Valley of despair: We want an Islamic state

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Sixty five protestors killed, more than 3,000 agitators and 2,500 security personnel injured, general strike and curfew for more than two months, businesses and shops shut, banks closed, hotels empty. This might not seem unusual in a state where more than 1 lakh people have been killed since 1989. Nothing is abnormal in an abnormal state. But what is indeed unusual is the longstanding ostrich-like attitude of New Delhi, no matter which party is in power. There is a problem in Kashmir and this needs to be acknowledged first. Only then can one start working at a resolution. And the solution, it is obvious, is not in managing the situation by sending in more and more security forces. Even the Centre has admitted that there is little militancy in the Valley except in the Baramulla and Kupwara sectors which border Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. But there are roughly 7,00,000 armed security forces personnel in the Valley. And still, places in the Valley erupt every now and then in the name of the Quit J&K Movement. We visit the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) where the injured are rushed in by groups of youths every now and then. The usual quiet of the hospital corridor is suddenly broken with cries for independence like Hume kya chahiye... azadi/Bharat ka gundagardi nehi chalega.

Dr Reyaz Ahmed tells us, 'This is a tertiary care referral hospital and we have already treated over 400 cases of bullet injuries. Most patients were hit in the head or upper torso.' We meet 20-year-old Sumera Dabloo who went to rescue her father hit by a bullet. She was herself hit in the chest by two bullets. We come across a 24-year-old Tariq Ahmed on life support. He has a bullet in his arm and has received severe head injuries. His uncle, Mohammad Amin, says, 'The local hospital in Tral was ransacked by CRPF men. Tariq was helping the injured when he was shot at and beaten up.'

The roads of downtown Srinagar are deserted with security forces in every nook and corner, the Valley resembles a beautiful prison. The generation of Kashmiri youths who are pelting stones is an abnormal one. They are mostly born after 1989, they have seen militants and forces all around, guns blazing, blasts ripping off bodies. Their reaction to situations is abnormal. 'When the police starts firing, people generally run away. In Kashmir, they come closer,' says a top state police official, himself a Kashmiri Muslim, on the condition of anonymity. We will call him X for future reference.

Prabhakar Tripathy, commanding officer, 117 Battalion CRPF and PRO, CRPF (Kashmir), confirms, 'They have no fear. They try to snatch our guns. Very often, there is no choice but to open fire.' Valley of despair We ask both X and Tripathy that why do stones need to be answered by live ammunition. X says, 'It is not that simple and innocuous. These people pelt stones to kill you. It is not easy being a policeman on these streets.' Tripathy points to the thousands of rounds of rubber bullets and tear gas shells fired. 'If you compare the situation, you will see the forces have acted with great restraint,' he adds.

But clearly people in the Valley are not impressed with this restraint. Let's hear from Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the foremost leader of the separatist movement and chairman of the Hurriyat (G): 'People are resisting the Indian military occupation of J&K. There is no legitimacy or justification for the same. Since 1952, we have had more than 130 rounds of talks and there have been no headway. For talks to be fruitful, New Delhi should accept that J&K is a disputed territory. It has to withdraw forces, withdraw Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), Public Safety Act (PSA) and release the detainees.'

Mirwaiz Omer Farooq, chairman of Hurriyat (M), says, 'This is a spontaneous outburst of public anger brought about by decades of alienation. These youths, who are pelting stones, have been raised and brought up in conflict. After militancy erupted in 1989, people started looking at Pakistan to further the cause of freedom. That phase is also gone now. But now, they have a clear direction that they have to win their freedom themselves and they are ready to die for the same. India has to realise that it is Kashmiri nationalism at work here. New Delhi has to come out of denial. The government does not allow any demonstration and sit-ins. It has created this pressure cooker situation and hence this violent outburst.' Valley of despair Mirwaiz concedes that the pro-freedom parties have not been able to deliver in concrete terms. 'We have held dialogues with New Delhi in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2009, we went with ideas and proposals but Delhi did not act on a single issue. People today construe dialogue as a sellout, as a ploy to buy some time. One has to understand that there can't be any lasting solution to the Kashmir problem within the Constitution of India or that of Pakistan.'

