In Shopian
On May 29th, 2009, Shakeel Ahmad Ahanger, a Kashmiri man living in the town of Shopian, returned home from work to find his wife and sister missing. After notifying the police and searching through the night, he discovered their battered bodies the next morning in a nearby river.
Although the initial post-mortem and investigations stipulated that the two women had been gang-raped and murdered, the Indian Government’s Central Bureau of Investigation later ruled their deaths as "accidental drowning". The incident sparked massive strikes and protests against the Indian military occupation, and continues to be a rallying cry for Kashmiri human rights.
Filmed in June 2010, "In Shopian" presents a firsthand account of Shakeel’s story amidst the current state of social unrest in the capital of Srinagar and outlying rural areas. It features rare interviews with separatist leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Yasin Malik, and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, as well as street battles between pro-independence Kashmiris and Indian security forces.
Kashmir has been occupied by the India military since 1947, and is considered to be the world's most militarized zone. The Kashmiri people have been waging an independence movement for over a half-century. Other portions of Kashmir are occupied by Pakistan and China.