'Tired of Carrying Dead Bodies': Concern Grows Over Terror Group's 'Target List' of Kashmiri Pandits

The row over comments made by Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid has drawn attention from all quarters. ‘The Kashmir Files’ director Vivek Agnihotri on Monday tweeted that a terror group has released names of 56 Kashmiri Pandits working in the Valley post Lapid’s comments on the film.

Soon after his tweet, film producer Ashoke Pandit wrote that more than the mockery of Hindu genocide, the “silence” of IFFI, Goa, is “frustrating”.

“The silence of @IFFIGoa on this mockery of our genocide is much more frustrating. An Indian jury member #SudiptoSen said #KashmirFiles didn’t fit in their criteria. So a film depicting a genocide on Hindus by Islamic fundamentalists doesn’t fall in criteria. Shame,” Pandit Wrote on Twitter, tagging Vivek Agnihotri’s tweet.

https://twitter.com/ashokepandit/status/1599641333031133185

The producer added: “#KashmiriPandits once again receive death warrants from terrorists. The govt refuses to relocate us to Jammu. Our salaries have not been released since last 5 months. We were mocked at @IFFIGoa. We are tired of carrying dead bodies on our shoulders. Shame @AMEAK_Displaced.”

https://twitter.com/ashokepandit/status/1599657498809896961

The tweets from Pandit came after Agnihotri posted the list of names and said,  “If any Hindu is targeted in Kashmir after this, you know who has the blood on his/her hand.”

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday demanded a probe into the leak of a list of Kashmiri Pandit employees, who are posted in the Valley. The photo of the list was circulated on social media after it was published by a blog linked to a terrorist outfit.

BJP spokesman Altaf Thakur expressed concern over the blog linked to The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist group, publishing the list of 56 Kashmiri Pandit employees working under the prime minister’s rehabilitation package (PMRP).

Thakur requested the police to probe how the list was leaked and asked the administration to ensure safety and security of the Kashmiri Pandit employees in Kashmir.

What is The Controversy

The remarks was made on the Hindi film ‘The Kashmir Files’ at the 53rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI) by Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid, who was also the jury head of the event. The remark sparked a massive outrage with Israel’s ambassador to India, Naor Gilon, issuing an open letter over the matter. Many other political leaders also condemned his remarks and later, a police complaint also filed against the filmmaker.

Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid, the jury head of the 53rd IFFI, on Monday described ‘The Kashmir Files’ as “propaganda” and “vulgar”. The film, which is based on the Kashmiri Hindu genocide was released in theatres on March 11, was part of the Indian Panorama Section at IFFI, and was screened on November 22. A Supreme Court lawyer has now filed a police complaint in Goa against Lapid over his remarks.

In his speech at the closing ceremony of IFFI 2022, Lapid said he was “disturbed and shocked” to see the film being screened at the film festival. “All of us were disturbed and shocked by the movie ‘The Kashmir Files’. It felt to us like a propaganda and vulgar movie that was inappropriate for an artistic and competitive section of such a prestigious film festival,” Lapid said.