Zoltan Istvan Gyurko in Kashmir.
- Transcript
For centuries Kashmere was a crossroads of ancient civilization a major trading destination along the Silk Route in Central Asia. Here amongst them the planet's most dramatic landscapes the West and the east and a myriad of cultures flourish amongst the soaring Himalayas and its fertile valleys. Buddhist Hindu Sikh and Muslim kingdom spread throughout the region each people found its own share of wealth and prosperity in this land. A land which is often called paradise on earth but the last 58 years have brought something painfully different. The Kashmiri people once proud and thriving have been reduced to war battered pawns of nuclear Giants. The roots of the Kashmir conflict date back to 1947 when Britain separated its Indian Empire into India and Pakistan largely based on Hindu and Muslim
population densities. Within months of the division India and Pakistan went to war over who owned Kashmir which then was an independent kingdom with a predominantly Muslim population but a ruling Hindu Raja. In 1948 when fighting died down Kashmir was split India and Pakistan both held large chunks. A year later the United Nations directed that the Kashmiri people hold a plebiscite to determine the territory's future India which controls the breathtaking Kashmir Valley has never allowed the plebiscite to take place during the last 18 years. The fighting between India and Pakistan has intensified over who owns Kashmir Muslim terrorist waging jihad against India's government and its troops in Indian controlled Kashmir have helped fuel the conflict. The United Nations repeatedly declines to play a meaningful role in helping to end the conflict
or to help push for the plebiscite. In 2001 the Kashmir conflict climaxed thrusting the issue into the international spotlight. Fighting between India and Pakistan escalated until threats of nuclear retaliation were verbalised by both governments within 1000 square miles of Kashmir. Half a billion people waited tensely. A nuclear war in this region could end the lives of five percent of the world's human population an all out war was averted. But today the Kashmir conflict is still deadly. Fighting by armies along the Pakistan Indian line of control occurs daily religious cleansing in the cashmere Valley is commonplace. Missing Kashmiris number in the tens of thousands. Half a million refugees are misplaced. Cashmeres legacy of being a paradise on earth has all but disappeared. Instead the world now knows Kashmir as an international timebomb between two
nuclear rivals. Objective media coverage of the conflict and the Kashmiri people is not easy to get. Governments frown upon unsupervised foreign journalists inside of Cashmere. Naturally my application for a journalism visa at India's San Francisco General consulate is turned down when I ask permission to make a documentary on the people of Kashmir. Journalists are a stubborn bunch and I'm not going to be derailed that easily. I fly to neighboring Nepal determined to get a visa and the Indian embassy in Kathmandu where computers blackballing journalists have yet to arrive. I received my paperwork with little hassle visa. 48 hours later at 2 AM the morning I boarded Kashmiri bus headed to Indian control Cargill a small about in Muslim town along the line of control in central Kashmir. Here's the current breakdown of Kashmir real state the state of Jammu and Kashmir
including the region of Ladakh has remained in Indian hands. Pakistan holds Azure's Kashmir a small section in southwestern Kashmir and the northern areas home of the famous K-2. China controls a small sparsely populated section of eastern Kashmir like its three owners. Kashmir hosts three main religions Tibetan Buddhists polocrosse across cashmeres East Hindus densely populate the southwest and Muslims dominate the remaining areas. The Pakistan control northern areas Indian controlled Ladakh and China a small portion of Kashmir suffer little from the conflict the rest of the areas of Kashmir are deeply mired in military action and violence. Perhaps more dangerous than making a documentary in Kashmir is taking its buses. This ride is no exception. For 15 hours we drive on one the highest motorable roads in the
world bulldozing through mind bending landscapes that peak at 15000 feet. The Himalayan cliffs are daunting and each hairpin turn sour my stomach. Once in cargo. I feel new anxieties as the only foreigner around suspicious eyes are all over me. I quickly hail a taxi and head to took village where recent fighting has occurred. My driver Coolum Russell gives me the local update. So what kind of bomb was it. A grenade or was it a bomb. The very big moment. Did they give bomb a big bomb. And.
