Netflix content head summoned to IC 814 row; I&B Ministry seeks clarification
A still from IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack. Photo: Special Arrangements
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has sought an explanation from Netflix India’s head of content on the controversy. IC-814: The Kandahar Hijack Series related to the description of robbers.
Netflix India’s content chief may have to appear in person before the ministry to provide clarification on the August 29 release of the series. “No one has the right to play with the sentiments of the nation,” asserted a senior official. An explanation was sought.
“Every man and woman in India and indeed in South Asia knows that the hijacking of IC-814 from Kathmandu was carried out by terrorists supported by Pakistan’s ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence)…No one thinks that there were some people in India who did it. piracy So, how come people have Hindu names in that movie, I don’t know…I am happy that the I&B Ministry and the Government of India have considered this matter and summoned Netflix,” former Union minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Monday. He told reporters.
Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah offered a comparison on social media platform X. “It’s really funny that people are melting down movies like Kashmir Files as gospel truth for the way they portray the events of IC814. Netflix show. Now suddenly they want accuracy and precision packaged in the script,” he said.
In the six-episode series, the hijackers are referred to as “Pradhan”, “Doctor”, “Burger”, “Bhola” and “Shankar”, the pseudonyms used during the incident. Their real names were Ibrahim Athar, Shaheed Akhtar Saeed, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Mistry Zahoor Ibrahim, and Shakir, all hailing from Pakistan, according to official records.
Also read:Anubhav Sinha on ‘IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack’: I’m not in the business of saving people or glorifying them
Hours after the series launched, it triggered a sharp reaction from a large number of social media users who accused the makers of concealing the real identity of the hijackers and misrepresenting various details of what actually happened. Some social media users complained that, although real footage was used in some places, the narrative of the series was riddled with a lot of fictional details. A petition has also been filed in the Delhi High Court to ban the series.
The series is based on the hijackings that took place on 24 December 1999, when the then Indian Airlines flight IC-814, en route from Kathmandu to Delhi with 179 passengers and 11 crew members, was hijacked by five Harkat-ul-Mujahideen terrorists.
The aircraft was flown to Kandahar, Afghanistan (then under Taliban rule) via Amritsar, Lahore and Dubai, where 27 passengers were discharged and the body of one passenger was handed over. The remaining prisoners were eventually released after the Indian government freed three feared terrorists — Jaish-e-Mohammed founder Masood Azhar, and Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar.