However, neither Tripathy nor X thinks that this stone pelting is a spontaneous form of outburst. Tripathy points at Intelligence intercepts from across the border complaining of no deaths for two days while reiterating that money was not a constraint. X even points out that an Opposition leader was seen unloading sacks of stones in a downtown Srinagar locality. He adds, 'One of our man in civvies followed a particular suspect who was going from one area to another on his bike to instigate youths to start pelting stones. As soon as the youths started pelting stones, he would push off. There is major money involved here.'

Conspiracy theories are galore here. Kashmir is a playground of Intelligence agencies from India, Pakistan and beyond. The 'threat note' for Sikhs has clearly unnerved the community. Jagmohan Singh Raina, chairman of the All Parties Sikh Coordination Committee, Kashmir, says, 'We are 80,000 people spread over 136 villages and towns in 8 districts. Barring 1947, when 33,000 Sikhs were killed by raiders, there has never been any problem till 2000 when in Chattisinghpora village in Anantnag district, as many as 35 Sikhs were gunned down by unidentified men wearing Indian Army uniforms. President Clinton was visiting India at that time.' Five people were then gunned down by Indian military personnel claiming them to be foreign militants responsible for the Sikh massacre. But the Justice Pandian Commission found out that the five were innocent locals and five Army officers were found guilty. Naturally, Sikhs are apprehensive as another US President is scheduled to arrive in the country. Valley of despair Kashmir seems a quagmire where New Delhi, Islamabad, separatists, militants, the state government, Opposition, security forces, Intelligence agencies, Indian and Kashmiri media - all have had their negative roles to play.

Prof. Bashir Ahmad Dabla of the Sociology department of Kashmir University points out the manner in which Sheikh Abdullah, the then Prime Minister of Kashmir, was put behind the bars in 1953 and how in the 1957 elections, 56 out of 57 constituencies were declared without holding elections. He continues, 'The 1987 elections presented the Indian government with a golden opportunity. The radical Islamic and separatist elements decided to contest the elections under the banner of the Muslim United Front. This should have been welcomed as a positive development as separatist acceptance of Indian democracy. Mohammad Yousuf Shah contested the Lal Chowk seat and was even announced as the winning candidate.

However, a minute later, Ghulam Mohiuddin Shah of the National Conference (NC) was declared the winner. The elections were massively rigged by NC with help from New Delhi. Yousuf was arrested for agitating against the unfair elections and was imprisoned for two years. Upon his release in 1989, Yousuf founded Hizbul Mujahideen and today is better known as the militant group's chief Sayeed Salahudeen. I am afraid that the current use of force on young boys, many of them school-going kids, might just ensure that the cycle of violence and counter-violence continues unabated.'

Ever since 5,00,000 people assembled on the streets of Srinagar during the Shree Amarnath Shrine Board land row, the state and the Centre have been paranoid about even allowing peaceful protests and gatherings. They are worried if the crowd takes control of the All India Radio or Doordarshan stations. Both look like fortresses or top secret nuclear installations rather than media establishments. Valley of despair The separatists, on the other hand, are all but united. While Geelani and Mirwaiz don't see eye to eye, Yasin Malik pursues his ideas. The Lone brothers have also drifted apart with Sajjad Lone, current chairman of People's Conference, trying his luck at the Lok Sabha elections from Baramulla. He however lost to the NC candidate. Aasiyeh Andrabi of Dukhtarn-i-millat advocates merger with Pakistan and a Talibani style of Islamic governance. There are roughly two dozen groups, all have different ideas. Firaq Ahmad, a shikara rower on the Dal, is scared even at the thought of azadi. 'Kashmir will witness a civil war even worse than the one experienced by Afghanistan if India were to withdraw.'

