Hindu students of University of NSW were issued with an ultimatum by their Muslim counterparts to not screen The Kashmir Files or the actions that would be taken against them were ‘not gonna be lovely.’
At an almost two-hour meeting that took place between the two groups on Tuesday, 7 June 2022, the Muslim group claimed to have the direct support of Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi, Mustafa Rachwani of The Guardian newspaper, Mosiqi Acharya – Chief of Staff of ABC’s Asia Pacific Newsroom, two Deputy Editor of ABC News, the Senior Producer of Q&A, a Mr Kasim and various Islamic leaders.
A source close to the meeting told AHM that the Muslim group’s spokesman – Usman Mehmood said:
‘Let me be clear and blunt with you guys. If you guys agree, all well and good, we really appreciate it on behalf of the Muslim Society of UNSW and greater Muslims abroad.’
If not, ‘there’s other actions that can be taking place. ..these other actions are not lovely actions…’
‘Either we can go about this nicely or we can go about the other route. The other route is as we mentioned right now,‘ Mehmood said.
Mehmood boasted, ‘We’ve got the dozens of contacts, from Senators, to newspapers, to news channels, to charity organisations, to religious organisations as well… I’m going to mention just a few names that we have direct contact with…that will basically be helping us in our fight against this.” He then reeled out the following names:
- Senator Dr Mehreen Faruqi
- Mustafa Rachwani
- Mr (sic) Acharya, Chief of Staff of ABC News, Asia Pacific
- Deputy Editor of ABC News – Federer
- Deputy Editor of ABC news – McCarthy
- a senior producer of Q&A
- Mr Kasim
- Mufti Abu Mohamed, the Grand Mufti of Australia,
- Sheik Ahmed from Masjid Qubaa
- Sheikh Saleiman from UMA
- Sheik Albaquai from Al-Baian
- Sheikh Bana from Masjid Noor
- Sheik Abda from ANIC
- Sheik Wisaam from Australian National Imams Council
- Sheik Omar El-Ghaz from the United Muslims Association
Source: https://www.amust.com.au/2019/05/senator-mehreen-faruqi-hosts-womens-iftar/
Pakistani-origin Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi
Mostafa Rachwani: https://fb.watch/dwyjzBKPWq/
Source:https://www.australianjewishnews.com/concern-over-grand-muftis-hamas-visit/
Sheik Omar El-Ghaz UMA referring to TV and social media as anti- Islam and the anti-Christ, complains of Christian and pagan activities in Australian society : https://m.facebook.com/watch/?v=459301242459817&_rdr
Source (2019): https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6826229/Sheikh-Shady-Alsuleiman-barred-New-Zealand-Denmark-ban.html
‘These are just a couple of contacts that we can get into to escalate our matter. Mind you, I do not want to get into this… ‘ said Mehmood. (Pictured above)
Our source told us that Mehmood admitted that he had not watched the movie, but maintained that the movie was ‘outright Islamophobia.‘ ‘If there is someone who thinks the wrong way then we are going to guide him to the straight path‘, he told the meeting.
Mehmood told the meeting, ‘What are the set of measures that the UNSW Muslim Society is prepared to do? Number one…we have 25 signatories for the Muslim movement against Islamophobia. We can get the same 25 signatories done against this movie.‘
He referred in the meeting to a letter from UNSW Vice Chancellor Prof Attila Brungs in which she [sic] ‘stands against Islamophobia’ and threatens to send a letter (which has already been drafted) to her about the movie, if Hindus go ahead with screening the movie.
Waving another document, Mehmood stated that, ‘We have a separate letter here. If things don’t go accordingly, we’ll be sending it to the Vice Chancellor, to the ARC legal team and to the ARC clubs.’
‘We also have a drafted response that we are willing to post on the UNSW discussion page on the UNSW first years, second years, all that stuff, on the social media platforms,’ Mehmood told the meeting.
Mehmood concludes, ‘So, these are the steps we are prepared to take. And we are not someone who is going to back down. Because we have a pride and a honour to represent and to support our religion, and to support the seizing of Islamophobia from happening. So that is how this is going to go…’
The 700 strong Hindu Society at UNSW voted to screen The Kashmir Files at the university’s Colombo Theatre on 9 June 2022 at 5pm.
The Australian Classification board, which approved the film for screening this year, describes The Kashmir Files as about ‘the aftermath of the exodus of Kashmir Pandits in 1990 due to ethnic and religious violence.’ The film is fictional, but based on three years of consultation with survivors. It is endorsed, with near unanimous consensus, by Kashmir Pandits as faithfully capturing their story.
This film has been screened in India and world-wide drawing 100s of millions of views. The semi-judicial decision of the NZ Classification Board ruled that the film does not incite violence.