christinalynn

The electricity died mid-movie. We sat in the dark awhile and somewhere along the line Nazir began talking about Kashmir, his beautiful and troubled home. He talked about politics and infiltration. He told vivid stories of people appearing at the houseboat at 3am and demanding food and hiding. He spoke of militants at 12 and the army at 2, and the necessity of swearing allegiance to whomever was at your door with the AK. In Srinagar, there is an Islamic school teacher, now notorious, who used to torture and beat students secretly. Years later it became clear that he was rooting out the stronger boys, who would later be recruited to go abroad and be trained as militants. Once, he ran into an old school friend who was on his way to Pakistan to fight the 'good war'. His friend made the jihad sound so noble and the plight of the mujahedeen so appealing that he made plans to join him, with 23 others. When he arrived at the bus station, one of his brothers found him and dragged him home by his hair. He was immediately sent to work in Delhi. Two days after arriving in Lahore, the bus he was supposed to be on with his schoolmates blew up.

He spoke of allegiances, and counter allegiances, and that once the fight in Kashmir was about freedom, not simply violence and money. He reports in a factual voice that the conflict here will never be resolved, but simply wind on indefinitely. There is too much profit to be made by informants and counter-informants and intrigue. The Indian Army pays a months salary for information about 'terrorists'. There is good money in reportage. There are no good guys and bad guys.

Everyone he knows has been beaten by both the Indian Army and various militants. Whatever side you are on is the wrong side. He talked well into the night of his own accord on the war here. He eventually stood up, shook out his poncho and his kongree, and proclaimed factually 'But everything is nice now!'

It is so hard to tell the truth to the tourists.