For Islamabad, Kashmir is the point of revenge for the secession of Bangladesh. Apart from supporting militant armed struggle through training, providing logistics, arms and extending moral and diplomatic support, Pakistan has carefully changed the demographics of the part of Kashmir under its control. Today, Pakistani Muslims, mainly from Punjab province, outnumber Kashmiris in PoK. In spite of the rhetoric, Islamabad is wary of a permanent solution to the part of Kashmir under Indian rule as it would put pressure on itself to act. People in the valley are fully aware of this.

There is hardly any doubt that an overwhelming majority in the Valley view both NC and PDP as stooges of New Delhi. There is a general perception that the state government is a rubber stamp for the Centre with not even the power to rein in the CRPF, let alone take big steps. Mehbooba Mufti of PDP attributes it all to NC's misgovernance, Omar Abdullah's inexperience and his disconnect with the grassroots. But the truth is that PDP was sharing power when the state had erupted over the Amarnath land row.

Another limitation to India's approach has been New Delhi's insistence to view the situation through the prism of Intelligence and security. A section of the Indian media has also been caught in the brouhaha of nationalism as espoused by New Delhi, hawkish enough to push Kashmiri media to the other extreme.

Wasim Lone, 35, is a former militant with the al-Umar Mujahideen headed by Mustaq Ahmed Zargar of the Kandahar hijack fame. Wasim is today the trusted lieutenant of separatist leader Shabir Shah. "We were young and the Indian rule was oppressive. I am afraid that the youth of today might also be forced to take to guns and make the same mistake as we did. Azadi is our dream. We must work towards it," says Wasim.

Musaib Farooq is a 19-year-old student and Tariq Wani, 33 years old, is without a job. They live in downtown and pelt security forces with stones. The fact that most stone pelters are unemployed, uneducated does not take away the fact that there are genuine grievances. New Delhi needs to look at demilitarisation of civilian areas, withdrawal of draconian acts, stop violation of human rights by forces. Most people in the Valley, barring a few handful, are aware that Pakistan is not in a position to take care of Kashmir. 'They can't even take care of themselves. They are out in the world with a begging bowl,' is the common refrain. Going with Pakistan is no longer an option here. But still, much before this latest round of trouble erupted, on January 31, 12-year-old Wamiq Farooq, the best boy of his class, died after getting hit by a tear gas shell in his head. Instances like this don't strengthen people's faith in New Delhi. It is a fact that people in the valley are angry and frustrated with India's procrastination on crucial issues. The Centre needs to make concrete concessions and needs to come down from its high horse. Unless that happens, stones will be hurled and bullets will fly. Valley of despair Aasiyeh Andrabi

'We want an Islamic state'

What is your assessment of the current situation in the Valley?

The people of J&K, specially the Muslims, have long been denied the right of self-determination by India. So since June, the people have waged the Quit J&K movement. This is a mass uprising in which the young and the old, women and children, all are taking part. Of course, India is applying brute force to quell this uprising. They are even using pellet guns which are used to target animals. Israel uses the same against Palestinian protestors.

What about Hindus who are majority in Jammu, Buddhists who are the majority in Ladakh, the Sikhs and even the Shia Muslims?

We are least concerned with non-Muslim decisions. Muslims are the majority and their decision is going to be the final one.

Suppose you get azadi. What next? Geelani wants something, Mirwaiz wants something else, Yasin Malik wants something entirely different. Where do you see your demands fitting in here?

I can't talk about Geelani or anyone else for that matter. I want accession with Pakistan. For now, our one-point agenda is freedom from India.

You are widely recognised as the most radical Islamist hardline voice of the Valley. What kind of Kashmir do you want to create?

Islam is Islam. There is only one true Islam. Inshallah, the Shariat, law of Islam, will become the law of the land too. I don't want Islamic law just for Kashmir but for the entire world. People will be more secure under Islamic law.

Will there be any place for music, cinema, art, literature in the Islamic state you wish to create?

In Quran, it is written that music is even more harmful than wine. People lose their senses when they listen to western and film music. They represent the culture of non-humans. Hollywood and Bollywood are globally responsible for criminalisation of society and other evils. So we will not allow that. There will be no place for nude and obscene painting. Literature is fine but if it criticises Islam, we won't allow it.

Do you want to follow any Islamic state as an example?

