VO – reporter John Sparks

Local kashmiri leader

VO

Once famed for its beauty

the Kashmir Valley is a joyless place

of angry streets

and automatic rifles

and parents who grieve for the children ....

... over the last four months,

allegations of brutality by Indian security forces

have fuelled a popular rebellion and calls for independence from local leaders...

SOT .... the answer unfortunately to every rising in Kashmir is bullets to the people of Kashmir

More than a 110 civilians have been killed since June .... the loss of life has inflamed tensions

the authorities stand accused of using indiscriminate force ........

Commander  Prabhakar Triparthi

what we have been using is these rubber bullets and plastic bullets...compaction gun has also been introduced - to just quell the mob as we just try to use the minimum amount of force...."

Kids of bridge SOT

What is going on?

SOT: Stone pelters...

stone pelting he says

we watched policemen race down to a nearby bridge .....

.... they're equipped with guns and authority to use them ......

(national paramilitary and local police)

a group of Kashmiries were waiting for them ....

Kids of bridge SOT - What are you doing ?

Reporter Sparks

What are you doing ?

YOUNGSTER:

UPSOT

we are fighting for freedom

"freedom, freedom.... "

VO

... they're young and contemptuous .... and radicalized by months of violence -

they say they're fighting the "Indian occupation"

PTC

police are on one side of the bridge - the kids are on the other ....

VO

the authority of the state is briefly challenged .....

but the young men scatter as the police move in ....

we film them entering homes in the neighbourhood .... and we're told to stop filming ...

VO

India's message is simple ... these lands belong to ... India

its fought three wars against Pak here ...

and battled militants in a bloody insurgency sponsored by Pak in 1980's and 90's ....

.... but Indian military chiefs say the threat posed by their neighbour has significantly declined in recent years...

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

..... yet the security forces are still here - you see them on every street corner in Shrinagar

locals residents accuse them of intimidatation - of beatings and window smashing .....

special legislation gives police wide powers -

 critics say they're immune from pros......

VO

frustrated and angry,

young men have taken to the

streets ....

they want the security forces to withdraw

and they want a vote on independence

the police have responded with force ...

and more than one hundred people - including children - have been killed in the last four months...

the loss of life has fuelled the protests ....

VO

We were told of a distressing story .... that an 8 year old boy called Sameer Ahmad had been beaten to death by the police - so we went to see his family in a part of the city under curfew .....

the Ahmad family were distraught but they wanted to share their story

 Despite a curfew on the 3rd of August,, Mr Ahmad allowed Sameer to go to his uncle's house nearby....

Mr Fayaz Ahmad

"he thought it was safe .. but when he crossed the road the paramilitary police grabbed him..."

"Can you imagine what that would be like for an 8 year old boy. It would terrify an adult. What did this poor boy go through?

VO

eyewitnesses say Sameer was beaten to death by 3 paramilitary policemen ....

Mr Fayaz Ahmad

"a stick was thrust into his mouth and his teeth were broken. They lifted up his body with the stick and carried him like that. He was thrown into the nettles."

VO

with paramilitary forces looking on, Mr Ahmad walked us through the deserted streets - to the site were his son was found ...... local residents told us they saw what happened ...

there was no trouble in the area they say - the police just went for him ........

the paramilitary Central Reserve police force - or the CRPF - give a different version of events .... the boy was killed by stampeding group of protestors ......

Reporter Sparks to Commander interview

We have been told he was beaten by 3 or 4 CRP officer. Is that true?

Commander  Prabhakar Triparthi

That is a totally baseless allegation. He was not beaten as he was a part of the crowd and when the crowd chased, when they were running away, the boy fell down and the whole of the crowd ran over the boy

Sparks

You are sure?

Commander  Prabhakar Triparthi

Yeah Yeah!

VO

.... many here refuse to accept such explanations - the death of SA and many others in the last few months, have fuelled the pro-indep movement ..... .

the alleged brutality of the police has radicalized a wide cross-section of the community ..... however police deny all allegations of improper conduct -

VO

Misrat Khan is 29 .... until the death of her brother Iqbal three months ago - she'd never been to a protest .....

.... its different now - we found Ms kahn and other local women blocking traffic in a demonstration outside Srinagar ... .

Miss Misrat Khan

This family will not sit around. Even if nobody in our neighbourhood joins we will protests

VO

Ms Kahn's brother Iqbal was nineteen - he had a sales job southern India - this summer, he came back to see his family ....

this footage was taken on a mobile phone just after Iqbal Kahn had been shot - local residents rush to the scene ....

His family say he'd gone to buy biscuites for breakfast time ... the shopkeeper was opening up ...

Shopkeeper Fatima Rhatthur

 He'd come for some biscuits. We heard some shots. The boy moved his head to see what was going on and a bullet struck his head.

VO

..... a very different account of the incident is filed in a police report

...it says a mob of 1400 stone-pelters had surrounded the police .... officers fired, it states, in self-defence

however, the family argue that the phone clip offers little evidence of a 1400-strong mob....

and the shopkeeper told us the area was deserted when Iqbal was killed........

Shopkeeper Fatima Rhatthur

it was exactly 8:45 in the morning. Who would have been about? There was a police curfew in effect ...

VO

Life goes on in the home where Iqbal Kahn grew up but his family cant forget ..... Iqbal's mother hasnt spoken since his death ....

Miss Misrat Khan

Our world around us has shattered. Whatever happiness there is, there is none for us. We pray to God that we will also die so we can be him. His absence is simply unbearable.

VO

However, the paramilitary police accuse the family and the local community of dishonesty ... the police report into Iqbal Khan's death is accurate ....

Commander  Prabhakar Triparthi

This is the truth, this is the truth. The family story being fabricated by the local population, is totally false, this is the truth, what actually has been taken on the ground has been reported in the police activity and these are the authentic papers.

The Indian government told us that the eyewitness we spoke to in connection with deaths of Sameer Ahmad and Iqbal Khan

are unreliable due to the passage of time.

adding that it has now appointed three peace envoys in an attempt to calm the situation ..... they have much work to do ...

India kashmir was long

India's priority here was defending this territory from Pak

now India is in conflict is

with the people they claim to be their own .....