_Vinayak Barot
New Delhi: Instead of looking at the Pakistan-based terrorists and their activities against India – a Muslim-friendly country Singapore put ‘The Kashmir Files’ movie in Religion’s basket and banned the film.
The Singapore government in a statement said that “The film will be refused classification for its provocative and one-sided portrayal of Muslims and the depictions of Hindus being persecuted in the ongoing conflict in Kashmir. These representations have the potential to cause enmity between different communities, and disrupt social cohesion and religious harmony in our multi-racial and multi-religious society.”
According to the international political experts, Due to political interests or fear of certain communities, the Singapore government has banned Vivek Agnihotri’s film the Kashmir files. The Singapore government is not in a condition to take any steps against several communities – as they are in power and they are around 15 percent in the country.”
Among Singaporeans today, a Muslim is in a unique legal position. come under the umbrella jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Singapore, they also have the privilege of invoking Islamic law when it comes to some matters of personal law.
According to the Singapore government data, approximately 33.2 percent of the population of citizens and permanent residents are Buddhist, 18.8 percent Christian (including 6.7 percent Catholic), 14 percent Muslim (predominantly Sunni), 10 percent Taoist, 5 percent Hindu, and 18.5 percent identify as having no religion.
According to the Mastercard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) 2021, Malaysia and Singapore have come out tops once more in the list of most Muslim-friendly holiday destinations.
Released on March 11, the Kashmir Files, directed by Vivek Agnihotri, has been praised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several BJP leaders and has also been rated a Box Office hit, but critics say it plays to anti-Muslim sentiment and is loose with facts.