ISL screens documentary ‘1989-Freedom Struggle’

ISL screens documentary ‘1989-Freedom Struggle’
GK NEWS NETWORK
<P>Srinagar, May 1: “Those who claim that freedom movement is terrorism and a misadventure by some misguided youth have a answer in this huge public gathering who have come in open to support us and pledged to carry this movement to logical conclusion” shouts a veiled militant with a Kalashnikov in hand.
A child barely eight or nine years old stands up and shout pro-freedom and anti-India slogans.
These were the opening scenes of a documentary titled ‘1989-Freedom Struggle' screened at Batamaloo by the activists of Islamic Students League on Wednesday evening on the occasion of Urs Batamaloo Sahib.
The documentary screened on a roadside had drawn an audience of hundreds of people including children, men, and some women, too. As the documentary went on it showed many important events that have taken place during past 18 years in the ongoing armed struggle.
Char Chalo (Come to Charar-i-Sharief), a call by the militants and pro-freedom groups during the beginning of the struggle to people was an important scene in the documentary. The scene showed hundreds of thousands of people boarding public vehicles, and thousands walking on foot from different parts of the Valley, to arrive at Char. An elderly man, keenly watching the documentary told his colleague besides him, “I remember the day when the call echoed in every nook and corner of the Valley and people without considering the consequences responded to it. A flood of people had arrived at Char. And it was the time when most of people had a first glimpse of the gun,” he said.
Another scene that thrilled the scores of children watching the documentary was when militants displayed the gun in public at Gaw Kadal here. “As the scene went on with many militants moving openly in the lanes of Gaw Kadal with ammunition, children watching the documentary would whisper into the ears of their friends it is called Kalashankov rifle, it is pistol…”
Militants addressing a huge gathering of people at Eidgah here was another scene that caught the attention of people. Some scenes with protesters challenging heavily armed troops and police in the streets of Srinagar and other places in the Valley were quite moving.
The documentary also houses and markets set ablaze by the troops during hundreds of encounters in the ongoing armed struggle in the Valley.
The interviews of family members of civilians who were either killed by troops in fake encounters or subjected to enforced disappearances were also the part of the documentary. It also showed thousands of people attending the funeral prayers and demanding freedom from India, each time a militant was killed. The women would mourn and wail over death of each militant carried in a coffin for burial in different parts of the Valley. They would shower flower petals over the coffin.
Senior leader of ISL, Shakeel Bakshi told Greater Kashmir that they had screened few other films also including Jashn-e-Azadi (How we celebrate freedom).
The ISL had also held a photo exhibition showing photographs of Kashmiri people including children, women, men and militants who were either subjected to brutal tortures by troops and police or killed during encounters.</P>