World

Kerala Story: Film on alleged Indian ISIL recruits gets pushback

Published

1 year ago

May 4, 2023

Kerala Story: Film on alleged Indian ISIL recruits gets pushback

Kozhikode, Kerala – A money reward of 10 million rupees ($1,22,280) has been introduced by a Muslim group in India’s Kerala state for offering proof of claims made in an Indian movie that 1000’s of Hindu and Christian ladies from the state had been recruited into the ISIL (ISIS) armed group.

Members of the Muslim Youth League, affiliated with the opposition Indian Union Muslim League get together, arrange what they name “proof assortment counters” in all 14 districts of Kerala on Thursday, a day earlier than the movie is because of be launched within the Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu languages.

In response to the movie’s trailer on YouTube, The Kerala Story, produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah and directed by Sudipto Sen, claims to depict the “lives of harmless ladies trapped, remodeled and trafficked for terror” from Kerala.

“A spine-chilling, by no means informed earlier than true story – revealing a harmful conspiracy that has been hatched in opposition to India,” the textual content under the trailer says.

The filmmakers say the 138-minute movie is a “compilation of true tales of three younger ladies from totally different elements of Kerala”.

An earlier determine that was included within the textual content was that 32,000 ladies had been pressured to hitch ISIL, a declare that’s being challenged by Muslim and different teams in addition to opposition political events in Kerala and different elements of India.

“If 32,000 Hindu ladies have joined ISIS from the state, that quantities to 10 ladies from each village within the state. How can anybody miss it?” Muslim Youth League normal secretary PK Firos requested.

Muslim Youth League members holding a poster declaring the award [Shaheen Abdulla/Al Jazeera]

What’s the movie about?

Makers of the The Kerala Story allude to the Hindu right-wing conspiracy concept of “love jihad” to again up their claims within the movie. They are saying the movie reveals true tales of a Muslim “love jihad” plot, wherein non-Muslim women and girls are supposedly romanced, lured to transform to Islam by way of marriage after which pressured to hitch ISIL.

This plot is central to the movie regardless of India’s junior dwelling minister telling parliament in 2020 that there isn’t a such factor as “love jihad” and authorities investigations have dismissed the allegations.

The filmmakers say the inspiration behind their movie is an actual girl named Nimisha, who transformed to Islam in 2015 and married Bestin Vincent, one other convert. The couple travelled to Afghanistan by way of Sri Lanka the following yr to hitch ISIL, in response to Indian officers.

In 2021, India declined to repatriate 4 Indians who had joined ISIL fighters in Afghanistan. Nimisha was amongst these looking for to return dwelling after her husband was killed. Indian media studies say she has a daughter and each are in an Afghan jail.

“1000’s of harmless ladies have been systematically transformed, radicalised and their lives destroyed. It’s their aspect of the story,” the movie’s trailer on YouTube says. “The reality shall set us free!”

The movie’s director informed Al Jazeera he stands by his work and the declare that 32,000 ladies had been indoctrinated and recruited for ISIL. The most recent trailer for the film revises that quantity to “1000’s”.

“We have now a humanitarian agenda,” Sen stated, including that he has proof to show his claims and the movie can be his reply to all of the criticism.

“We aren’t in opposition to a specific neighborhood,” Sen stated. “We’re in opposition to terrorism, and we don’t imagine terrorism has any faith. Our movie had a Muslim scholar as a result of we didn’t wish to go mistaken about presenting Islam. We had different Muslim crew members.”

Money rewards for proof

However Firos of the Muslim Youth League informed Al Jazeera that the movie reinforces “Islamophobic tropes”.

“That is to tarnish the status of our state in addition to the Muslim neighborhood,” he stated. “We felt that passing statements or issuing authorized discover was not going to make a distinction. We wished individuals to make up their minds earlier than watching the movie.”

The Muslim Youth League will not be alone within the marketing campaign in opposition to the movie.

Nazeer Hussain Kizhakkedathu, a local of Kerala who’s settled in the USA, additionally introduced a reward of 1 million rupees for proof relating to solely 10 women and girls – not 1000’s, as claimed by the movie – who had been forcibly transformed and made to hitch ISIL. He inspired a lawyer pal to supply one other 1.1 million Indian rupees for a reward.

“That is a part of a cultural genocide. We learn about Nazi Germany making such movies earlier than killing 1000’s of Jews,” Kizhakkedathu, 51, informed Al Jazeera.

The New Jersey-based software program engineer stated though he’s an atheist, his marriage to a Hindu girl may be thought of a case of “love jihad” if the movie’s premise is accepted with out scrutiny.

“A lot of the Indian individuals who allegedly joined the ISIL are from Muslim households, so Muslims are the true victims right here. The movie erases their ache and vilifies them,” he informed Al Jazeera.

