Freedom’s Thirst
People run on the street
TITLE Freedom’s Thirst
Costume Party, with photographers, in a Summer Garden Old or young, everyone must fulfill their desires.Okay, get the camera.This is all you'll remember.
txt: TOURIST SUMMER Nishat bagh / Mughal garden SRINAGAR
This'll be for Rupees 35 a copy.You'll get it tomorrow.Are you staying or leaving?We'll send it to you by Registered post.Tens of thousands of tourists get their pictures takenThis is a registered shop registered by J&K Tourism.Its not a con.We've been in this business for 20 years.It's a matter of trust.- Let me first choose a pose.He'll make the pose, that's his job.Come to Kashmir - get a picture in a Kashmiri dress.
Tourists go past on sledges
txt: TOURIST WINTER
Garden Photographer Look at the finger, both of you.Like this –
1:58 txt: Gulmarg / Meadow of flowers
Kashmir's landscape carries ancient burdens … For its conquerors and colonisers, it was always Paradise, a garden of earthly delights, a playground for fantasies…
Such fun!Kashmir is naturally beautifulIf we didn't have this thing in our countryIn reality, it's heaven - really a heaven.Where a man feels he's in paradise.I reckon there's no need to got to Switzerland.Siberia and Switzerland you don't have to go.Kashmir is ultimate - and Gulmarg is...It's the Big Dad of Switzerland, man!Heaven on Earth, definitely!Most Ultimate.These stupid people that have ruined it.
Kashmir is India's heart.Gulmarg is heaven.
03:24 Winter lakes Freedom announced itself to the Indian subcontinent in August 1947, when British India was partitioned: into India and Pakistan.
women march That Independence was attended by a bloodbath between Hindus and Muslims: a million people were killed, 8 million made refugees.
04:09 women march ‘alvida’ For Kashmir 1947 also brought a sudden end to the old feudal order, where its Muslim peasants had struggled against the oppression of their Hindu king.
shabby shikara goes past But Kashmir stood on the fault-lines of the partition of British India, claimed by both India and Pakistan. A year later, there were two Kashmirs.Pakistan came to control a third of the state, what it calls Azad – "free" – Kashmir.And for more than sixty years, India has fiercely held on to the rest… For Kashmiris the hope of freedom turned to disillusionment, and to discontent with India; then to mass resistance, and eventually, an armed struggle… The idea of ‘azadi’, freedom, was finally unbound.
05.32 Indian flag Officers of the Border Security Force sing the Indian Anthem – “Jana gana mana”…
Lal Chowk, Srinagar 15th Aug Flag Raising: txt: Lal Chowk / Red square SRINAGARIndian Independence Day 15 AUGUST
Border Security Force salute with guns
06:12 Old Man looks for sons grave Mazar-e-shouda / Martyrs graveyard SRINAGAREid-ul-Zu’haJANUARY 2005 Whose grave are you looking for?My son's - My son is buried here. After such a long time, one forgets.What's your sons' name?His name sir, is - Farooq Ahmed. What's this - after such a long time one can't make out.Here it is… Now you can see it, Sir, underneath this – 8 April 1996Where was he martyred?At BadgamIt's written in Urdu, that’s his name. Understood sir? He was Divisional Commander with the Hizbul MujahideenUnderstood? Anything else?
08:12 txt: Jama Masjid / Grand MosqueSRINAGAR
08.22 CRPF Officers in snow With its Muslim majority, Kashmir always occupied a central place in the construction of India as a secular nation. Kashmirs’ Muslims were equally important for Pakistan, critical to its character as an Islamic state.
In the midst of these two imaginations, Kashmiris waited to voice their own freedom…
09:00 Shahid's poem txt: “Freedom's terrible thirst, flooding Kashmir,is bringing love to its tormented glass,Stranger, who will inherit the last night of the past?Of what shall I not sing, and sing?” Agha Shahid Ali, Kashmiri poet
09.30 Govt Press Information Bureau burns in fidayeen attack In 1989, an armed uprising finally erupted in Kashmir… For over twenty years, India has struggled to crush this rebellion with its considerable military might.
Soldiers patrol in the snow The armed militancy was gradually driven underground… but Kashmir had turned into a battlefield.
09.55 A folk theatre troupe plays out a chapter in history
txt: Bhagat Theatre,Akingampresent 'Darze pather'featuring: the cruel Kings who ruled Kashmir in the past long gone by some of its licentious queensand its ordinary people…
Couldn’t put this in as mixed – check orig edit In the make-believe of the Bhand theatre, Kashmiris shaped images of survival…
Say it quick thenAnd if you can, say it in KashmiriZenana? Women?What is he saying?What?Why did you not say so before? His shirts been taken by the washerman!Gone for a wash, it is!