There is no ideal Islamic state. Looking at foreign policy, I will give 75 % to Iran.

You have been a supporter of armed struggle in Kashmir. But these militants have killed many innocent people in Kashmir and in the rest of India.

Today, the world knows about Kashmir because of the Mujahideen's actions. I don't believe they have killed any innocent Kashmiris. They may have killed informers of the Indian security forces. They have done the right thing.

What about the attacks in Mumbai?

The Mumbai attacks were the handiworks of Indian Intelligence and CIA.

Suppose you get the Indian part of Kashmir and the Pakistani part. How will you get the part under Chinese control?

First let's get freedom from India. We will think about China then. Valley of despair Children of conflict

Mohammad Humza Khan was one year old when his father Mohammad Kasim Khan, a Hizbul Mujahideen militant, was gunned down by security forces. Three of his maternal uncles, also with Hizbul, were also killed. Humza is 11 today and studies in a prominent private school in Srinagar. The boy from Ganderbal wants to be a doctor. Mohammad Ashraf Khan was five years old when militants barged into his Rajouri home one night. His father, Mohammad Shafiq Khan, a carpenter, and uncle Bashir Ahmad, a policeman, fell to their bullets. Ashraf is 13 now, goes to a private school in Srinagar and wants to be a doctor as well.

Both stay at the orphanage run by the J&K Ehteem Foundation in a quiet corner of the Jawaharnagar area of Srinagar. More than 50 people orphaned in the violence stay here. Humza has a faint memory of his father, there is just an old worn-out photograph of him. 'I am proud of my father and my uncles. I know they were in the right path, in the path of God and did not kill any innocent person,' he says.

Ashraf wishes militancy had not erupted in Kashmir. 'My father and uncle would have been alive had Kashmir not have been caught in this spiral of violence. I hate the Mujahideen and sometimes have the urge to kill them,' he says.

Humza, too, hates his father's killers, the Indian security forces. In effect, they hate what the other's fallen kin stood for. But they are inseparable. They are the best of friends. Some things have no explanation. Less so in Kashmir.

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Adoor Gopalakrishnan: Indian cinema will have a lot less to qualify itself

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'Indian cinema will have a lot less to qualify itself. At the recently concluded Imaging Asia: The Netpac Festival, where his 1993 film 'Vidheyan' (The Servile) was screened, the avant-garde auteur, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, shared his experiences and learning with other filmmakers. The Padma Vibhushan and Dadasaheb Phalke award winner also took some time off to share with Anu Gulmohar his opinion on cinema, his films, and his method of creating masterpieces with every single take...

What, according to you, is the purpose of cinema?
The purpose of cinema is the same as any other art form. It serves the same purpose as music, theatre, painting, literature etc. All of them entertain the audience. The difference is, when we talk about music, we do not mean cheap music and likewise, theatre and painting do not refer to bad theatre and bad painting. We mean their best examples. Unfortunately, any reference to cinema is automatically taken to mean the commercial one. Cinema being one art form that subsists on the patronage of the audience at large for its very survival, keeps making concessions to common audience tastes. That is why its purpose is in question.

The best of cinema should entertain an audience deeply, not superficially.

Do you look at a filmmaker as an entertainer, teacher, reformer or as an artist?
The filmmaker, ideally, should be an artist: one who is a professional and one who has a high degree of artistic integrity. The film that can be termed a work of art will naturally offer the viewer a rich experience of life and teach him inter alia many a lesson in very many spheres of human enterprise.

Eleven films in 40 years: how do you explain that? What do you do between making two films?
I take a long time to make a film because it takes long before I settle on a subject. And then the process of preparation (developing the plot, writing a script) and finally the execution, takes its own time. When I am not making a film, I am thinking about it or some times I'm planning one. I see myself as a professional filmmaker and I practice no other profession. I, of course, read a lot in between films and also write occasionally about cinema. I have already published three books and the fourth is underway.

