New Delhi: Amid the controversies over the recently released movie ‘The Kashmir Files’, Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party chief Altaf Bukhari on Saturday said that the Kashmiri Pandits will be relieved only when they return to their homeland and that every attempt to widen the gap between them and the Muslims will fail.
Reacting to the movie that portrays the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley in 1990, Bukhari, as quoted by news agency PTI, said, “If rehabilitation takes place by making a movie, I would have liked 50 more movies. I am not saying do not make movies. But what when such movies are made to help someone get votes?”
“They (Kashmiri Pandits) will not get anything, my brothers are suffering for the last 32 years here (in Jammu) and they will get relief only when they return to their homes (in the Valley),” Bukhari said at the sidelines of a party event, when asked for his reaction on the movie.
Bukhari added that those who are making attempts to widen the gap between the communities will not succeed.
“We Kashmiris are one, whether a Muslim or a Pandit. It is (meant) to spread hatred against Kashmiri Muslims and we hope it does not lead to any violence,” the former minister said.
Earlier, addressing a Jammu lawyers' meet organised by the party here, the minister said that the issues and aspirations of the people of both Jammu and Kashmir are common, and thus, the attempts to divide them will never be successful.
Written and directed by Vivek Agnihotri and produced by Zee Studios, ‘The Kashmir Files’ highlights the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from the Valley following systematic killings of people from the community by Pakistan-backed terrorists.
The movie stars Anupam Kher, Darshan Kumar, Mithun Chakraborty and Pallavi Joshi among others.