The Kashmir Files is a propaganda movie, says former J&K CM Farooq Abdullah

Former J&K CM Farooq Abdullah called The Kashmir Files a propaganda movie and said that the violence of 1990 affected Hindus and Muslims alike.

Former Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir Farooq Abdullah on Tuesday, March 22, slammed the Vivek Agnihotri directorial — ‘The Kashmir Files’ — calling it a “propaganda movie”.

“It is a propaganda movie. It has raked up a tragedy that affected every soul of the state, Hindus and Muslims alike. There was an element of political parties that were interested in ethnic cleansing,” he said, in an exclusive interaction with India Today Group Editorial Director Raj Chengappa.

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The Kashmir Files tells the true story of brutal sufferings endured by Kashmiri Pandits in 1990, during the Kashmir insurgency. He dismissed allegations of inaction at the time. “If people want to know the truth, they can talk to the people who can tell them, like Musar Raza, who was my chief secretary, or Arif Muhammad Khan who was a central minister at that time,” he said.

Speaking about the 1989 kidnapping of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s daughter Rubaiyya by the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, Farooq Abdullah said, “When they [Centre] wanted to release five people whom we had caught, I refused. The Government of India was being led by VP Singh supported by the BJP.”

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"It feels wrong to be talking about a dead person this way, but we must remember that it was the governor of that time who put the Kashmiri Pandits on buses. He had said 'I will bring you back in two months. I have to use force on these people and the retaliation may fall on you'."