Subject: Complaint against the propaganda movie makers of "The Kashmir Files" and the Indian administrative support for planning to instigate yet another communal violence against Muslims and other minorities.

This is to draw your attention towards an Indian Hindi movie "The Kashmir Files" released worldwide on March 11, 2022 which continues to dehumanise Muslims and incite hate & violence all across the world. The movie claims to bring forth the story of forced evacuation of Hindus from the disputed Kashmir territory, whereas in reality the source of these evacuations was the then state administration run by a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governor - Jagmohan[1].

The official government records state that a fewer than 89 Hindus have been killed in Kashmir since 1989, while over 1600 people from other faiths predominantly Muslims were killed during the same time. Please see the picture of the Right To Information response from the Police HQ, Srinagar attached to this petition.  

Within the first few days of its release, this movie has already sowed the seeds of deep hatred and violence against Muslims across various states in India and abroad. Though this movie is a textbook example of Indian government’s anti-Muslim propaganda, it is being promoted by the Indian Hindutva lobbyists across the globe.[2]

The current Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, has hailed the movie and endorsed it as a masterpiece inciting several hate speeches within the span of a week. If you may recall, he was banned from entering the United States and the European Union from 2005 to 2014 for staging the Gujarat riots in 2002 in which 2000 Muslims were massacred with impunity by the Hindus and State machinery whilst he was the then Cheif Minister of Gujarat.[4]

The atrocities backed by the Indian government across all non-Hindu minorities in India, and the state-funded programs for its global promotion, are well documented and needs no introduction. In fact, India's internal security and its National Commission for Minorities (NCM) officially lists more than a hundred religiously motivated attacks against Christians each year, while attacks on Sikhs, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes happen on a regular basis without any reckoning.[5][6][7]

Your movie theatre is being used as a propaganda machine for the Indian RSS and its Nazi ideology. You may not be aware but this propaganda is working.[3] We hope you will follow the lead of the NewZealand censorboard in doing the right thing by rejecting its screening.[8] Else the blood of hundreds of thousands of innocent lives lost due to this propaganda will be inadvertently on your hands.

I will end by listing an excerpt from Dr. Ewelina’s recent article (referenced below) that talks about the impact of hate speeches, which if not neutralized, poses a serious risk of genocide.

“The Holocaust did not start with the gas chambers.” It started with hate speech. It started with propaganda. It started with dehumanization of a group of people and incitement to violence against them. If we are ever to prevent the crime from occurring, we need to act to address the hate speech and propaganda that, if not addressed and neutralized, may result in genocide.[9]

An excerpt below from the Genocide watch specifically underlining the grave situation in India:

Dr. Stanton said whilst it’s not his view that genocide is happening in India at the moment, his fear is that the stages that lead to genocide, what he calls the early warning signs, have occurred. “Genocide is not an event. It’s a process. It develops,” he said.

Dr. Stanton said if genocide happens, “it won’t be committed by the state, but by mobs organized by RSS and BJP militants who will lead it.”

Speaking specifically about Prime Minister Modi, Dr. Stanton said he has told the US Congress that he believes the Prime Minister encouraged the 2002 Gujurat massacres of over 1000 Muslims. Modi has also used anti-muslim rhetoric to build his political base. “He has a record, (and) he has to answer”, he said. “He needs to be accountable.”[10]

………

Citations:

1. Kashmiri Pandits Refute Communal Claims Made in The Kashmir Files

by: Newsclick originally reported by Al Safa, Jammu, 22 Sep 1990

2. [EXPOSED]: Kashmir Files: Lies, Damned Lies and Propaganda

by: CJ Werleman

3. Global Boycott Against 'Kashmir Files' to Prevent Muslim Genocide

by: CJ Werleman

4. Why Narendra Modi Was Banned From the U.S.

by: The Wall Street Journal

5. The New York Times: Christian Minorities Attacked

by: Jeffrey Gettleman and Suhasini Raj

6. The Guardian: Jesus statue smashed in spate of attacks on India’s Christian community

by: Hannah Ellis-Petersen 

7. Lakhimpur Kheri violence hits local Sikh community hard

by: Deccan Herald

8. NZ government censor bans movie ‘The Kashmir Files’

by Simon O’Connor (National MP)

9. Forbes: Calls for Atrocity Crimes Against Muslims in India

by: Dr. Ewelina U. Ochab

10. Dr. Stanton Notes Early Warning Signs of Genocide in India

by: Gregory Stanton, President of Genocide Watch