Who claimed responsibility for the attack. On. Pakistan. Pakistan. Should too. The locals claim the Pakistanis fired on them from high atop the mountainside near the Pakistan Indian line of control. Some homes suffered major damage in this house. A family was eating dinner when their roof was bombed. Fortunately the family escaped only the second floor was destroyed. While only a few people died from the shelling. Some locals refused to come back to their houses and fields. Where is it that. The big winner. There you go. This is a common story in Kashmir. It's the same way hundreds of other villages along the Line of Control have become deserted. Back in Kargil the people are war hardened and reserved. The downtown is bleak and empty. Only in the mosque shows fresh paint. While walking down a side street I run into a group of refugee women and their children. They're from
villages in nearby Droste where some of the worst fighting and the conflict has recently taken place. Their homes and fields are now overrun by Indian military engaged in combat operations. They took everything our houses our clothes are animals. We have nothing left. They have nowhere to go. We have nothing left anymore. There is no one here to help take care of us. The refugee problem in Kashmir is massive over half million Muslims and Hindus no longer have homes and now live on the streets or in camps. The problems of the conflict only become worse. 100 kilometres from Cargill in the Indian controlled Kashmir valley where domestic terrorism claims more lives than war the casualty Valley famed for its lush beauty was once a popular international tourist
destination. Now it's desolate and sketchy kidnappings bomb blasts and shootouts are the norm. The cashmere Valley's downfall started in 1989 when Muslim insurgent groups from Pakistan in Kashmir swept into the valley in Srinagar Kashmir summer capital. The jihad waging militants wanted to take land from the minority Hindus called Kashmiri Pandits. It was a deliberate ethnic cleansing campaign where insurgents acts and threats of violence forced many pendants to abandon their lands. The Indian army reacted fiercely by combating the militants but in a region where most people are Muslims it was difficult to differentiate the terrorists from innocent civilians in the process. Tens of thousands of innocent Muslims were jailed and sometimes killed. A cycle that continues today. By the mid-1990s the Indian army had clearly lost on two fronts. The
insurgents succeeded in empting the Kashmir valley of nearly all the panels and the civilian Muslim populace now loathed the Indian military and many of its Hindu leaders. Since 1989 an estimated 66 thousand people have died from the conflict in the Kashmir valley alone. While exploring Srinagar. Situated amongst beautiful lakes and the northeast of the Kashmir valley I met up with the Kashmiri Moslem Joseph BREMAN. Many people in the Kashmir valley won't do an interview because they are afraid the Indian troops will label them as an insurgent. But Joseph agreed to openly share his views and his community with me. Why do they. Why does both Pakistan and India want to fight so bad for this area. Why won't they let it go. Why won't you just give it to the Kashmir people. Actually it is you know that in 1947 when the Apprentice has been
delighting them and their bikes. So they are sinners that dying each other so they are not a good defense. Since 1947 then they have been delighted. That's why they are still fighting. And no this time they got a big Brussels guy is me it. Because guys like you but it isn't. So this is a good Buddhist place. It will come from all over the world. By extension what the hell this is because of this. And India wants also because of. So it's really tourism that's at the heart of all of this. All of this because they get foreign exchange which they need to pull seriously. Now the question is do you think tourism being at the heart of this. Do you think it's going to push. India and Pakistan to a nuclear war. Well I think they will go to the war they are both foolish
because you realize that everyone will die. Everyone will die. Potentially 20 to 30 million people. So what will be left out here. Because Deleon is on the battlefield. We will deal with this nuclear weapon they made. What for. To kill human beings. I don't know either. It's great what it is. Yeah. Yeah. After talking with Joseph. He offers to take me to a friend of his. Jameel but whose husband was accused by the Indian army of being a militant the husband a poor shopkeeper was arrested and taken away. He was later found dead with knife and other torture wounds all over his body. Joseph told me Jameel would also do an interview. She had nothing to lose. This is the backbone here. This has been all guided by Dame tradition. My husband was a simple shopkeeper. The Indian army came and got him at his shop when he
was having a cup of tea. Then they arrested him and took him right away. Two days later they found his body by the river. My brother was killed because as a shop owner he sold cigarettes to militants. But he was not a militant. He was a very kind gentle man. After this Indian Task Force took away my brother and some other soldiers searched his house for guns and ammunition. They found nothing but the Army stores some jewelry and money. When they left the house two days later we found my brother's body. It was over. We have the death certificate which proves he died of torture on his body. We tried to take the case to the police but they wouldn't help us. We tried to take the case to court. We tried to take the case to court and our lawyer received death threats from the court. Now my brother's wife and his children are very poor and she received no financial help from the government. It's a terrible terrible story.
