‘Legitimised Criminal Intent’: BJP Slams Anubhav Sinha Over Non-Muslim Names of Terrorists In 'Kandahar Hijack'

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday waded into the ongoing controversy over the new Netflix series “IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack” for allegedly hiding the real identities of the terrorists involved in the 1999 hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight, saying that it is Left’s agenda to whitewash the crimes of Pakistani terrorists through the cinema.

BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya said that the filmmaker of the series legitimised the criminal intent of the 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,” he said in a post on X.

The BJP leader further said that such films and series weaken the country’s security apparatus and shift the blame away from a particular community which is responsible for all the bloodshed.

“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. This will not just weaken / put in question India’s security apparatus in the long run, but also shift the blame away from the religious cohort, that is responsible for all the bloodshed,” he added.

What’s the controversy?

IC-814 The Kandahar Hijack, which features Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Vijay Varma, Dia Mirza, Arvind Swamy and Dia Mirza has been well-received by critics. However, a section of social media users has demanded for the boycott of the series for allegedly hiding the real identities of the terrorists involved in the 1999 incident.

In the series, the terrorists have been named Bhola, Shankar, Doctor, Burger and Chief. The series seemingly hinted that the terrorists had codenames. However, the hijackers were Muslims from Pakistan. This has irked many, who have called it “whitewashing”.

What MEA said?

According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the hijackers were Ibrahim Athar, Bahawalpur; Shahid Akhtar Sayed, Gulshan Iqbal, Karachi; Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Defence Area, Karachi; Mistri Zahoor Ibrahim, Akhtar Colony, Karachi; Shakir, Sukkur city.

According to the MEA website, “…to the passengers, these hijackers came to be known respectively as (1) Chief, (2) Doctor, (3) Burger, (4) Bhola and (5) Shankar, the names by which the hijackers invariably addressed one another…”

What happened in 1999?

On December 24, 1999, the Indian Airlines Flight 814, commonly known as IC 814, en route from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal to Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi was hijacked and flown to several locations before landing in Taliban-controlled Kandahar, Afghanistan. The motive was to secure the release of Pakistani terrorists held in prison in India – Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, Masood Azhar and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar. The hostage crisis, which lasted for seven days, ended after India agreed to release the three terrorists.