Movie rips open old scars

LAST week provided a king-sized review of the current block-buster movie: The Kashmir Files.

Like most movies, even historical documentaries, dramatic licence is permitted because it keeps movies moving.

However, there is such a thing as responsibility – especially when a work of art can ignite and fan hate and when a work of art contains some “factual” omissions that have not been fully explained.

The true Kashmir Pandit story has not yet surfaced. It probably never will. The present Kashmiri Muslims were once Pandit Hindus who converted to Islam. But this letter is not about history. It is about the intention behind producing such a movie on a continent that once was a universal beacon for peace, harmony and religious mutualism.

South African Hindus, or anyone who watches the movie, will see the perpetrators as Muslims, regardless of whether they are insurgents or local Kashmiris. The aim is to hate all Muslims.

The current position in India is precarious for minority groups including Muslims and Christians. Violence affects everyone and nobody is safe until everyone is safe.

Anyone who loves their motherland, like I do, and who has been a patriot cannot allow a once wonderful heaven to go up in smoke. I can’t be silent.

Getting rid of minority groups, either by physically executing them or gradually destroying their culture, will not make India a happier place.

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi comments that the movie gets approval in the name of truth, he ignores other files that carry other truths, real ones set in Gujarat.

The POST should have anticipated the terrible emotions this movie would have churned. Not nice. Highly irresponsible.

EBRAHIM ESSA

Durban