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"The Kashmir Files" has been praised by Indian
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his right-wing Hindu
nationalist followers, and has proved a box office hit, but
critics say it is loose with facts and fans anti-Muslim
sentiment.
"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," the
Singapore government said in a statement on Monday in response
to media queries.
"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," the statement added.
Singapore's 5.5 million population is made up mainly of ethnic
Chinese, Malays and Indians. The Southeast Asian city-state has
strict laws that punish any attempts to disrupt inter-racial and
religious harmony.
Hundreds of thousands of people, many of them Hindus, fled from
Kashmir after a violent uprising against Indian rule began in
1989.
Supporters of the 170-minute Hindi-language movie say it shines
a light on an often overlooked chapter of Kashmir's history
while others see it as evidence of the growing religious
polarisation Modi's critics say he has fostered since coming to
power in 2014.
(Reporting by Chen Lin in Singapore; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor
and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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