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| Now, Geelani camp goes 'dabang' against Salman Khan | | Opposes idea to reopen cinemas in Kashmir | | Abdul Majid
Early Times Report
srinagar, May 22: Bollywood superstar Salman Khan's recent advocacy of reopening cinema halls in Kashmir Valley has pinched firebrand separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani.
Geelani and others in his pro-Pakistan camp have strongly opposed Salman's idea even as they are trying their best to rake up a controversy to keep them in spotlight. Geelani's rival separatist factions, however, are silent.
Salman recently concluded shooting for upcoming 'Bajrangi Bhajian' in the Valley, and before leaving for Mumbai, he had pitched for reopening of cinema halls in the Valley, which is craving for entertainment avenues for the past over two decades.
"I came to know that people have to watch movies through pirated DVDs. It is unfortunate the people here are not enjoying cinema in 70mm screens. They should get an opportunity to watch movies in theaters," Salman told a crowded presser at the hill resort of Sonamarg.
But Geelani's Hurriyat Conference was quick enough to oppose the film star whose 'Ek Tha Tiger' was aimed at improving Indo-Pak relations. The party said the "people of Kashmir are in a state of mourning" and thus reopening of cinemas was illogical.
"The issue of opening cinemas in the land where people are crying for mitigation of sufferings merited no attention. Every person in Kashmir has been affected by the large scale tyranny unleashed during the past two decades. The people of Kashmir are crying for help so that their sufferings could somehow end. In the midst of this all, pitching for the re-opening of cinemas in Kashmir deserves no attention at all," Geelani's spokesman said in a statement published in Srinagar dailies.
"Instead of raising such non-serious issues, the government should concentrate on other dire human issues whose redressal is the need of the hour. The flood victims have been left to the mercy of the situation with no government assistance reaching to them at all."
This was followed by a statement from Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM). Its chairperson Syeda Asiya Andrabi in a statement castigated Salman Khan for his statement about reopening of cinemas in Kashmir, terming it a "part of larger cultural aggression being carried out in the state."
"Recently Mufti Sayeed visited Mumbai and invited the film industry to make films in Jammu and Kashmir. It was not a personal initiative of Mufti Sayeed but he was in fact doing it on the directions of India. Bollywood is the main cause of increasing crime rates and they want to bring this into Kashmir as well," Asiya said.
She said the move would just not be allowed. "We can't allow the spread of vices in Jammu and Kashmir through Bollywood," she said.
Stating that the cinemas were closed after lot of "hard work", she called for intervention of religious scholars and others. "We warn the government that in 1988, after much hard work, we succeeded in closing down cinemas in Kashmir and under no circumstances we will allow their reopening. We appeal all the ulema and the pro-freedom leadership to show resentment against the proposal," Asiya said.
But moderate separatist leaders have been conspicuous by their silence over the issue of reopening of cinema halls. "The moderate separatists are not against glamour world because they realize that even Pakistan has a contribution in the entertainment industry including Bollywood," said a Kashmir University teacher of Mass Communication.
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