Video Volunteers has long recognised that there is a problem with the media coverage of Kashmir, and in response, we decided to bring our model of community video to Kashmir in September 2013, when we trained 11 Right to Information (RTI) activists as video reporters. The timing was fortuitous, because on the day the training ended, the floods began, and our network was there to document it. Since then, they have produced 35 videos and innumerable photo reports. These reports provide ample evidence that the main issue in this election was people’s development needs.
In these short bytes, out correspondents ask the people of Kashmir about why they are voting or why they are not.
As has been said earlier, development was one of the priorities, but the resentment towards the administration hasn’t died down completely. Many people still boycotted elections. However, it’s a big step forward, as man in Anantnag told CC Shafat Mir,
“There are two solutions to Kashmir problem, one is at-the-gunpoint and other, the more peaceful solution, is through dialogue, so we will vote.”