Meaning Jameel and her family is an emotional experience. I couldn't help but feel heartbroken for their loss. Her story though is not unique. Almost every Muslim in the Kashmir Valley has lost a family member or friend in this conflict. I can say there is a uniform dead in Kashmir at this time. This is true. What I'm saying is has uniform do do better with the people in uniform they do they do that for the people. And this is the scope of this is the false hope you can forgive your fallen isn't 100 percent. Is before him logi is a means of cash other
boys they were selling tickets for the bus just making up like that you can make a living by themselves. So no problem no problem. How did the game start. They showed them higher this. I can see their show. They say OK you can go and they just walk from your house just a few minutes into next it. This is just a couple of days I did it three days and they say this is a simple idea. This is how do you get off the people tough guys. You know people of Kashmir Honestly I think nobody has been suffering like this as it is suffering now could very well be the case. Really really I'm saying sometime I'm thinking really why no nation is coming in. Why not.
I'm really really I feel different. I feel there is no I am here. I feel something different me. They told me there is no way in. Which you need I can see you doing my work from anybody. No I understand. No words. There is no there is no resources. If there was something like that maybe just to do the whole thing. In the afternoon. Joseph offered to drive me around Srinagar to get a view of the sights. It's great to see more of the local culture. Srinagar has gye mosques and crowded bazaars. There's even a holy site. ROSABELLE Khangar where Jesus Christ purportedly is buried. Locals claim Jesus spent the missing bible years of his youth wandering around Kashmir. Touring around Srinagar leaves one major impression on me just how many uniforms are present in the
city. Everywhere I turn I see soldiers and their weapons. But despite the war and terrorism. Life pushes forward for most people in Srinagar. Nowhere is this more apparent than at a wedding near Joseph's house. One of his friend's sons is about to get married and the entire neighborhood is turning out for it. It's a Celebrate of night a vibrant wedding steeped and deeply rooted Kashmiri traditions. The groom adorned in money and jewelry is escorted by friends and family to a giant tent with silk walls and many hand-woven Kashmiri carpets. All the men gather inside the tent to feast while women sing outside. Food is dished out in large portions and shared in groups of good friends. It seems a marvelous time for everyone there. Until I see GMU scarred
heart and an empty how quickly I'm reminded that for her and many other Kashmiris Paradise is lost. The next day I set out to discover how Srinagar is famous houseboat industry on the lake is weathering the conflict. Srinagar was once a very different place even in the 1980s. It still welcome half a million tourists every year. People came from all over the world to take advantage of the cool climate the striking scenery and lakes Victorian style houseboats. The 1990s changed all that and tourism has plummeted. In its wake is a crumbling economy and thousands of unemployed tourist industry workers. One look shows Dal Lake has not weathered the storm well. Many houseboats are in disrepair. Owners can't find the money to fix their vessels. Tourists once paid $75 a night to stay in a room on these houseboats. Now they can go for as
cheap as $5 a night and you get the whole boat to yourself. The most magical hour of any houseboats stay is a ride through Srinagar canals ancient waterways pass through the Old City where still houses and city buildings meet side by side. Hordes of boats meander their way down these canals carrying on the busy capital life of Srinagar. Once away from the city some stretches of the journey wander through bits of undisturbed cashmere paradise. Gliding down this ancient waterway is truly a journey back into the time of ancient Kashmir
possibly as Marco Polo knew when he visited so many centuries ago. Accompany me on my boat ride is Imtiaz Uraga. Imtiaz is in line to inherit a houseboat from his father to carry on the family business. Like many other young people in Srinagar NTSA is proud to be a Kashmiri and is hopeful of the future. But he knows that it will take some years to get the tourists back. Here's a question. You're 22 years old. How do you feel growing up in Kashmir especially in Srinagar. It's nice to be wrong but does she know that you know in countryside that life is not so free. The yang but do you. Are you hopeful for the future. Do you think tourism. Do you think business will pick up. Yes yes yes.