You are a regular on the international festival circuit. How well or not well is world cinema doing?
Even after a century, cinema is not showing any sign of fatigue. It is a great medium, which keeps discovering itself with the growth of technology and human development. There are some countries which have kept up high standards through decades like France, Italy, Russia, Japan etc. Recent years have witnessed the entry of China, Taiwan, Hongkong, Iran, South Korea etc.

While hobnobbing with the film fraternity from around the world, we assume conversations often veer to Bollywood. What do you have to say about it to those interested?
Bollywood is a negative, derogatory term. The serious filmmakers of Mumbai should reestablish and regain the past glory of Hindi cinema of the fifties. They were Indian and also Hindi films. A lot of audiences abroad naively think that Bollywood is Indian cinema. In our conversations we are compelled to remind them that there are Indian cinemas outside Bombay.

Is there no 'masala' film you ever liked?
You are already qualifying film with 'masala'. How can you appreciate something once its very essence is encroached upon?

Are you looking to explore a subject outside of or not related to Kerala?
I normally prefer to work within the milieu of Kerala because I feel comfortable and in full command of things when I deal with a Keralan subject. I am, of course, not averse to doing a film outside Kerala. It would mean more homework for me.

Adoor Gopalakrishnan school of cinema is a world away from the escapist entertainment offered by the Hindi/Malayalam film industries. Can the two ever meet?

I want to keep my audience face to face with reality. And those who have cared have relished it. The primary function of any art is to make you aware of the reality not negating or 'escaping' it. There isn't much of a chance for me to be making compromise with what I don't believe in.

All stars look forward to a call from you, never mind the extreme image makeover. Is there any kind of orientation you give them before the team gets to work?
I love and respect my artistes and they return it too. That is the only secret. My artistes are always aware that I make every effort to take the best out of them. There are several rehearsals and it is not unusual to go for many re-takes.

Does it bother you that though most Indians would know about you, very few non-Malayalees would've seen your films?
There will be more opportunities for non-Malayalees to see my films as DVDs of more films are brought out with sub-titles. Also, there needs to develop an alternative distribution for quality films in the country, starting with small cinemas in the big cities. I am looking forward to one or more imaginative and enterprising film lovers to do it, not the government (Look at Doordarshan, it is so happy and contented now after having stopped the screening of the Panorama films!)

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Sona Jain's first film 'For Real'

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For a first time filmmaker, Sona Jain is fairly intrepid. A writer and director who believes in the power of the story, her first film 'For Real', which is a story about a six-year-old girl who thinks that her mother is an alien, is set to hit Indian screens on 17th September. Ahead of the release, she talks to Tareque Laskar about the challenges of independent film making and the evolution of audience taste in India.

'For Real' has a very intriguing premise set in the backdrop of a family drama. How would you classify the film?
'For Real' is a story of a family living in New Delhi and it's seen through the eyes of a six-year-old child. The film is a depiction of the workings of a child's mind whose heart is very innocent. When she sees anything which doesn't make sense to her, her interpretation of it to the outsiders is completely odd. Such as the fact that she thinks the mother is an alien. So if you see the mother is an unhappy person, her first instinct is to say this is not my mother this is someone else, which may be in the adult world a wrong interpretation. So that is what the child picks up. So it is a drama and it is being through the eyes of a child and it really is an opportunity for all of us to not only see how kids look at us but alternatively also for 90 minutes of your life get an opportunity to once again be a child and you know go back at looking at the world through the eyes that you probably used 30 years ago.

This film has been in the making for a while but now has been received very well in the festival circuit. What has kept the film from being released in India?
The release date hasn't been delayed at all. The film was finished only in November last year and it was a strategic decision to take it for a whirlwind tour of the international film festival circuit, and it's been a strategy that's paid off for us. By doing that we have won five international awards till date and insha-Allah more would be forthcoming before the year is out. And we have had the opportunity to showcase the film before leading film makers like Mira Nair, Vishal Bhardwaj and Sudhir Mishra. Mira (Nair) has seen the film, I didn't know Mira. She surprised everyone by showing up at the screening at a film festival in New York and she said it was a Sunday afternoon, and she wanted to watch a film so she showed up. And you know as soon as the film finished, she was on her seat and she talked about it for 10 minutes. You know it's not like that these people are associated with the film or they are known to me, but it's just been incredible'the kind of response and support we have received because of the story telling of the film itself.

