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

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.