On January 28, Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi cited an RTI reply from 2021 and perpetuated the Kashmiri Hindu genocide denial. Using the RTI reply, he claimed that ‘only 89’ Hindus were killed due to terrorism in Kashmir.
Speaking to India TV on the ban on BBC’s documentary on Gujarat Riots, Azmi said, “BBC made a documentary, and it will create a law and order problem? PM Modi has a lot of influence on the international platform. Why did he not raise his voice against BBC? He should ask people to watch the hate-filled film on Kashmir. The Kashmir where 1700-1800 people died, out of which only 89 were Kashmiri Pandits. Rest all of them were Muslims, and few were Sikhs.”
Actress Ayesha Takia’s father-in-law Abu Azmi added, “This information came as a reply of RTI. It tells the figure of how many Pandits were killed because of terrorism. A total of 1724 people were killed. Only 89 were Pandits. Now subtract 89 from 1724 and see how many Muslims died. And you are promoting this film? I admire your guts. The tickets were distributed for free. Even I could get enraged to see how Muslims terrorised Hindus in Kashmir. But the RTI reply shows a different picture. Are you still okay with promoting such a film? But the film that BBC made… Freedom of speech and expression is a law. Go and file a case against BBC. Everyone has the right to speak and listen. Let them listen to what [BBC is] saying. If BBC is wrong, file a case against it. Ban BBC. But you are stopping students from watching it. Have a big heart [PM Modi]. Allow them to watch and give their remarks.”
He also added an RTI reply on his Facebook account. The RTI reply was originally published by RTI activist PP Kapoor in December 2021, a few months before the official release of filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri’s film The Kashmir Files. In the reply, it was mentioned that since the inception of terrorism in 1990, 89 Kashmiri Pandits had been killed. Furthermore, the government informed that a total of 1,635 people of other faith died by the terrorists in the valley. This particular RTI has been used repeatedly by the left-liberals and seculars to whitewash the crimes committed against Kashmiri Hindus.
However, the RTI reply clearly mentioned that the number of Kashmiri Hindus killed because of terrorists mentioned in the reply was from 1990. That means any Kashmiri Pandit killed by terrorists before the said date was not included in the reply.
According to a fact-check done by India Today in March 2022, it was mentioned that several news reports quoted Jammu and Kashmir’s police saying that over 200 Kashmiri Pandits had been killed due to terrorism since 1989.
In 2008, an Indian Expresses report noted that 209 Kashmiri Pandits had been killed by terrorists since 1989. The report suggested that 109 people were killed in 1990 out of these 209, which that means before 1990, 100 Kashmiri Hindus were already killed.
Another point that needs to be considered here is that in 1990, the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus happened amidst the ongoing genocide. There are reports that clearly suggest that Hindus were warned to leave the valley. Hundreds of thousands of Hindus left the valley leaving only a handful of Kashmiri Hindus in Kashmir. It was impossible to kill Kashmiri Hindus in the valley if they had left the valley altogether. Since they left the valley, the struggle after the genocide has continued to date.
