The abandoned cranes will return someday – In conversation with GLC student and documentary maker, Siddharth Acharya

Siddharth Acharya is a final year student at the Government Law College, Mumbai and maker of an hour-long documentary on Kashmiri Pundits, “The Abandoned Cranes” In this e-mail interview with Bar & Bench, the student from Bikaner talks about why he chose to make a documentary on this topic, the things he learned along the way and what he thinks could be a solution to the Kashmir conflict..Bar & Bench: How and when did you decide to make “The Abandoned Cranes”?.Siddharth Acharya: In my second year, I participated in a moot on Human Rights and War Crimes. That was when I got to know about the issue of displaced Kashmiri Pundits..I learnt that this community has gone through seven religious persecutions in the past seven hundred years, the latest being in 1989-1990. What captured my attention was that apart from the killings, several women were raped, forced into prostitution; these people were forced to leave their homeland..The whole time, the international community (including United Nations) was a mute spectator. I was shocked to know that this is the second largest persecution in numbers after Jewish exodus. That was the time when I felt that this issue needed to be addressed..I started researching online as well as look at documentaries made on this topic and decided to make a film on this issue. Through the film I want to convey my message to United Nations that the people who have been living in refugee camps shall be given status of “Internationally Displaced People”. The State Government and Central Government should make endeavors to rehabilitate them in the valley as per their own terms..B&B: Why did you decide to make a film on this particular topic?.SA: There have been a number of human right violations and genocides in the sub-continent in the past sixty-five years – riots in Myanmar that led to killings of Rohingya Muslims, ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Pakistan, Tamils in Sri Lanka, and even persecution of Shias in Kashmir..These issues help political parties to capture a particular vote bank but here in this issue nobody really bothers because Kashmiri Pundits do not constitute a vote bank. If you look at it Constitutionally, Kashmiri Pundits being original natives do not even have “minority status” under the Jammu & Kashmir Constitution which itself shows the failure on part of Government to protect this ethnic community..B&B: Once you had decided the subject matter, what were the steps you took thereafter?.SA: I started approaching people in the community especially journalists and others who were working for this cause since many years. Initially nobody agreed to finance but then I got in touch with few individuals and social entrepreneurs who backed me with the funding. I started networking through various Kashmiri Pundit [KP] organizations over the phone. We began shooting in the month of August 2013..B&B: You have interviewed a number of people, from Geelani to Swamy, Ram Jethmalani to members staying in the Nagrota Camp – How did you go about setting up interviews? How big was the crew?.SA: You will be surprised to know that my crew had only three people – I along with my cameraman, and my college friend Mukul Lather..I met Geelani through the Hurriyat office in Kashmir. At that time he was under house arrest due to making hatred speeches against Indian Government. I had to obtain permission from the CRPF to enter his house and meet him. The rest I managed by contacting their secretaries as I mailed all of them about the subject of my film..B&B: What was the highlight of the movie-making process?.SA: The biggest challenge was to present this subject in a very balanced way; I had to understand the gravity of the Kashmir conflict, to locate the pulse of Kashmiri youth and why they are so anti-India..I also happened to encounter a few active militants in the valley who wanted to give up arms provided Government jobs are given to them and they are rehabilitated. While making the film, I understood that sometimes the truth is far beyond our imagination and that even terrorists are blinded by a bunch of separatists who do not want them to psychologically integrate with rest of India. “Azad Kashmir” is a slogan under the garb of which, political parties are fooling ordinary Kashmiri and earning money left, right and centre. The ground zero reality is different from what we have always shown on TV channels..B&B: Were you surprised that it is still unclear why such a large number of people were displaced? There still isn’t any official statement on what exactly happened there?.SA: Yes I was surprised. This is an absolute failure on the part of our Central Government that not even a single Committee was appointed to look into the killings and to understand why these people left..The reason that a lot of people felt was that militants started selectively killing prominent members of the Kashmiri Pundit community. The most prominent was Justice N.K.Ghanzu who ordered the hanging of Maqbool Bhat, the front-runner of the J&K separatist movement. There were slogans written on the walls, “We want Kashmiri Pundit women as well as property without their men”. Though there was no official statement but there are a few press clips mentioned in ex-J&K Governor Jagmohan’s book “My frozen turbulence in Kashmir”..B&B: Did you find your legal education coming to use while making the film? Are you planning on making more movies?.SA: It helped me to connect with people and I feel a documentary becomes more authentic if it is backed by proper facts and ends with a legal solution to the problem. My legal studies really helped me to take care of that aspect..I want to take up a job in a law firm and want to focus on my legal career but would like to make a documentary film in future after three or four years on the Bakarwaal Shia tribe that was really instrumental in helping the Indian Army conquer Kargil in 1999..B&B: Last question. In your personal opinion, what do you think will happen to Kashmiri Pundits?.SA: Kashmiri Pundits are scattered all over the world from Jammu to Johannesburg and are doing good for themselves. But a large chunk of them still want to return and get back their apple orchards, land and whatever else they have lost behind. This return could be a gradual process like helping them to get their land back under a Distress Sales Act and in the form of satellite townships or whatever the community agrees upon. My film ends up on a very optimistic note though it seems tough under the present political circumstances to settle the entire community at once. But the abandoned cranes will return to their natural habitat someday..[[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_large”,”fid”:”23022″,”attributes”:{“alt”:”THE ABANDONED CRANES”,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”260″,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”375″}}]]