Inshallah Kashmir, film on Indian Military Abuses Previews Online on ‘Republic Day’

Oscar nominated director, Ashvin Kumar today offers a free preview of his film on the twenty year military presence in Kashmir, ‘Inshallah, Kashmir: Living Terror,’ a film that documents the treatment of the Kashmiri people at the hands of  half a million Indian military troops. The film reveals through personal stories the experience of torture, enforced disappearances, and extrajudicial executions that have swept the region since 1989.

Here’s a short preview:

The film is one of the few pieces of visual journalism that focuses on the climate of fear Kashmiris face at the hands of security forces, across the countryside, and in army camps, checkpoints and prisons funded and controlled by the central Indian Government. To bypass the Indian censor board, the full feature film is available online for one day today, January 26th, as flags are being hoisted in Delhi and Srinagar in honor of Republic Day.

A brief background on Kashmir: Since the founding of post-Partition India, the central government has tried hard to manipulate elections and suppress dissent in Kashmir. Wider opposition to the India’s presence in Kashmir began to grow in 1986, when Congress Party allied with pro-Center leaders in Kashmir ceased control, stealing the elections from popular opposition slated to win the elections that year. Armed resistance resulted in the occupation of Kashmir by the Indian military and widespread human rights abuses, and the heavily controlled flow of information, monitored by Indian security forces and intelligence.

A more in depth look at the human rights situation in Kashmir can be found here.