We should expose how ‘Kashmir Files’ movie is an advertisement of the Hindutva propaganda machine to tarnish the image of Muslims of Kashmir, give a crushing blow to all credibility to the right of self-determination of Kashmiri people and sow the seeds of a Hindu Rashtra for the saffron brigade to sharpen it’s fangs. It jeopardises Hindu-Muslim fraternity. Its projection will embitter Hindu-Muslim relations with the film portraying this rivalry at a zenith.
It puts into oblivion the continuous barrage of killings of Muslims of Kashmir and the ruthless repression unleashed on all fighters for self -determination. In the very time of Congress Kashmiri liberation activists were hunted down .It is merciless to the aspirations of the Kashmiri people to seek autonomy and distorts the facts about how Sheikh Abdullah was promised that Kashmir would retain it’s sovereignty on the basis of a plebiscite. The Indian government did everything to deserve the complete wrath of the Kashmiri masses.
We must recall how the Kashmiri people in 1946 wished to be independent and only seeked Indian help for protection against the tribal invaders from Pakistan. An organised anti-feudal revolt was organized confronting the Dogra regime and only Maharaja Harisinghji wished to be part of India.
No doubt we must regret the harsh extermination of the Kashmiri pundits in no uncertain terms. Still who can forget the massacre of Kashmiri Muslims during partition? Communal fundamentalists of Islamic tendency must be condemned but critically one must uphold the secular forces of Kashmir .In recent times some of the worst massacres have been undertaken ,ripping the flesh of any dissent .Scrapping of article 370 has fascist undertones. Democratic forces all around the country condemned such a move.Jeelani and Yasim Malik type leaders were subjected to house arrest
Such a film puts the reports of civil liberties groups into tatters. The film does no justice to hundreds of activists languishing in jails, being framed. The strangling of the forces of All India Huriyat is comparable to that of any gross violation of civil liberties in India. The unprovoked and planned murder of Hizbul Mujahidin commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani,created the anger reminiscent of an inferno erupting in 2016.Mass resentment or rebellion reached unprecedented height defying the continuous barrage of curfew and bullets with death defying courage. Virtually street’intifadas were launched or a spark turned into a prairie fire.
No doubt the Kashmir movement is spontaneous and lacks a credible leadership. What was positive was the collective spirit to fight for Kashmiri nationality which turned into an obstacle for the Islamic fundamentalists. The Kashmiri movement has to extricate itself from the grip of imperialist domination .The current Indian and Pakistani states oppress the people of all nationalities and are instruments of oppression and domination. No doubt resolving nationality question in Kashmir from an anti-feudal. or anti- imperialist perspective is a complex problem.
I can never forget the state repression from early 1990s and protest of democratic movement in Mumbai and India. Later we had an al India fact finding team of 1997 of civil liberties groups .In recent times even if having religious undertones Muslim organizations have exposed the genocide on Muslims and how common Kashmiris have been stripped of their rights.
I can never forget my student and youth days when confronting state repression in Kashmir was an essential part of the agenda of the democratic movement. In the last few decades whatever aberrations towards communal inclination, we should salute the valiance of the Kashmiri people in withstanding repression unleashed.
We should condemn fundamentalism and the exodus of the Kashmiri pundits but tooth and nail oppose capital punishment on Kashmiri Muslim activists. Sadly our left parties hardly did any justice to the democratic aspirations of Kashmiri people .Sadly our social media is leaving no stone unturned to communalise the issue of Kashmir ,to give it a complete saffron colour. Protest should be staged against such a movie. by progressive forces, propagating how its is tearing apart the very fabric of secularism.
A film should have been constructed portraying the conspiracy of BJP-RSS forces to destroy any remnant of conventional democracy and how historically right from 1952 itself the right of Kashmir self determination was undermined. Democrats should aspire to make an alternative film to extinguish the flame of Saffron fascism and project the truth of Kashmir, with the support of writers like Arundahati Roy.
Of great relevance were the writings of the Communist revolutionary forces from various streams and the 1996 Seminar in Delhi on nationality question staged by the All India Peoples Resistance forum.. Even if posessing certain reactionary aspects certain groups like Jammu and Kashmir national Liberation front had certain positive aspects. Regretfully many Kashmir Liberation groups later veered towards joining Pakistan but still the main emphasis should be placed on confronting the tyranny of the saffron brigade. Many positive trends got derailed towards Muslim fundamentalist trends.
Harsh Thakor is a freelance journalist from Mumbai who was a participant in protests against state repression in Kashmir and Hindutva fascism.
