New Delhi: The debate over director Vivek Agnihotri’s The Kashmir Files — a film based on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley three decades ago — has reached overseas, with two members of the Indian diaspora in the US alleging harassment after a social media showdown over the movie and its subject matter.
While US-based journalist of Kashmiri origin Raqib Hameed Naik questioned the very premise of a “Hindu genocide” in the Valley, Dr Rajiv Pandit, who describes himself as a Kashmiri Hindu, spoke of “retribution” against the violence waged against the community by terrorists.
Pandit is a board member of the Hindu diaspora organisation, Hindu American Foundation (HAF).
Naik said his tweets led to his parents being called for questioning in Kashmir — an allegation denied by police — while Pandit claimed people were going to “very important rating sites, and giving me 1-star ratings (for his medical skills) without ever having met me”, in a bid to damage his career.
The Kashmir Files was released on 11 March and seeks to depict the exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits, who were driven out by targeted violence during the peak of the Valley’s militancy days.
On 13 March, Naik alleged in a tweet that there was no evidence of the “Hindu genocide” that the film depicts. The journalist cited old news reports and MHA responses in support of his claim.
There is no evidence of “Hindu Genocide” in Kashmir & it is primarily a Hindu nationalist construct.
According to the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), 219 Kashmir Pandits were killed in Kashmir between 1989-2013. 1/n
#KashmirFiles pic.twitter.com/KROZjbeRz1— Raqib Hameed Naik (@raqib_naik) March 13, 2022
On 23 March, Pandit asked Twitter users to explain the “most powerful emotion you felt immediately after watching” the movie.
What was the most powerful emotion you felt immediately after watching @vivekagnihotri's #TheKashmirFiles? One word, any language.
— Rajiv Pandit (@rajiv_pandit) March 23, 2022
When a user with the handle ‘Right Wing Alpha’ wrote “To pay them back 100 fold, in their own coin”, Pandit responded with the word “retribution”.
Thus began an exchange between Naik and Pandit, with the former accusing the doctor of endorsing “calls for genocide of Kashmir Muslims”.
Pandit hit back, saying he was a “Kashmiri Hindu whose family members were killed, faced ethnocide & ethnic cleansing”, and wanted “those terrorists that perpetrated that violence to face consequences – only them”.
Endorsing a genocide? How dare you @raqib_naik.
I'm a Kashmiri Hindu whose family members were killed, faced ethnocide & ethnic cleansing.
I want those terrorists that perpetrated that violence to face consequences––only them.
That is what retribution means.
Delete the tweet pic.twitter.com/CC0UJtfYUF
— Rajiv Pandit (@rajiv_pandit) March 25, 2022
Also read: Not just Pandits, Kashmiri Muslims suffered terrorism too and it was all Pakistan’s doing
Naik & Pandit allege harassment
Speaking to ThePrint, Naik alleged his “parents in Kashmir were called by the CID for questioning”.
He added: “I have received death threats for the past 24 hours and some Right-wing accounts have threatened to rape my mother. I have been harassed by the HAF members and their supporters in the United States since I expressed my views over a film that portrayed Kashmiri Muslims as murderers and thugs.”
ThePrint reached Ab Qayoom, the Superintendent of Police for Doda, where Naik’s parents reside, to ask about the alleged CID call to his parents, but he denied it.
“I have not come across any such name and the case would have to brush past me if it belongs to this district. But as of now, this has not come under my notice,” he said.
Naik said he did not approach the police about the threats he received as he was afraid of his location being compromised.
Claiming that the HAF has been targeting him for “a while now”, Naik alleged “they are sensitive to my reportage on the growing influence of the RSS and other Right-wing organisations in the United States”.
“Since I had called them out a number of times in the past, they have launched a smear campaign. They have close ties with the IT cells in India, so carrying out a smear campaign against any individual is not a hard task for them. All members started reporting my account on Twitter as well, but the platform did not find anything offensive and hence those plans were thwarted.”
The responses to Naik’s tweet also drew a comment from the Council of American Islamic Relations, which describes itself as “America’s largest Muslim civil liberties organisation”.
We strongly condemn the hateful attacks that far-right supporters of #NarendraModi have launched against journalist @raqib_naik. For years, Raqib & others who expose American support for Modi's anti-Muslim, Nazi-inspired extremism have been targeted with smears & death threats.
— CAIR National (@CAIRNational) March 28, 2022
Meanwhile, Pandit said he and his surgical practice had come “under attack”.
“I received dozens of phone calls from angry people [from among the diaspora who support Naik], demanding that my practice and the hospitals where I see patients, revoke my privileges or ‘fire’ me from the staff,” he added. “They were also going to various online, and very important rating sites, and giving me 1-star ratings (for his medical skills) without ever having met me, let alone ever being treated by me. There is an ongoing campaign to damage my reputation and end my livelihood.”
Asked about his “retribution” comment on Twitter, Pandit said, “When I tweeted a single word, ‘retribution’, I was referring to the justice delayed — even denied — that Kashmiri Pandits everywhere truly believe is a stinging injustice that precludes reconciliation or even closure.”
“At no point did I use the word Muslims or genocide. But I, a survivor of ethno-religious cleansing, was the victim of an effort to destroy a life I have built in Dallas over 25 years,” he added. “I have many Kashmiri Muslim friends, and my family remains in touch with some neighbours in Srinagar, who are like family. Accusing me of calling for genocide is an outright and egregious lie.”
Meanwhile, the Twitter war of words has allegedly given rise to security concerns for an HAF member in India.
On 27 March, HAF executive director Suhag A. Shukla tweeted that the organisation’s co-founder and board member Mihir Meghani was facing security worries while on a trip to India.
Meghani was accused by Naik in his tweet of being among the supporters of the Babri Masjid demolition.
@raqib_naik presents himself as a journalist, but his penchant for publishing fake news about @HinduAmerican already forced us to file a defamation suit against those he conspired with.
Naik should know that blatantly libelous articles and tweets cause real harm.
— Suhag A. Shukla (@SuhagAShukla) March 27, 2022
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
Also read: Vajpayee, Advani to UPA — The Kashmir Files acknowledges a tragedy no one wanted to talk about