Film on Kashmir human rights abuse blocked, director writes to UN

A 27-minute documentary film has made Bilal A Jan, a little known Kashmiri filmmaker, a household name in Kashmir these days.  A seven-minute trailer of his documentary film Ocean of Tears was viewed around 1,49,000 times on YouTube, before it was taken down, two months after the Public Service Broadcasting Trust of India (PSBT) uploaded it. Commissioned by non-governmental, not-for-profit organisation PSBT, the film’s maker is struggling to organise public screenings in his home state with the government twice stepping in quietly to stop the public screening. There has been no official word on why at least two scheduled screenings were cancelled, but it’s commonly accepted that the subject of the film –  mass violence against women, starting with the Kunan-Poshpora mass rapes – may be the bone of contention. [caption id=“attachment_117511” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  FIlmmaker Bilal A Jan[/caption] It was in December last year that the state government first ordered the authorities at Kashmir University to block the screening, with police arriving on the scene just before the scheduled screening. Later, in March this year, government officials  allegedly made a threatening phone call to organisers of the Aligarh Muslim University Film Festival too. Sources said the filmmaker was also pressured and told not to send the film to any film festivals. At the University of Kashmir, authorities remain tightlipped over who ordered the sudden decision not to screen the film. Organisers of the AMU Film Festival cited a ‘Home Ministry call’ as responsible for the withdrawal of the film at the eleventh hour. “I was shocked when one of the organisers of the Aligarh Film Festival wrote in the comments section of a magazine article that a call from the home ministry had forced them to withdraw the film,” filmmaker Jan told Firstpost. Now, having been denied permission to screen the film twice, Jan is seeking the help of the United Nations to persuade both the state and central governments to allow the screening of the documentary. He has now even requested help from the United National Human Rights Commission (UNHCR). The Commission, in its reply to the filmmaker, expressed their ‘helplessness’ by saying although the group has registered the complaint but couldn’t do much. Undeterred, Jan has written to Secretary General of United Nations, Ban Ki Moon, seeking his intervention in the matter. Jan, a resident of Srinagar, has worked with the likes of Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Shyam Benegal in Mumbai. “The state, it seems, instead of debating the excesses committed by its apparatus, is choking public space. It is a worrying trend and should not be accepted in democratic societies,”  said Jan. Ocean of Tears documents the alleged human rights abuses by both, the government forces as well as militants. The film portrays the “oppression, humiliation and torture of Kashmiri women because of militancy in the state”. It also investigates the rapes, beatings and murder of women in the two decades of conflict in the Valley. It is based on the theme of violence against women and starts with the Kunan Poshpora mass rape case, where more than 35 women were allegedly raped by the Army during a search operation in February 23, 1991, although government investigations later rejected the allegations as “baseless”. Human rights group Amnesty International and other activists have recently renewed calls to investigate mass rapes allegedly committed by soldiers. A commission, however, has since absolved the Army of all charges. Now, a fresh petition has been filed by a civil society group in Kashmir asking for reopening of the case. PSBT, which commissioned the film, says they have no role in the screening of the film. However, Jan expresses unhappiness that the organisation didn’t openly come out in support of the film either, despite the unofficial ban. The government has not directly approached Jan or sent any information about why the film is being banned. The film was certified “U” by the censor board, for “unrestricted viewing”. Film critic and Vice President, Federation of Film Societies of India Premendra Mazumder, says, “Ocean of Tears is an excellent documentary. It has got due censorship clearance by the appropriate authority of the Government of India. It has highly been acclaimed by the critics and audience, it got some important awards as well. How can it be stopped from being screened!? Tughlaki Raj hai kya?” The film was screened in Kolkata in early March this year by the Indian Documentary Producers Association and the at the PL Deshpande Kala Academy in Mumbai. It was also screened at the Aljazeera International Documentary Film Festival in Doha in April 2013, the 3rd Nepal international human rights film festival-2013. It was specially screened at the Oklahoma University USA a few months ago and then last week in FIC Puebla Guatemala, Mexico. The entire film was shot in ten days across Kashmir. A 78-minute edited version of the film was submitted to PSBT for their approval. “The film was evaluated by Prof Suresh Chabaria and K Bikaram Singh. Both the evaluators liked the film in terms of its content research and cinematic mise-en-scene,” Jan says. “But PSBT wanted to feature my documentary under the 26-minute short film category. So I was told to edit the film accordingly,” said Bilal. What led the filmmaker to choose a topic such as this one? The filmmaker says,  “Not only was justice denied to the victims of Kunan Poshpora but the very occurrence of such a crime was questioned by the mainstream media in India. It was the denial of the unfortunate event that prompted me to investigate the subject.” For the moment, the film remains under an unofficial ban. This has led curious people to try to get a copy, but this means no monetary benefits for him. The unofficial ban on the documentary raises many questions, Jan says. If the Censor board has already passed the film then why is the government not allowing the screening of the film? If experts appointed by the same government gave it a certificate, how will it create a law and order problem in the state? Just some questions that Jan would like an answer to.