When their rulers dismissed them as Zulm Parast–worshippers of injustice–Kashmiris imagined themselves as sly and subversive. Oppressed, but never slaves…
The Queens break into a major dance Listen to me -If it's the shrine of Zainshah sahib that you want to goSwear upon God, that's the way.I'm no thief! If it's the shrine of Zainshah sahib that you want to goThat's the way.
5 centuries of colonial rule, remembered by ordinary Kashmiris as ghulaemi, as servitude, remembered by their failure to resist. Then the last 20 years, lived in the tehrik, the movement, the struggle.
13:18 Hazratbal Shrine, Srinagar 1991 Txt: [Separatist Rally]SRINAGAR, FEB 1991 Today we want to tell India which says this is a terrorist movement, says its just a handful, misguided young people.Today we say to them - Look at this scene at Hazratbal!And with our raised hands, we assure the Mujahideen - We are with you!Long live- Islam! We want- Freedom!We'll snatch away - Freedom!It's our right- Freedom!
14:16 Gravediggers of Kupwara txt: Kupwara NORTH JAMMU & KASHMIR
In this quiet corner of Paradise, bodies materialize, as if from the earth and forest.
Are they all Kashmiris? They're from many countries, foreign countries.At first I used to be very scared.Now we keep seeing itour hearts have turned to stone. Their condition is so bad. Once there was a body without a head. You couldn't recognize it.Sometimes there are no claimants.We don't know -Is it a civilian or a militant? They're just left at the hospital saying they're from an 'encounter', they're militants, and so on.But we don't know.Our responsibility is to bury them. It's our Islamic duty, that’s all
15:21 Winter Garden with Kites in the air In Kashmir's public memory, Azadi, independence, has always been elusive, always in the future… Its last Kashmiri King lost power around 1470. 500 years of foreign rule followed – Sultans, Afghans, Mughals, Sikhs, Dogras.
txt: If there is Paradise on this earth,It is here, it is here, it is here ...Mughal Emperor Jehangir
16:00 Over centuries paradise had become imbued with zulm, with injustice…
Txt [Indian Border Security Force Operations]
ruined couple There were three cattle in here. Two goats and a bull.They were in here, they were burnt. The Army didn't let us take them out.That was my house still has a brick wall intact. It was made of bricks one storey, with a tin roof. how am I going to rebuild it.
16:55 At 8.30 there was a cordon, people ran away. The Army came, and people ran, no one knew quite why. Around 12 noon the firing began. Everybody ran, the whole village.
17:16 a man has his finger bandaged When we came back the fire had engulfed everything. Nothing was saved - no property, no belongings. People just ran away - when they came back the houses were gone.
17.34 two women talk, sitting in the open How do we deal with this? Ourselves, our children, food, clothes – What we had is goneSaved nothing but the clothes we're wearing.- we didn't even get away with a lot of clothes.Spent a lifetime building those houses now they're gone.We're like nomads, out in the rain.
Man with child in arms speaks We can't figure out - if there were two militants in a house why was the whole settlement razed?
18.14 Survey of Deaths txt: Survey of ‘conflict-related’ deathsJAMMU KASHMIR COALITION OF CIVIL SOCIETY
In 2007 the first ever survey of the killings began. Volunteers began to add up the losses of nearly 20 years...
Woman on the street Those who died during the militancy, during the movementWe're doing a survey of those.– Just tell us the truthWe get terrified, don't we
the Sister How old was he when he was...martyred? 25 - 21
What date was he martyred?It's written down on that paperWhere is it?Look in that placeWhere was he martyred? UpstairsHere? In the house?
the Sister again Who can say? Who knows?Unknown people came?Yes, in that darknessWhat can one say about dark times...Have a cup of tea - No thanks...
19.55 Volunteers walk down the street After two decades of armed conflict, Kashmir’s ledger of loss slowly reveals itself.Civilians, soldiers, militants… this simple headcount reported more than 60,000 killed. And 10,000 disappeared, perhaps forever… What was he doing?He ran a shopThat day he was on his way to the prayers.The Border Security Force stopped him, took him in for a searchThere was no noise, nothing.They just fired a burst into him.- So it was during the search- Not in the cross-fire?Sir, he left for the prayer, they took him for a search.And opened fire on him.
20.42 the dead shopkeeper’s father again I'll show you the Border Security Force papers too they gave us 50,000 rupeesWe were in a daze at the time- 50,000 for what?Gave us 50,000 saying it was a mis-fire just to keep quiet.If I had known it was my child, would I be alive?This is just a front, otherwise I'm dead inside.
