[Sirens]
My name is Geeta Gandbhir,
and my film is titled Armed with Faith.
Armed with Faith follows the men of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
passway in Northern Pakistan.
These men are battling the Taliban.
They essentially come from the same villages
and practice the same religion as the Taliban,
but they've chosen democracy.
People in this region of the world, which is often seen
as sort of a breeding ground for Islamist extremism
and terrorism, are actually on the forefront of
fighting the battle against extremism.
As far as being on the front lines of terrorism,
Muslims are often the first victims,
Muslim communities are the first affected,
and they are also the first to respond.
The men of the BDU are Pashtun, and there is a tremendous
amount of pride and tradition, and they do believe that
they are meant to serve their country.
They are also deeply religious. They believe in the Quran,
and they believe that Allah ultimately
will take care of them.
They believe that if they die, they will be rewarded
and that it is their job to serve.
They don't express fear.
They basically say, "If I die and a hundred people
are saved, then it was worth it.
The wives of the men of the KBK BDU do feel,
because of tradition, obligated to support their husbands
in some way. But I also think that they were honest with us.
They did speak about the fact that they were fearful
should their husbands pass away in the line of duty.
It was not seen as appropriate for the wives
to be in the room with us and a male cinematographer.
We had to interview the women separately
with a female DP. So we didn't get to witness
the way that the men and women related, but the way
that the women talked about their husbands, it does
seem very much that there was a lot of love there,
and strong relationships.
One of my favorite scenes in the film is the scene where
Tiger and a number of other officers gather in
one of the police buildings for a reunion, and they're bonding
over their injuries and over the trauma that they've been
through, and they manage to laugh and joke with each other
through that process. They tease each other about their
injuries and how they look and it's so familiar.
You really sort of see these men in this moment with their
guard down.
That scene to me really gets at the heart of their bravery.
It really sort of pin points their strength, because there is
a lot of bravado in this. But it's also the bonding among each
other and then the community that keeps them moving forward,
that keeps them in this line of work.
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