In response to a US Division of State report in 2020, 66 fighters of Indian origin are identified to have joined ISIL. In 2021, India’s Nationwide Investigation Company stated it was investigating 37 circumstances associated to Indians becoming a member of the group and had arrested 168 individuals.

‘Manufacturing facility of lies’

The ruling communist coalition authorities in Kerala and opposition leaders are looking for motion in opposition to the movie. State Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan wrote on Fb that the movie is an “try to unfold hate propaganda” and threatened authorized motion in opposition to the filmmakers.

“This bogus story is a product of the Sangh Parivar’s manufacturing unit of lies,” he posted. “Justifying those that use cinema solely to create division utilizing the argument of freedom of expression will not be proper. Freedom of expression will not be a licence to communalise this nation, unfold lies and divide individuals.”

Sangh Parivar refers to a group of Hindu nationalist teams led by the far-right Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological mentor of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Get together (BJP).

“Propaganda movies and the othering of Muslims ought to be considered within the context of assorted efforts made by the Sangh Parivar to realize a bonus in electoral politics in Kerala,” the chief minister wrote.

The BJP has to this point been unsuccessful in making important headway in Kerala, considered one of India’s greatest ruled states the place energy oscillates between the left and the Indian Nationwide Congress get together.

“[The film] is an insult to the ladies of the state,” VD Sadeeshan, Kerala’s opposition chief from the Congress get together, informed Al Jazeera. “Individuals who imagine in rule of regulation, democracy and secularism gained’t agree with the theme of this movie.”

“Interfaith marriages are quite common in Kerala. We’re tolerant of such concepts. We’re a progressive state,” Sadeeshan stated, including that the movie will instigate tensions in a “comparatively peace-loving state”.

In response to the 2011 census, Kerala’a inhabitants is 54 % Hindu, 27 % Muslim and 18 % Christian, making it one of the vital numerous Indian states.

Sen questioned the politicians accusing the movie of being a part of a “Sanghi [Sangh Parivar] agenda”.

“I can’t dance to the tune of the politicians,” he informed Al Jazeera, refusing to answer the money reward for proof. “We’re speaking about human tragedy. This isn’t a joke.”

A number of petitions have been filed in India’s Supreme Courtroom in addition to the Kerala Excessive Courtroom, looking for a keep on the discharge of the movie.

The Kerala Story obtained an “grownup” certificates from India’s Central Board of Movie Certification after the company really helpful practically a dozen cuts and some modifications in dialogues, the filmmakers stated.

New development

Critics say The Kerala Story is a part of a brand new development in Indian cinema that seeks to amplify far-right Hindu narratives with little take care of information. The development, they are saying, began after Modi got here to energy in 2014.

Final yr, a movie known as The Kashmir Recordsdata triggered controversy by claiming that 1000’s of Hindus had been killed in Indian-administered Kashmir, forcing their exodus from the valley when a riot in opposition to New Delhi’s rule within the nation’s solely Muslim-majority area began within the late Eighties.

In response to official figures, 219 Hindus, often known as Pandits within the valley, had been killed because the riot began. Nonetheless, the movie was praised by Modi as “backing information” and lots of BJP-ruled states awarded tax cuts to it.

Screenings of the movie noticed anti-Muslim hate speeches being made inside and out of doors theatres.

By the way, Sen was a part of the jury ultimately yr’s Worldwide Movie Pageant of India, whose chairman, Nadav Lapid, an Israeli filmmaker, slammed The Kashmir Recordsdata as “propaganda” and a “vulgar film”. Sen later distanced himself from Lapid’s feedback.

“I don’t wish to dignify this movie [The Kerala Story] with a response,” movie critic Anna MM Vetticad informed Al Jazeera. Citing examples of comparable movies made lately, she condemned the “absolute bluntness” of Hindu supremacist propaganda in India.

Related Topics:asia cinema Featured india ISIL/ISIS news

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World

Argentina's Milei shuts up critics with miracle turnaround of economy, strong security policies

Published

21 mins ago

May 19, 2024

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Argentina's Milei shuts up critics with miracle turnaround of economy, strong security policies

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President Javier Milei of Argentina continues to stun his critics with an economy that has outperformed expectations and continues along an ambitious path for national security, including pursuit of a NATO global partnership.

“The fact that you have a president, head of state, who is defending the free market, who is defending the role of entrepreneurs and businessmen as creators of value and just defending deregulation when the tendency in Latin America and much of the West has been to regulate the economy . . . I think that’s very positive, not only for Argentina, but for the region as a whole and maybe beyond,” Daniel Raisbeck, a policy analyst at the CATO Institute, told Fox News Digital.

Milei won the presidency in November last year and prompted concern from some in the West that he would lead his country down a road to ruin with libertarian policies that would make an already troubled economy even weaker. Voters wanted economic relief from a market hit with some of the highest inflation in the world.

