yousu, Sopur
- Abdur Razaq Chalkoo s/o Ghulam Muhammad
- Bashir Ahmad Shalla s/o Ghulam Rasool r/o Shallapora, Sopur
- Farooq Ahmad Banday s/o Abdur Rashid r/o Sangrampora, Sopur
- Ghulam Nabi Zargar alias Shaheen s/o Qadir Joo r/o Badamibagh Sopur
- Ghulam Muhammad War s/o Muhammad Sultan r/o Tujarshrief
- Ghulam Nabi Bhat s/o Haji Abdullah r/o Sangrampora
- Gulzar Ahmad Sheikh s/o Muhammad Abdullah r/o Shahabad Sopur
- Ghulam Mohi-Ud-Din s/o Assadullah r/o Nathpora, Bandipora
- Ghulam Rasool Sofi s/o Muhammad. Sultan r/o Langate
- Ghulam Muhammad Khan r/o Bandipora and
- Ghulam Muhammad Hajam s/o Abdul Gaffar r/o Mohallah Hajampora, Sopur.
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