For an independent film maker who wants to make something which is off the beaten track when it comes to films in India, what are the typical challenges that you have faced and what has your experience been like?
See, I wrote this film in 2001 and Sarita Chaudhary was the first person I showed it to. Zakir Hussain was the second, and they both came on board. But it still took me about four years to put enough money together to shoot this film. A lot of instances went into it, when I think in retrospect. I was very young, I was a student. I had graduated from NYU in 2005. A young Indian girl in New York trying to raise money was quite a challenge. The funny thing 'For Real' is that in the West they call it an Indian Film and back home they call it an English Film. But everyone loves it. So as an artist you just want to tell the story that you want to and if you don't want to be bogged down by these kinds of criteria then it makes for a greater struggle. But my reward is that my product - my film - touches so many people across continents. As I've seen from the film festival that the struggle is totally worthwhile.

If I were to do it again, 'For Real' would always be my first film. As you made the movie, what have you observed in terms of the evolution of the film scene in India?
You know in the 1980s a very interesting phenomenon happened in America. The American studios had cracked the formula which they called commercial / mainstream. And then what happened was that quality films started coming. They were smaller films which told really intimate stories and these films were stealing away a large pie of the box office. So all the studios wondered who these little guys were who came and took away their box office. And not only that, they were winning all the awards also, because they were actually that good. So you know this movement which was spearheaded by film makers like Steven Sorderbergh and his 'Sex, Lies and Videotape' that led to the creation of studios like Miramax which Disney bought and then Fox started Fox Searchlight. All the studios started their speciality divisions, which were smaller budget, high concept films and I see the same movement happening in India, which is really good. Whether it's an 'Udaan' or a 'Peepli Live' or 'For Real', just the fact that not only these films are being made but they are being backed by big players like Aamir Khan, UTV and PVR. It shows that somewhere these people have started realising that the terms 'commercial' and 'mainstream' are changing.

Where do you see this trend going in terms of fragmentation of the audience? How to make a film viable which otherwise might not be a commercial mainstream subject as such but something that needs to be told in terms of a story?
I don't think it's about audience segregation, I think especially more than any other audience in the world, our Indians love cinema. And if you give them good cinema they will love to watch it. The imagination has been limited by the film makers and the producers themselves.

I recently showed my film in Ahmedabad. Initially we were in two minds whether to open the film there or not. This was at a film festival and it so happened that the film festival was at a PVR. It was a packed house; there were local people from the city and the audience response was just flabbergasting. Not only that, you have the audience now coming on to forums like Facebook and writing reviews of your film. The nuances of storytelling that the audience picked up was amazing. It is not that the same audience will not enjoy a 'Dabaang' or a 'We Are Family' ' of course, they will. But they will equally love an 'Udaan' or a 'For Real'. The audience taste had always existed but we never fed it. One of the all time greatest movies in India is 'Mother India'. If the film were produced today, would you call it mainstream or parallel cinema? Not at all. It is about storytelling and storytelling is when somebody goes and watches a piece of cinema, they see a reflection of their own emotions.

Your film doesn't boast of any big stars but deals with a sensitive and nuanced subject. Was it a conscious decision to avoid casting any famous names?
There is only one star on my set and that is my story. And I was blessed that everyone ' the cast and the crew ' were there to tell the story. At every award I accept the award on behalf of my cast and crew because I believe we all made this film together like a family. I am not making the film for a star; my star was the script so I wanted to cast the person who would show your character the best and give you the best performance. The kids casting was the biggest challenge, especially the little girl ' she was the make-or-break for the movie. I knew I was casting someone too young. We had over a 100 kids auditioned and I took a decision after 20 odd auditions that I did not want a child with any prior acting experience because for someone so young, they get trained into bad acting habits. I thought I'd rather take someone who is untainted and train them to act like real children on the film sets. And both my kids have won awards at international film festivals.

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