It will be best. It is a paradise on earth. Are looking forward to coming here. After Srinagar. I start making my way through the 50 mile Kashmir valley bound for the Hindu city Jammu. Over. Half a million soldiers. I don't think I want to get a ride with them. I see a thousand Indian soldiers pass by in just two minutes. That's like riding around a truck with the word target written on the side of it. When soldiers travel in isolated stretches in this valley they always tour in large convoys for protection. It's for good reason. Every day a handful of people die in the valley from the. Sniper.
I. Went over. Did.
Take. Him. Here. Janaki doesn't normally pick up strangers in this valley but his curiosity of the blond guy gets the best of him. On the shrine of origin middle road there's plenty of traffic we follow closely to some of the convoys. Passing by our endless shantytowns and untended fields. Some of the
fields still have land mines in them militants put them there to get the bandits to leave. Day turns to night and after 12 hours of driving I finally arrive in Jammu the winter capital of Indian controlled Kashmir. The next morning I fetch a taxi. Jammo is known as the city of temples and just about everywhere you turn there are exotic looking shrines temples and scores of Hindu Devault tees at one temple. I sit down with the locals and gather some information about the numerous refugee camps in the area. An astonishing quarter million refugees make their home in this remote region a few kilometers
outside the city. I arrive at one of the largest camps to or 800 families live. Here the refugees are Kashmiri Pandits Hindus who trace their heritage back 5000 years. For centuries most of these refugees and their forefathers were wealthy landowners in the Kashmir valley. Now they have nothing except hopes that they may someday go back to their homes. Sadly today Norodom is developing into a permanent community complete with postal addresses. The refugees live in cramped concrete dwellings built as temporary housing by the Indian government running water and electricity are uncertain reports of poisonous snakes are common. Worse the Indian army hasn't been able to guarantee a safe
return to the Kashmir valley for 15 years. So no one ever goes back there. So does everybody want to go back. Yes. Everyone wants to go back to the outback. Yes. And what is the reason. For. Leaving the village. What does that must be for all of us good night and sometimes that alone they can be bombed or shall I say this because we can get this right. That is living day. Another problem is healthcare with so many refugees living in the Jammu region. The Indian government can't afford to pay everyone's medical bills even when some of the refugees have life threatening illnesses. Camille in her heart problem is a typical story. I have a bad heart condition and I need surgery but I have five daughters. So my husband and I can't afford it. The government is not helping to pay for anything so I won't be able to have the surgery done.
Yes if you had if you'd been living in the Kashmir valley with his house with his farmlands with everything else would he have had the money to pay for a heart surgery. I said yes of course. I had many acres of property near Srinagar. I had money and land then we would have been able to have the surgery done right away. Camille's husband shows me the doctor's orders where it says she needs heart surgery. It's only fifteen thousand Rubia which is about five hundred dollars but it's still too much for them. We just can't afford it. It's out of our reach. It's way too much money now but we don't really know. Some believe local elections can help the problems in Indian controlled Kashmir. But with a Muslim dominated Jammu and Kashmir state government that competes with a Hindu controlled national government
Indian Kashmir seems destined for stalemate. Time after time. Despite that elections are in full swing and passions are running high in the Hindu dominated region of Jammu I catch up with David Gupta a law student at the local university and the daughter of Professor Gupta a leading candidate running for office to take is similar to other Hindus and jamu. She points her fingers at the Muslim majority in Kashmir as being the source of all the problems in the region. Are you excited or are your father running in the election. Yes I will say because he's fighting for the last 30 years. And no no no the time comes when everybody trying to get his hands on the fight for the cause. Young people want because you to less for five years. If I see the
problems they are facing on like education unemployment Your government of the Jumah people of the diplomacy if you follow the law. OK. Last question. How do you feel as a young person growing up in Kashmir. I have just traveled last month and Kashmir and have seen a lot of different things. I've seen a lot of you know sometimes nice sometimes it's been wonderful. Tell me in your own words as a young person like myself how you feel about growing up in Kashmir what you know what the future holds for you. Oh for instance there is no future any more. If we try and if a man with me because I haven't done that then it isn't center instead. This not about me not people not students. Our future is not because of the militancy because of the fire is getting militancy is increasing
day by day. Indian controlled Kashmir is clearly a massive cultural political and religious mass. The Hindus hate the Muslims the Muslims distrust the Hindus the Indian army is feared and disliked by everybody. And the pro-Pakistan Jihad waging militants will stop at nothing to bring Kashmir under total Islamic rule. It's easy to see why this is the longest ongoing military conflict in the world. I decide I've had enough of Indian controlled Kashmir and head to Delhi to concentrate on the most serious matter in Kashmir. The threat of nuclear war as one of the most populated cities in the world Delhi stands the most to lose. I want to find out what the local Dillons think about the Kashmir issue and how close to home it comes. Where better to find insights than in downtown Delhi.