21.00 A village mourns in the mist What did you do at that moment, my martyr?Did you cry out, my martyr?Were you in pain, my martyr?My life for you, my martyr
In the early 1990s, old memories of oppression sought out the fresh winds of struggle, from across the mountains, from Pakistan, Afghanistan, even Palestine. In those early years there were said to be 35,000 armed militants in Kashmir. They were seen as mujahid warriors battling the Indian State, fighting an army that was ten times its number.
22.10 In that moment, it must have looked as though Azadi was there for the taking… that uprising will be remembered as Kashmir’s Intifada.
22.38 Shakeel BakshiPolitical Activist Kashmiris are a unique people who even after a prolonged struggle, and 500 years of being colonized didn’t give up on even the smallest of their traditions, the Wazwan … nor could anyone else make them do it. If some 200 or 300 years of foreign rule couldn’t destroy their passionate resistance – Can these 10 or 15 years add up to much?I remember one of our Kashmiri poets, from before 1947, Mehjoor, Mehjoor once wrote:Who will Awaken the East? That voice must come from the Kashmiris – that’s prose, of course. I think, that’s a role for the Kashmiris, To awaken the East.
24.00 [Militant Training Video]KASHMIR, Early 1990s By the mid 1990s the struggle for Kashmir’s liberation had gradually come to be fused with more radical Islamic groups… The Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front was pushed into a ceasefire with India, its role taken over by militant groups based in Pakistan. Hizb ul-Mujahideen, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba these were all first spawned as a response to the conflict in Kashmir, and they return to haunt the events of the more recent present…
24.47 Army Convoy In 2009 officials say only 700 armed militants remain in the fight.But more than half a million Indian soldiers still wage that war. That’s more than 700 soldiers for every armed mujahid in Kashmir.That’s one Soldier for every 20 Kashmiri civilians…
25.57 Government Psychiatric Hospital What's the matter then? You're on fire, suffocation?What happens - in your dreams? Restless and a bit scared?And who are those people?
26.40 A poem by Zarif Ahmed ‘Zarif’, Kashmiri poet This is a ghazal-poem, whose opening lines areMy gaze has been silencedWhat frenzy is this?
Txt: Zarif Ahmed ‘Zarif’, Srinagar My gaze has been silencedWhat frenzy is this?I lost the city of love I'd found, What frenzy is this?I worshipped shadows all my lifeDid I alone miss the arrival of the dawnWhat frenzy is this?I smeared the glass with blood to make mirrorsMy image - a strangerWhat frenzy is this?I couldn't read the writing on floral wallsmy lines of fate turned muteWhat frenzy is this?Socrates did me no favour in leavingI shouldn’t be saying this, butHe didn't drink my share of poisonWhat frenzy is this?I've lost the city of love I'd found, What frenzy is this?
28.2728.38 Government Psychiatric Hospital : Woman in White contd., her brother talksDr Mushtaq MargoobGovernment Psychiatric Hospital What faces do you see?Are they humans or something else?They're dressed in white - What do they say? Come with us?We'll take you To your brother? And you get scared?See, the last time you were fine for several years. We faced problems too, didn't we? Problems with this brother too But you were courageous, and you were fine. When did her brother die? That was '94 I think. He wasn't a militant, just a civilian.He was going along and there was firing...?And he died there?
29.22 Turbaned Soldier cocking gun and chasing bystanders. Srinagar txt: [Crackdown, Nishat]SRINAGAR, JUNE 2000 CAN TRIM THESE 2 SECTIONS AS WELL
29.43 ID cards are checked. Border Security Force jeeps on alert In Kashmir, 500,000 Indian soldiers fight a virtually unseen enemy—and that impossible battle against popular sentiment. War spills out in all directions. There are no bystanders, no civilians. Every Kashmiri is a possible shahid, a martyr to the moment.
30.34 Government Psychiatric Hospital : 4 the Absent patient Her age is 9 years, studying in Class 3. The girl was sitting on same seat besides the dead body of her father. Once she reached that placeshe saw her sisters and mother crying. She started crying - till then she was almost mute.15 days after this patient started complaining of fainting attacks. She was advised to see a psychiatristWas labeled as PTSD there, was put on medicines... She’d see the dead body of her father splashed with blood in dreams.She wouldn't see pictures of her father wouldn't go to the graveyard.
Money is handed over Buy medicines with this. What the Doctor gave you that's for your bus fare etc. Like we've been doing...But the medicine shouldn't stop. Because it's this effort that'll make a new life for her.
