Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri has "respectfully declined" an offer by the Oxford Union for a debate on Kashmir over the controversial nature of the topic, saying that he found it "offensive and obnoxious".
In his response to the Oxford Union, which he shared on his X handle, Agnihotri said that he reflected at the irony of the invitation for a debate that was titled "The House Believes in an Independent State of Kashmir".
"Your invitation to debate 'The House Believes in an Independent State of Kashmir' is a direct challenge to India's sovereignty, and it is unacceptable to me. I find it not just obnoxious but offensive-not just to 1.4 billion Indians, but also as a humiliation of the hundreds of thousands of displaced indigenous Hindu victims of the Kashmir genocide of 1990," he said.
The 'The Kashmir Files' director said that framing such a subject as a "debate" is akin to turning a tragedy into a parlour game.
The director further added that the story of Kashmir is not a topic of debate but a narrative of "suffering, resilience, and a quest for peace". "To reduce it to a 'yes' or 'no' on independence is to ignore the complex tapestry of human emotions and history involved. The genocide of Kashmiri Hindus is a story where the cost has been paid in blood, not in witty retorts or applause from an audience," he said.
Agnihotri went on to summarise the situation in Kashmir in three points, saying that "over 5 lakh indigenous Kashmiri Hindus were victims of genocide by Islamic terrorism." He said that Hindus had to leave Kashmir and live in exile, which is something that cannot be a matter of debate since it's a "historical tragedy".
He added that the scrapping of Article 370 affirmed the sovereignty of Kashmir, which was always an integral part of India.
The director added that there cannot be any debate on the region's sovereignty until "hundreds of thousands of indigenous Kashmiri Hindus remain displaced from their homeland."
"In closing, my decision is not just a decline; it is a call for Oxford Union to step into the 21st century, where debates are about progress, not about reopening wounds for the sake of intellectual sport," he said.
Later, in a conversation with ANI, Agnihotri said: "They invited me and I received many follow-up calls and emails while I was thinking whether I should attend the event or not. I knew this debate would be meaningless if I didn't attend it... Pakistanis were also invited to the debate. The issue is that when Pakistan does not have any stake in Kashmir, then why should anyone listen to their point of view... Even though we have become independent, the colonisers still think we do not deserve this independence. This is why they create narratives all the time to disturb India."
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