Tell me your perspective. So I believe that death is the only way. They could just be good muslim my daughter and I would say that not to Pakistan but I say yes but probably not just. And some w bad can happen anywhere anyway. It doesn't mean that it is an idea or idea at all. It is not happening it is all wrong notion. But if there was if there was a nuclear war. Did you understand it or do you think do you think that people understand that 20 30 million people could die. Yes. That is a lot it does not do me any good even for most of them. But then it just wouldn't happen. I again every month. Do you think the politicians are doing it just as a matter of nature is needed in India. Do they get the blame so that there is some stuff that
they can talk about. Nothing. And. Go on. Well I guess the Kashmir conflict between Pakistan and India is not good at all. It's not up to the bombs to Pakistan the public injured there were a lot of suicide bombs to India will be injured and the whole thing is foolish. It is not enough. That's right. Because. Something has. Happened. Since day. One. Clearly most aliens feel cashmere is not a real threat to national security or their own lives and is instead a political chess game between Pakistan and India.
And what of the suffering Kashmiri people and the thousands of refugees and victims they appear to only be pawns in that game. It's time to head to Pakistan controlled Kashmir to examine the conflict there and what effect it is having on the Pakistani Kashmiri people. Not surprisingly the Warga border between India and Pakistan is virtually empty when I arrive. I guess there is not much border traffic between the two rivals. Once in Pakistan I grab a taxi to Lahore a city of five million and the country's cultural capital. Lahore is a bustling place with commerce and traffic and exotic bazaars. There's also strange movie billboards. The horse is only 200 miles away from Delhi and I search out interviews with the locals asking the same
questions about Kashmir. I asked the dauphin's the Pakistani are Feister about the possibility of war which is typical of an underdog nation fighting a behemoth ten times its size. Basically Lahore is very new Delhi and. More. Than. The bombs from Delhi. Here. In the here. Are you afraid of this happening or do you think this is not. Just me but the sun in India. We are not afraid of fighting over Kashmir. These discussions do not work in a nuclear war that for everybody for both India and Pakistan. India Pakistan. India and me are not that bad.
I'm. Not. Saying. Sing that. Song any longer. Afraid. From Lahore. It is a long train journey to Islamabad. My last stop before going into Pakistan Kashmir. Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan and much of the poor nations strong pride comes out in its grand buildings and mosques. I figured Islamabad will be a great place to hear from a few more Pakistanis about their take on Kashmir.
After all agit cashmeres Pratley in its backyard the border is only 15 miles away from the suburbs of Islamabad and the Pakistan Indian line of control is only 25 miles further from there. All of a sudden too many people die in cashmere because of America and Pakistan are good friends. So America should make India sit down with Pakistan and help solve the Kashmir issue. America needs to be a mediator I recall. I've known a lot of knock off from Pakistan when it was out of your camera. They. Should. Be.
From Islamabad. I grab a ride on a colorful cartoon like bus to Mussar off about capital of Kashmir. Cashmere. Again I feel that sour taste in my stomach while speeding along cliff roads. Set in the foothills of the Himalayas. This rough about has the feel of a frontier town only 13 miles from the line of control. There's no tourists or foreigners here. Streets are bustling with trade and traffic. People bathe in the Jhelum River which cuts the town in half. Liz Rothbart also has a reputation of being a terrorist training area. So tension is always in the air. Off the Bus I'm immediately met by police officers who insist they must escort me to their nearby headquarters because nobody speaks English.
