Salman, who is currently shooting Kabir Khan's Bajrangi Bhaijan, on Sunday made a strong pitch for reopening of the movie theatres that have remained shut in the valley since the onset of militancy in 1990.
Actor Salman Khan is in the line of separatists' fire for advocating reopening of cinema halls in the militancy-hit Kashmir valley.
Salman, who is currently shooting Kabir Khan's Bajrangi Bhaijan, on Sunday made a strong pitch for reopening of the movie theatres that have remained shut in the valley since the onset of militancy in 1990.
"I think they (cinemas) should open definitely. So many people are watching movies either on television or on pirated DVDs. From grandfather to grandchildren, everyone watches the films. Theatres should be definitely there. I think all of you love movies and entertainment. When you have theatres, it provides you entertainment and also creates a good revenue model," Salman said.
Hours later, Salman's statement evoked sharp reaction from radical separatists who vowed to foil any plan of reopening movie halls in the valley.
Leading the charge is Dukhtaran-e-Milat, a pro-Pakistan separatist women outfit, which said that the reopening of the cinema halls will happen "over their dead bodies".
"Insha Allah (God willing), we will not allow cinema halls to reopen in Kashmir. It will happen over our dead bodies. We have worked hard in 1988 to close down these cinema halls. We are fighting for azadi and we will achieve our goal. Salman Khan and company should know that we will not let this happen," said Aasiya Andrabi, chairperson of DeM.
Militancy-plagued Kashmir valley is one of the few places in the country where no cinema halls are operational. Allah Tigers, now a defunct militant outfit, had banned the cinema halls as well as sale and consumption of liquor in 1989. Led by self-styled 'Air Marshal' Noor Khan, the outfit had ransacked and looted liquor shops and threatened to set ablaze cinema halls forcing them to shut instantly.
There were eight single-screen cinemas in the summer capital city of Srinagar. Of these, four were in the sensitive old city which had become the citadel of separatist movement in early nineties. In 1999, Farooq Abdullah-led government tried to reopen Regal cinema in Srinagar. But on the inaugural show, militants attacked it, with grenades killing one person and injuring 12 others.
Earlier, two cinema halls – Neelam and Broadway — tried to reopen amid tight security but were not able to attract much of the cine-goers owing to security reasons. With the result, Broadway located at Batwara-Indira Nagar, neighbouring army's 15 corps headquarters, closed some months later.
Neelam Cinema crutched along but finally closed down in 2010. Cine goers had a narrow escape when militants attacked the hall on September 7, 2005. Two militants and a policeman were killed in the attack.
"People are dying. Human rights violations are at their peak. People have been choked. An attempt was made sometime ago to reopen cinema halls. But that failed because people did not show any interest in them. People are mired in problems and they do not have any interest in spending time in cinema halls," said Ayaz Akbar, spokesman of Syed Ali Shah Geelani-led Hurriyat Conference.
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