News Analysis India

Tag: Niyaz Khan

  • MP IAS officer gets show-cause notice for tweets on `The Kashmir Files’

    By PTI

    BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh government on Thursday issued a show-cause notice to IAS officer Niyaz Khan, stating that his tweets about the film “The Kashmir Files” amounted to spreading hatred and also violated service rules.

    Khan, a deputy secretary with the state Public Works Department, confirmed to PTI that he had received the notice and said he was supposed to reply to it in seven days.

    He, however, refused to comment on the issues referred to in the notice.

    Khan had last week tweeted that makers of “The Kashmir Files” should also make a film about the “killings of large number of Muslims across several states” in India.

    He was planning to write a book highlighting the “massacre of Muslims” so that a movie like “The Kashmir Files” could be produced by someone, he said.

    He also appealed, through Twitter, to the producer of “The Kashmir Files” to donate the earnings from the film for education of the children of Kashmiri Pandits and construction of homes for them in Kashmir.

    On Wednesday, Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra had said that Khan’s tweets was a serious issue and the state government will issue a show-cause notice to him.

    After his tweets became viral, the film’s director, Vivek Agnihotri, had sought an appointment with Khan for “exchanging ideas”.

    Produced by Zee Studios, “The Kashmir Files” depicts the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from Kashmir following systematic killings of people from the community by Pakistan-backed terrorists.

    The film, which released on March 11, has sparked a debate as to how the tragedy of Kashmiri Pandits should have been treated cinematically.

    Several BJP-ruled states, including Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, have exempted the film from entertainment tax.

  • MP IAS officer tweets about The Kashmir Files; BJP demands action against him

    Express News Service

    BHOPAL: An Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre has made a series of controversial tweets over The Kashmir Files movie.

    “Kashmir Files shows the pain of Brahmins. They should be allowed to live safely in Kashmir with all honour. The producer must also make a movie to show the killings of a large number of Muslims across several states. Muslims are not insects, but human beings and citizens of the country,” the MP cadre IAS officer Niyaz Khan tweeted.

    “There is a violent section of society who have blocked their ears to hear the truth. Even so-called educated people use street-level language to abuse the truth speaker. Bad upbringing and fundamentalists company have eaten up their minds. Using dirty language shows their minds. Sad,” the MP bureaucrat tweeted.

    Khan, who is also the author of seven books, including the novel ‘Love Demands Blood,’ (inspired by the romance of underworld don Abu Salem and Monika Bedi, further tweeted “Thinking to write a book to show the massacre of Muslims on different occasions so that a movie like Kashmir Files could be produced by some producer, so that, the pain and suffering of minorities could be brought before Indians.” 

    A few days back also, Khan had tweeted over the issue “All efforts are being made to create a rift between Hindus and Muslims across the country. Everyone must think about the seriousness of this issue. We need a strong nation to counter China, not to be a divided society. We need enemies outside the country not inside our own country.”

    Presently posted as Deputy Secretary of the Public Works Department (PWD), Khan is known for his candid views on public issues. He is also known for his zero-tolerance against corruption, including the busting of a major scam in the building of mukti dhans (cremation grounds) in Guna district in 2017.

    Meanwhile, the ruling BJP state secretary Rajneesh Agrawal termed Khan’s tweets as another attempt to gain publicity. “He is a publicity-hungry man and has done similar things in the past also. It’s high time that the state government took cognizance of his deeds and acted appropriately,” Agrawal said on Saturday.

    The seven books authored by Khan, include ‘Love Demands Blood,’ Talaq Talaq Talaq (book against instant Talaq) and Be Ready to Die (book on the 2014 genocide of Yazidis by the Islamic Sate).

    Meanwhile, former MP minister and senior Congress MLA from Bhopal district, PC Sharma has booked 50 seats at a theatre in Bhopal to watch The Kashmir Files movie along with party members and supporters.

    “We’ll make public our views over the issue after watching the film,” he said on Saturday.

    Over the last three days, many ruling BJP leaders, including CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, home minister Narottam Mishra and Jabalpur MP Rakesh Singh have watched the movie.