New Delhi: The 'IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack' Netflix series by Anubhav Sinha has become embroiled in controvery for allegedly shifting the blame away from Pakistani terrorists in the 1999 hijacking of the Indian Airlines flight. It seems that some members of the Bhartiya Janta Party( BJP) have spoken about the blame-shifting in the series that has not gone down well with them.
BJP IT cell cheif Amit Malviya accused series director Anubhav Sinha of ‘legitimising’ the criminal intent of terrorists, by furthering their non-Muslim names.
'The hijackers of IC-814 were dreaded terrorists, who acquired aliases to hide their Muslim identities. Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha, legitimised their criminal intent, by furthering their non-Muslim names. Result? Decades later, people will think Hindus hijacked IC-814," Malviya shared on X.
Directed by Anubhav SInha, 'IC-814 The Kandahar Hijack' is based on the 1999 hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane that took off from Kathmandu, in Nepaland was flown around several locations before landing at Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Despite a lot of appreication from many quarters, the series has also faced criticism online and boycott for allegedly hiding the real identies of the terrorists involved in the incident.
In the series, the code names of hijackers Bhola, Shankar, Doctor, Burger and Chief were used for the five hijackers.
“Left’s agenda to whitewash the crimes of Pakistani terrorists, all Muslims, served. This is the power of cinema, which the Communists have been using aggressively, since the 70s. Perhaps even earlier,” Malviya said.
During the IC 814 hijack, Ibrahim Athar, Zahoor Ibrahim, Shahid Akhter, Sunny Ahmed Qazi and Sayed Shakir had taken control of the plance on its way from Kathmandu to Delhi.
The hijack ended with the infamous release of three wanted terrorists: Masood Azhar, Omar Sheikh, and Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar in exchange of more than 150 passengers, aboard that plane.