31.30 Srinagar : Eyewitness Testimony Txt: [Civilians killed in crossfire]SRINAGAR, OCT 1992
Young girl I was looking through my windowThey brought him outThe soldier told him to stand like this - When he did they shot him, and his eye fell out. Then they shot him here, and in the leg five six timesAfter that the body lay there from 1.30 till 7Even the dogs that came by, didn't look that way.Then they fired again, saying you cannot pick him upTwo bullets, and they didn't even let him drink water. Nothing, he's not to drink water they said.Didn't even let a cloth be placed over him.
32.30 Srinagar : Shah-e-Hamadan Urs Heal those who are ailing in this congregationAmen!Heal those of my family!Heal my own ailments!Rid us of all diseaseAmen!But the Martyr -At the moment of Martyrdom,The Martyr enters Paradise!
32.51 Shahid. Martyr. In Arabic, the word also means ‘to witness’, to bear witness. In its graveyards; in its hospital wards; its shrines –we see the agony of shahadat, of bearing witness to Kashmir’s present
33:18 “Signature campaign” in the countryside txt: Mohd Yasin MalikJammu Kashmir Liberation Front After 55 years have passed Do we still need to tell the world what we want? Where 100,000 people are martyredWhere injustice, brute force, cruelty, loot, and murder are routine.Do we still have to tell the world what we want? The world knows what we want. But our enemy -whose name is Brahminical Imperialism it has only one distinctive feature - It uses deceit and liesto turn its lies into truths. They murder 100,000 people and tell the world they are the victims of terrorism! They're bandits in uniform. They ask citizens here to show their Identity Cards. Drag them out of buses and make them walk miles. Thrash them by the roadside, like animals. Thrash them in their orchards, fields and homes.
34.40 At dusk, slogans are raised No relief! Freedom!No roads! Freedom!No SRO! Freedom!What do we want? Freedom!Say it aloud! Freedom!Say it together! Freedom!Shout it out! Freedom!We'll have it! Freedom!STF hear us! Freedom!BSF hear us! Freedom!RR hear us! Freedom!No matter what! Freedom!Beat us down! Freedom!Shoot us down! Freedom!Burn it down! Freedom!Burn our homes! Freedom!We’ll still have it! Freedom!For sure we’ll have it! Freedom!
No visible flag, or anthem, or manifesto binds the sentiment for ‘Azadi.’ In its place there are slogans, there is sacrifice and there are martyrs…
Say it with spirit- Freedom!
35.27 This litany of rage, from people who have seen homes burnt, have seen death, torture, and rape; (and) then have had the hollowed out rituals of democracy and statecraft offered to them …
Txt caption:“We demand our active involvement in the process relating to the resolution of the Kashmir dispute”.
34.05 Say this as v/o That one line was used by the JKLF to collect almost 1.4 million signatures over its year long campaign.
36.10 Over high pan In the countryside, with the overwhelming presence of security forces, displays of political will are more hard to find… In its place is a more subdued obedience…
37.17 Malangam Army Camp Txt:Rashtriya Rifles (RR) CampMALANGAM, BANDIPORA
The “Goodwill” apparatus at Malangam Army Major Why is so much being given to you people? So you can understand how development happens, what it is.I've spoken to the children- they're happy.They'd come to me saying the other schools want computers too.Listen to what's happening in the world, what all's going on.Amongst our poorer brethren I've selected some names. And we're giving them 12 radio sets. If Allah wills, more things will comebetter things. The needy will get more. Keep watching what the Army does - what this unit does for you
38.31 Memorial meeting for a martyr Syed Ali Shah Geelani Political Leader Those who are in Occupation who've by force made slaves of a people. Their effort is that when people try to fight it with sacrifice and struggle Those sacrifices must be forgotten, that's what they try.It's to erase these that they tell people that we'll give you roadsAnd bank loans, and timberrations, employment, fly-oversa railway line – Lots to make them forget these sacrifices. "Follow us they say - accept this occupation, based on brute force""Accept and endorse it", that's what they try.
39.30 Syed Ali Shah Geelani The late poet, Iqbal says:Ask not recompense for the blood of Martyrsfrom those who run Empires– Europe, America, Britain, India, Israel They'll never be able to repay you -That blood more precious than Kaaba -So no power on earth can compensate that.We should remember that if India paves our roads with gold in place of stones. even then they cannot pay for the blood of our Martyrs.
