Jihadi terrorists given Hindu names in the web series based on Kandahar hijacking incident

Union Government summons the head of Netflix India

(Web series refers to a series of online videos telecast)

Mumbai – There has been opposition on social media over the last few days against the web series ‘IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack’ released on the OTT platform Netflix, as the real names of Jihadi terrorists have been hidden and replaced with Hindu names like Bhola and Shankar. Taking note of the same, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has summoned the head of Netflix India.

This web series was released on August 29. It is directed by Anubhav Sinha. On 24th December 1999, after taking off from Kathmandu, the Indian Airlines flight IC 814 was hijacked by Pakistani terrorists. The web series is based on this incident.

The names of the Jihadi terrorists who hijacked the plane were Ibrahim Athar (Bahawalpur), Shahid Akhtar (Karachi), Sunny Ahmed (Karachi), Zahoor Mistry (Karachi), and Shakir (Sukkur City); however, in the web series, they have been portrayed with Hindu names, such as ‘Bhola’ and ‘Shankar’, drawing criticism on social media. There have also been appeals to boycott the series. In response, one of the directors of the web series, Mukesh Chhabra, clarified that the terrorists used code names for each other, and proper research was conducted before making this web series. (Jihadi terrorists always adopt Hindu names to conceal their true identities; however, why wasn’t their real identity revealed in the web series ? Why was it hidden ? Is this a Jihadi mindset ? This too needs to be investigated – Editor).