That is the True Story with No Glory

Blanketed by the term ‘minority’ Kashmiri Pandits still remain a community in exile. “And the World Remained Silent”, a documentary on the woes of the Kashmiri Pandits by Ashoke Pandit was recently screened in New Delhi followed by a panel discussion. Geetika Kaw Kher, herself a Kashmiri Pandit in exile and an art historian, reviews the film and the panel discussion.

‘..And the world remained silent.’ comes across as a perfect title for a documentary dealing with the issue of the exodus of half a million Kashmiri Pandits following violent terrorist attacks, which went conveniently unnoticed by India and the world at large. Critically acclaimed in the International fora, the documentary was screened by the activists of Roots In Kashmir,(RIK, a group of young Kashmiri Pandits) on 20th June 2007 on the occasion of the world refugee day at Sat Sai International Centre in New Delhi. The program also included a short presentation, a video interview of a remorseless killer Farooq Dar alias Bitte Karate and a thought provoking and insightful panel discussion.

As you entered the building you were encountered by a small photo exhibition depicting the plight of people living in various camps in Jammu and you could see many people jotting down the words from Ruth Dykstra’s poem which beautifully summarised the idea behind the whole show in its first two lines

“What you don’t know, can’t hurt, they say
          I disagree”

And maybe that’s why this effort was made for people to know, to see and to decide for themselves…In Foucault’s words, “It is through visibility that modern society exercises its controlling system of power and knowledge” and what is the better way to reach to masses then bombarding them with series of images.

Thus you were ushered in the hall with the images of hopeful but helpless children, old people with vacant eyes and camps located in the midst of industrial areas jamming in your head….

To set the stage for the documentary and to introduce the issue a short presentation by RIK was screened which in itself was quite a powerful and straight forward conglomeration of gruesome visuals, honest text and haunting music that kept reverberating in your ears long after the presentation was over. As the screen went blank you could hear silent sobbing from various parts of the hall.

The documentary “And the world remained silent’ by the film maker Ashoke Pandit was screened next. Again the straightforward and frank aspect of the previous presentation was maintained in the documentary also. Nowhere did it give way to melodrama but rather it stuck to facts and figures. As Amit Bhan rightly observes,  “It was a journey back to the troubled times for most of those present. The images of slain Pandits, burnt houses, desecrated temples, migrant camps in Jammu and the plight of their inhabitants, reminded one that there was other dimensions to the Kashmir problem”. Pandit who was also one of the panelists for the day expressed his disgust at the silence and the attitude of the people as well as the State. In his film he has rightly shown the images of 9/11 tragedy accompanied by words that if America had paid heed to terrorism in Kashmir in 1990’s then probably this tragedy could have been evaded.

But what is really ironical and beyond comprehension is the attitude the Indian state has taken towards the killers who are now on the verge of becoming important political figures in Kashmir. The video recording of Bitte Karate, a dreaded figure in Kashmir in early 90’s has him openly agree to the killing of about 20 Kashmiri Pandits for the blind cause of ‘Azadi’. While the killer himself agrees that death by hanging is a befitting punishment for his crimes the Indian state is all set to give compensations to him and the likes of him. What could be a bigger tragedy for a group of people then to see their killers being appeased and compensated by the Government of India!!

Unfortunately whenever media talks about Kashmir problem it is always Kashmiri Muslims that they talk about. In 1990’s when I was in school  I remember the use of the word ‘minority’ in such a strategic manner by the media while describing Kashmiri Pandits that most of the people thought it was Muslims who were being killed by the terrorists. This disguising of reality was the core issue addressed in the panel discussion where media was held as the worst culprit unanimously.

Noted journalist Swapan Dasgupta observed that the problem of Kashmiri Pandits has become an embarrassment for the State hence they keep trying to push it under the carpet time and again. Pandit seconded his opinion and added that only if we had likes of Yasin Malik and Bitte Karate among us would government be forced to look into our problems. Dr. Agnishekhar, a noted poet and the convener of Panun Kahmir, narrated the inside story of the round table conferences and the politics of deliberate omission of the cause of Kashmiri Pandits, to reveal the vote bank politics played by our respected politicians in high places. Overall the session was quite interesting and it raised more questions than giving answers to the posed ones. Some fiery comments by the columnist Sandhya Jain added to the overall impact and her advice to the youth was well taken and was surely worth pondering upon.

The Question Answer session at the end was an extension of the debate itself but I couldn’t help feeling that it would have been a much more livelier debate had  Zafar Meraj (a noted columnist) and/or Sajad Lone, who had been invited, joined the panelists and given their side of the story.