This is the story of a stateless nation that has become a tragic and deadly war zone, a land enveloped in a night of terror for 60 years, and a people born with no choice but revolution or despair.
The people in Kashmir live under a terrible and unprecedented military occupation, which denies its own existence and remains invisible to the world. Before 1943, Kashmir was a distinctively peaceful region characterized by harmonious religious coexistence between its Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist communities. But today, divided between India and Pakistan, and labeled as terrorists and fundamentalists, Kashmiris are trapped in the middle of a tense and bitter conflict that has already exploded in three full-scale wars, leading to the nuclearization of India and Pakistan.
This film tells the story of a new generation of young Muslims that, inspired by the Sufi culture and Kashmir’s long history of ethnic and religious coexistence, started a non-violent movement in the hopes for a new peace in this land of mythic beauty that straddles between two anxious and volatile nuclear powers.
Israeli director’s film on Kashmir earns Indian ire
Srinagar, Feb 09: Indian authorities have taken umbrage at Kashmir: Journey to Freedom and are refusing to allow American-Israeli director Udi Aloni to return to India, after his film was premiered in Panorama section, at the Berlin Film Festival which showcases independent and arthouse cinema.
Aloni tells how a new generation of young Muslim Kashmiris, after years of armed resistance, decide to lay down their arms and start a nonviolent resistance movement – in the hope of finally achieving peace and independence.
“Thousands of people remain victims of enforced disappearances in Jammu and Kashmir. The practices of “disappearances” and extrajudicial executions violate basic human rights, including the right to life, the right to liberty and security of the person, the right to a fair and public trial, as well as the prohibition on torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment or punishment. Under international law, an enforced disappearance is a continuing crime until the “disappearance” is resolved.”
“While previous governments have admitted that many persons are missing, it was claimed that they had crossed the border into Pakistan to become militants. Yet, as you are aware, unmarked graves of those deemed to have been unidentified foreign militants are scattered all over Jammu and Kashmir. Many believe that these graves contain the remains of their loved ones who were picked up by security forces, killed in custody, and then falsely identified in police reports to be foreign militants, usually Pakistani citizens. In many cases, when relatives have succeeded in their demand to have graves exhumed, their claims have been found to be correct.”
Read the Full Letter from Human Rights Watch Executive Director Brad Adams to the Chief Minister of Occupied Kashmir, Omar Abdullah – Dated February 9th 2009 [LINK]
The most striking point about the dossier is its vague and unprofessional character. Enormous reliance is placed on the interrogation of the captured terrorist, Mohammed Amir Kasab, despite the fact that there is an abundance of other evidence – eyewitness accounts, CCTV and TV footage, forensic evidence, etc. – which could have been called upon to establish when, where, and what exactly happened during the attacks. This gives rise to the suspicion that the interrogation is being used as a substitute for real investigation because it can be influenced by intimidation or torture, whereas other sources of evidence cannot be influenced in the same way.