40.19 silent prayer at the Gates of Shah-e-Hamadan shrine txt: Kashmir may not be conquered by the force of soldiers But by the force of spiritual merits. Hence its inhabitants are afraid only of the world beyondKalhanaRajatarangani / River of Kings 12th century
41.00 Border Security Force fights a war in the countryside Commander speaks about the event There was a very fierce battlecontinuous firing from both sides.One Pakistani militant in particularpinned down our soldiers.Well done! I would like to congratulate everyonefor keeping high our Battalion flagand taking on the Militantsas they will continue to do -and work for Peace here.
Txt: [Border Security Force Encounter]PULWAMA AUG 1998
From the most militarized zone in the world, a lesson: that domination does not mean victory.(THIS SENTENCE IS AT END OF VO)Over twenty years Kashmir has cost India more than 5000 soldiers, and the rebellion extracts a heavy price on its bloated defense budget…
Armed with extraordinary powers, the Indian security forces are locked in an unspoken war with the people of Kashmir… And this military domination has carried with it arbitrary arrests, torture, rape and extrajudicial killings.
Ikhwani group Txt: [Ikhwani Counter Insurgents]SOUTH KASHMIR, mid 1990s
40.40 Their most feared weapon though was drawn from within the heart of the rebellion, from the militant group Ikhwan.Their origins lay in the mid 90s, in the Security Forces buying up fringe militant groups, arming and protecting them, (and) then unleashing them upon their own people.Ikhwan, Arabic word for Brother. In Kashmir, Ikhwani becomes a word for renegade, eventually a word for collaborator.The bitter twist of language: where Brother becomes Traitor. And a Brotherhood becomes a word for fratricide.
43.00 Torture victim speaks from Hospital bed Txt: [Torture victim]SRINAGAR, APR 1993 They said we're going to set you freeTook me to the riverbankPut me against a treeAgainst a tree...?And fired a burstYou gained consciousness here?Where do you live?Danderkha, BatmalooWhere were you? Travelling?I had gone to visit my aunt.On the way back there was a Crackdown...I said I have to go to CollegeBut they took me in -kept me for the dayand gave me shocks...
43.53 Azam Inquilabiformer Chairman, United Jehad Council My own experience is that as I spent more and more time in jailsmy prayers grew in power.In 1965 when I was arrestedfor the first time I was an 18 year old boy.In 1969 I was in Muzaffarabad (Pakistan)spent 8 months there in detention.There was interrogation too -'third degree' treatment - I've met it on both sides.Anyway, jail is still a good thing. You are secure, there is a guard, there is food.You can pray, you can meditate.I don't think long stretches in jail reduce the resolve of a committed warrior or ideologue.It increases it.If their point of view is not accommodated by the systemultimately the tussle will lead towards anarchy.In a democratic setup, thereforethere should be a perpetual effort to be in a constant rapport with the dissidents.Of whatever shade of opinion they are.
45.46 wedding procession turns into a funeral at Bangargund Txt:BANGARGUND, TREHGAM24 JULY 2005
Four teenaged boys wander out from a late night wedding party… And are shot dead by patrolling soldiers… the Indian Army calls it a case of ‘mistaken identity’…In the darkness of night, the innocent boys were seen as armed militants.The Army’s offer of cash compensation is rejected, refused with rage.
46.31 Protest O! mujahid of Kashmir –We are with you!O! Tyrants and Unbelievers –Leave our Kashmir!
Here they come, here they come!Lashkar-e-Taiba
attack on the Police station Txt: [Police Post Attacked]BANGARGUND, JULY 2005
45.40 Again and again, civilians face the impunity of soldiers… their actions protected by an impervious thicket of laws, which ensure that few are ever held accountable.
47.40 Parvez ImrozCivil Rights Lawyer For example in Kupwara area just two years back , a bridegroom who was married just two days - one night actually. He was arrested by the army a mine was planted. He blew up into pieces. Then the family came here. There was a hue and cry - politicians make a lot of rhetoric speeches, condemnation, strikes. But what after that? Nothing - they came here, I filed a writ petition. The most shocking thing for me as a lawyer who filed a writ petitionseeking mandamus from the court that the perpetrators be taken to justice according to the law of the land. They lost interest... Simply because they had no faith in the system on the institutions. Secondly they feel very vulnerable they can't any more give any resistance.
Soldiers tie bandanas on women in garden
Fidayeen attack on the Tourist Centre Txt: [Fidayeen attack on Tourist Centre]SRINAGAR, APR 2005
Folk Theatre sharing blessings with the people