I can't tell if I'm under arrest or not. It ends up being nothing like that. The police captain warmly welcomed me to Azure cashmere but insists I'm never to be without armed police. Wherever I go after the highly publicized Daniel Pearl kidnapping in Pakistan he's not going to be responsible for any journalists disappearing in his jurisdiction. The police captain didn't mention anything about the secret police following me everywhere but they would always be tagging along to. My entourage didn't stop me from pursuing my story. In fact once they understood that much of my documentary is about victims of war they helped me get access to the region's largest hospital a place that is usually strictly off limits to journalists. As expected the hospital was filled with survivors from war torn villages along the line of control. Their testimony shocked me to the core of my being. Indian forces came into our houses and dragged us out. They used their weapons to beat us.
They said we were hiding militants. We are not doing that. I am a farmer. But do I have to do with not to mess. With. The Indian forces planted landmines in our fields at night so that my family and I can get some peace and try to either sell them. The things they do to us or human it. Or. Not. I was working in a field very close to the border and I stepped on a landmine planted by the Indian Army. Sometimes the Indian forces would come into our houses from across the border and beat us. They are
always looking for militants. All the victims in this unit of the hospital claim the same thing that Indian forces committed human rights abuses against them. I love. That you. Gave. Me the. Cause of. The Indian army dresses Barmes up his toys. Our kids will grab
them and bring them into our house by playing with an innocent dandle explode and everybody inside dies. Your mother is not. Good enough for. You. Not everyone in this unit will heal from their wounds. Hospital care is substandard and some of the patients will likely die. Not. Against. Them. I was in my house with my family in Indian bomb shot from the line of control landed in your house and destroyed it. All my family members were killed. Everyone except me. I. Am. Not.
In. The interviews and the hospital are utterly depressing. I go back to my hotel room and crash for the day. The next morning I am awakened by human rights activists. Professor Sheikh Bashir Ahmad He is chairman of the Association of Applied Social Services Network in Musaf about and aims to help displaced refugees in adjured Kashmir. He wants to take me to a nearby area where refugee camps are popping up every month. He braces me for an intense experience. Only 10 miles outside of Musaf Abad. The looming Pakistani mountainsides used to be green and empty. Now many of them are speckled with white tents. Refugees by the hundreds have just moved in. Squatting on land trying to rebuild their
lives that were destroyed by the Kashmir conflict. In one brand new camp above the Jhelum river I'm hot and I find hundreds of people living in tents. Many without enough food. Many live with serious medical problems that resulted from the war. The refugees in this camp claimed the Indian army forced them out of their homes and villages in Indian controlled Kashmir which were located just a few miles from the Pakistani Indian line of control. Instead of staying in Indian controlled Kashmir where they felt persecuted they massed migrated across the border to Pakistan in abjured cashmeres Neelam Valley. Within sight of the line of control they tried to rebuild their lives. People no good. For them.
But they get from this idea take them back. Idea that these people who live in my daughter and if they get this I deserve to be like that. It was difficult. Many refugees were injured from the journey across the line. Control of Bob wired wasteland full of landmines. Only three years after they moved from Indian Kashmir their villages in the Neelam Valley were shelled by the Indian military for a second time. Their lives were destroyed. This time they turned to the and Kashmir government who gave them the land they are now on which is a
safe distance away from the line of control. The horror is still brand new for the refugees who have just moved into this camp a few months ago. Some of the refugees are weeping and begging to have their story told to the world. They are haunted by the process committed against the tales of rape torture and murder are painfully disturbing. Often when I was at home alone in the Indian army season searched my house looking for militants when they found nothing. They took me outside and beat me with their arms. Ahmad tells me privately that she was also raped by the soldiers. Many of the women here were raped. My whole body aches now. I have a hard time to get up. After the beatings I migrated to Pakistan Kashmir.
That's why these refugees joined 17000 other refugees who have made as your cashmere their home since 1989. While the refugee numbers and agit cashmere do not compare to Indian controlled Kashmir problem the refugee cases here are often more severe and problematic. The Kashmir government is doing its best to assist these refugees but there are little resources to help. One of the worst problems in these camps is that nearly half the refugees are crippled or ill. Some are amputees on cheaply constructed prosthetic legs. We were at home the Indian forces took me from my house claiming I was a militant and forced me to go to Pakistan across the line of control.
