India - Kashmir - 6min 47sec - 1 January 1991
(Ref: 11)
Solitary
boat on lake |
Once a
tranquil land of lakes and mountains, Kashmir is now caught up in a violent
struggle for independence. |
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Horse-drawn
carriage Girl
skipping in street |
Most
of Kashmir’s seven million people are Muslim, and since 1947 India has
claimed this state as her own. |
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Children
playing, Armed
soldiers in the streets |
In the
last three years, 3000 people have died as the independence struggle has
degenerated into violent social unrest. And now the Indian army is here in
force. 300,000 soldiers keep Kashmiris under strict military control. Any
resistance is harshly dealt with. |
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Independence
graffitti |
But
still the Kashmiri youth continue to resist. |
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Mosque,
gun shots at night |
Young
nationalists attack an Indian military check point and retreat into the
night. |
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Daylight,
car with smashed windows, broken glass on bed |
The
following morning the Indian army’s response to the attack: a dawn raid
followed by mass arrests of young men and the persecution of local people. (Interview
with woman – subtitled) The
army men came and smashed the window panes and kicked down the door, abusing verbally,
they also hit us. |
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Street
scenes |
Here
in the town of Hanwara a soldier was shot dead. The
army’s response: three hundred shops and residences burnt to the ground. Such
actions are now almost normal, but more recent incidents have raised
widespread concern about the Indian army’s continuing role in Kashmir. |
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Village
of Koonan Pushpora,
village gathering Woman
1 Woman
2 |
The
army agreed that they did enter the village of Koonan
Pushpora on the night of 23rd February.
They said they questioned people and found some arms. But these people have
given human right’s investigators a more harrowing account of what happened
here. They say the men of the village were taken from their homes and
tortured, and at least 53 women left alone with their children were
gang-raped. Woman
1: At 11 in the night some men came and took my husband and me. I was alone.
They took him and I was taken (raped) by six men
until 6 in the morning. Woman
2: It was all havoc. They captured us and raped us in our house. Who will we
tell this to? This is the oppressors’ tyranny. |
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Groups
of women Woman
3 Woman
3 |
53
women gave statements to human rights investigators, the youngest was
thirteen, the oldest eighty. This
woman was pregnant at the time of the incident. She says that three days
after she was raped and beaten, her child was born with a broken arm. Woman
3: They came in at around 11 in the night. I ran to the second floor. They
followed me. I had my mother and sister along but
they fled. I was caught by four men of the army and they tore my clothes,
then I don’t know what happened. |
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Outside
of building Man
inside building demonstrating how they were tortured Scars
on man’s back |
In
this building the men of the village say they were interrogated and tortured. Man 1 Two
men were pushing me from behind and my neck was down here. These
scars are allegedly caused by electric wires. |
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Village
huts Girl
washing with pot in river. |
What
happened that night has left many families in ruin, husbands have left their
wives, young unmarried girls have seen their prospects of marriage vanish as
word of the incident spreads throughout the area. |
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Woman
4 with children |
Woman
4: I have two big girls. They can’t be married now. No one will take them as
brides from now onwards. |
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Woman
5 |
Woman
5: What can I do now? There were small, very small girls who have been abused
and their lives have been ruined. They have ruined their lives and it cannot
be undone, we will do the same to them, we will bite and eat them now. |
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Village
scene Group
of men |
While
the women come to terms with their terrible ordeal, their menfolk remain
traumatised by the experience. |
|
Man 2 |
Man 2:
We never thought that these infidels would come and abuse us. We are Muslims
and we consider other women to be our mothers and sisters. |
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Kapwara Mr Yessin in office Woman
6 complaining |
The
nearby town of Kapwara. Two weeks after the incident,
the magistrate, an Indian official, wrote a report in which he said the
soldiers behaved like beasts. Mr Yessin is used to
dealing with complaints about the army, here, another complaint about army
harassment and arrest. Woman
6: We are from Ziati, we are not against having a
TV, we are in favour of it only if it is in an Islamic way. Man 3:
So why don’t you buy your children a TV for the home? Woman
6: Our children are doing their studies so, if we bought them a TV, they
would be distracted from Quranic education and schooling. |
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Mr Yessin |
Mr Yessin: I had to submit a report to the authorities to
conduct an equation and to take action. It will be
good in the larger interests of the country if they stop the killing …(?) |
|
Abdul
Ghani walking out of house |
Abdul
Ghani is a former member of the Kashmiri state legislative, now disbanded. He
believes India has lost Kashmir. Abdul
Ghani: By their .. deeds they are alienating the
people of Kashmir day by day. They’re actually alienating
the hearts of the people. You will find in one word they are losing the souls
of the Indian – I mean Kashmiri people. Day by day. And by this act actually Kashmir has been shaken, the people of Kashmir. |
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Young
boy with basket in street, c/u on individuals, group scenes |
Music In a
society such as this, rape is not normally talked about. Yet in Koonan Pushpora there is
bitterness and sadness. Lives have changed, relationships shattered. |
|
Woman
3 |
Woman
3: I have no trust upon him, whether he will ask or not, I don’t expect. I
will raise this child now to fight and avenge the Indian State. |
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Army
trucks going down road Men of
the village in group. |
A
massive military presence still binds Kashmir to India. But the strain is
beginning to show. As tales of atrocities abound, Kashmiri nationalism grows.
There are no friends of India in Koonan Pushpora. |
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