credits:
written and directed by
Sanjay Kak

photography
Ranjan Palit

edited by
Tarun Bhartiya

associate producer
Aijaz Hussain

----------------------------------------

poets featured

Agha Shahid Ali
(1949-2001)
from "A Country without a Post Office"

Piarey ‘Hatash’
jammu

Zarif Ahmed ‘Zarif’
srinagar

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sound design
Madhu Apsara


music design
Suchet Malhotra


musicians

Rabab
Abdul Majid Shah
Sarang / Nott / Vocals
Ghulam Mohiuddin Shah

Drums / Percussion / Guitar
Suchet Malhotra

music recordist
Melwin Fernandes

post production mix
Pratik Biswas

excerpt from "Apni azadi ko hum"
composed by Naushad
from the film 'Leader'
produced by S. Mukerji
available on www.shemaroo.com

production assistant
Ashok Kumar

production accountant
Hemant Talwar & Associates

typographic & poster design
Itu Chaudhuri
Lisa Rath

translation
Aijaz Hussain
Mohamed Junaid
Suvir Kaul


with grateful thanks to

bhagat theatre, akingam
Master Ghulam Hassan Bhagat

defence public relations officer, srinagar
Lt Col V K Batra, Retd., Indian Army

govt psychiatric diseases hospital
Dr Mushtaq A Margoob
Dr Zaid A Wani

jammu kashmir coalition of civil society
Khurram Parvez
Abdul Qayoom Shiekh

manford & shehjar foundation
pawan hans helicopters
royal springs golf course


for their trust and friendship

Parvaiz Bukhari

Abir Bazaz / Mahmud ul Haq
Masud Taing / P G Rasool / Wasim Bhat
Peerzada Ashiq / Showkat Ahmed Motta
Hamidullah Dar / Javed Dar
Suhaib Masoodi / Imran Farooqi
kashmir
Angela & Abiya
Shillong

K Nandha Kumar
Shouma & Amba
delhi

and with love and gratitude to

Kaushalya & Bhavanesh Kaul
Usha & Ashoka Kak

the generous spirits of
Exchange Road, Srinagar

AH & TB
who walked every step

and for AR

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Post-production of this film has been realized with the support of the
Jan Vrijman Fund


an octave communications production Ó 2007


www.kashmirfreedomfilm.com
www.jashneazadi.com

Adapted for television by Keely Stucke for Journeyman Pictures