I stepped on a landmine and now have a prosthetic leg locked up. Some refugees have problems that can't be easily fix this woman said the Indian army broke some of her fingers when they interrogated her about militants hiding in her village. She has great difficulty using her fingers and hands. Now despite abjured cashmere status as part of Pakistan its own people broadly control the region's administration for poor and unstable area in Pakistan notorious for breeding militants. As your cash for government does manage to allocate basic necessities. Foundations are going up for stone houses that will replace tents in the new camp. Rusty pipes bringing water from a stream snake its way above ground to some of the tents
cooking ware and firewood is given to the refugees. But ultimately these are disastrous conditions for people that were once well-off farmers and trades workers. My final interview is the most difficult to get through. It's uncommon for Muslim men to cry when this man begins telling me his family's tragic story. He can't help but breakdown his bedridden wife's tears also follow. Him into a house and took us outside. They were looking for militant leaders one by one trying to get information. They broke my wife's story and she can hardly move now. We migrated to Pakistan Kashmir immediately afterward. Just like all of these are complete.
Because this is. The Pakistan government is giving us a small refugee allowance and some medical aid.
They're giving us tents and water so we can try to go on with our lives. We are appealing to the United Nations Security Council and America to resolve the Kashmir issue so we can go back to our homeland because we are living in a disaster condition. We desperately need the help of the United Nations and America. Filming the refugee camp broke my heart and I need a way to unwind. I rent a motorcycle and take a ride through adjured cashmeres majestic mountain. I'm at the end of my journey of making a documentary about the people of Kashmir and I'm haunted by how desperate many of the Kashmiris feel about their future and their dark past. Whether in Pakistan Kashmir or Indian Kashmir whether dealing with Hindus or Muslims.
This conflict is a multi-headed beast with few rules but many victims. One thing is for sure the Kashmiri people are caught in a web of power struggles and ideologies put forth by terrorists and politicians neither care about the Kashmiris as a people not trying to unite them together to create a single thriving people. Instead the militants and the politicians care only about their pride their own tunnel vision ideas and owning some of the world's most amazing real estate. Until this changes the Kashmiri people will live in a world of violence poverty and suffering with the Kashmir conflict and its six decade of deadlock. The outlook for resolution is as bleak as it's ever been. The sad truth is nothing is likely to change here for many more years to come.
- Raw Footage
- Zoltan Istvan Gyurko in Kashmir.
- Producing Organization
- KEET
- Contributing Organization
- KEET (Eureka, California)
- AAPB ID
- cpb-aacip/426-182jm836
If you have more information about this item than what is given here, or if you have concerns about this record, we want to know! Contact us, indicating the AAPB ID (cpb-aacip/426-182jm836).
- Description
- Raw Footage Description
- This is a rough cut of footage Zoltan Istvan filmed in Kashmir in the early 2000s. The footage explores the origins of the Kashmir conflict, the United Nation?s reticence to intervene, and the nuclear threat in 2001 between India and Pakistan that put international scrutiny on the conflict. The footage includes interviews with local Kashmirians about the brutalities of war and the destruction of the local economy.
- Asset type
- Raw Footage
- Genres
- Unedited
- Topics
- War and Conflict
- Subjects
- human interest
- Rights
- No copyright statement in content
- Media type
- Moving Image
- Duration
- 00:54:43
- Credits
-
-
Interviewer: Istvan, Zoltan
Producing Organization: KEET
- AAPB Contributor Holdings
-
KEET
Identifier: 1103.0 (KEET TV)
Format: VHS
Generation: Master
Duration: 01:00:00?
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- Citations
- Chicago: “Zoltan Istvan Gyurko in Kashmir.,” KEET, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed December 7, 2024, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-426-182jm836.
- MLA: “Zoltan Istvan Gyurko in Kashmir..” KEET, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. December 7, 2024. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-426-182jm836>.
- APA: Zoltan Istvan Gyurko in Kashmir.. Boston, MA: KEET, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-426-182jm836