Those attitudes have shifted just months later as Milei has enacted a raft of policy changes: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed to release a tranche of loans due to Argentina under a bailout program thanks to Milei’s government managing to create a fiscal surplus in the previous fiscal quarter and bring inflation down.

ARGENTINA REPORTS ITS FIRST SINGLE-DIGIT INFLATION IN SIX MONTHS AS MARKETS SWOON AND COSTS HIT HOME

President of Argentina Javier Milei gives a speech after his Inauguration Ceremony at National Congress on December 10, 2023, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (Marcelo Endelli/Getty Images)

Argentina’s inflation in March alone hit 287%, causing poverty to deepen, and citizens to take to the streets with strikes and protests against his policies. The monthly inflation rate was 25% in December when Milei first took office.

Milei then went on to significantly reduce spending with major cuts to public-sector wages as he suspended public works projects and cut subsidies. He also devalued the country’s currency by over 50%, which helped it stabilize in value even as the price of basic goods jumped.

The monthly inflation dropped to 8.8% by April, marking the first single-digit inflation rate in over six months.

Argentina recorded a $589 million budget surplus in January and continued to post a surplus for each of the first four months of 2024, even as the surplus shrank to $299 million in April, Reuters reported. This marks the country’s first quarterly surplus since 2008.

Raisbeck stressed that Milei’s primary measure of cutting spending has proven highly effective, while arguing that the significant deregulation in other parts of the economy has helped it revive over those first months of the new administration.

Javier Milei of La Libertad Avanza lifts a chainsaw next to Buenos Aires province governor candidate Carolina Piparo of La Libertad Avanza during a rally on September 25, 2023, in San Martin, Buenos Aires, Argentina. (Tomas Cuesta/Getty Images)

“Argentina was one of the most regulated economies in the world,” Raisbeck said. “So when you have a very well-thought-out package like the one that they introduced . . . and you get rid of as many of those regulations as you can, then it’s very positive.”

AT LEAST 90 INJURED AFTER PASSENGER TRAIN HITS BOXCAR, DERAILS IN ARGTENTINE CAPITAL

He noted that Milei has not adhered to some of his more aggressive campaign promises, which included a promise to dollarize the economy and shut down the Central Bank, saying that it was a “non-negotiable matter.”

Even days after he won the election, Milei appeared to favor more moderate Cabinet members than many would have expected of a man who jolted the international community with his outsider attitude and plans.

Students protest for more public university funding and against austerity measures proposed by President Javier Milei, featured on the sign, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. The posters read in Spanish, “With fascism, there are no rights,” center, and “Why so much fear to educate the people?” and “Defending the university is defending the country.” (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

The Wall Street Journal, in December 2023, argued that Milei’s tenure “may turn out to be pretty conventional,” with pro-market Economy Minister Luis Caputo leading away from Milei’s more radical plans.

The promised dollarization has been delayed, and Raisbeck explained that Milei’s approach has relied heavily on using the Central Bank to help regulate the economy, though he argued that Milei’s policies remain libertarian due to the deregulation he has pursued in other areas.

A vendor waits for customers at the central market for fruit and vegetables in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

“Everything related to deregulation is very libertarian, and we’ve seen great success already in the housing market, for instance,” Raisbeck said. “So that obviously brought a huge amount of supply that was suppressed because of price controls.”

Milei also brought Argentina back to the international foreground, with a stronger focus on national security and changing up the country’s goals from the previous administration – most notably, he rejected the invitation to join the China and Russia-led economic bloc BRICS.

PERUVIAN LAWMAKERS BEGIN YET ANOTHER EFFORT TO REMOVE PRESIDENT DINA BULARTE FROM OFFICE

A man holds up a giant US dollar sign with President Argentina's President Javier Milei

A supporter holds a giant dollar bill with the face President elect Javier Milei as people start gathering outside National Congress ahead of his inauguration ceremony on December 10, 2023, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (Marcelo Endelli/Getty Images)

Milei argued that it was not “opportune” for Argentina to join the bloc as a full member, according to German outlet DW. However, he will continue to develop ties with its members in the meantime.

“They have a good security minister, Patricia Bullrich, who has experience because she was a security minister in the previous government,” Joseph M. Humire, the executive director of the Center for a Secure Free Society, told Fox News Digital. “She has been able to get the ball rolling very quickly, and I think that was the benefit of having her in that position.”

Supporters of presidential candidate Javier Milei gather outside his headquarters during the presidential runoff election in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sunday, November 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Humire explained that Milei’s government has largely focused on clearing out external agitators, particularly those connected to Russian disinformation networks, which remain a paramount concern in most parts of the world as Moscow seeks to expand its influence.

“The external forces are usually the key,” Humire said. “Usually, it’s the Russians. The Russians have probably the biggest disinformation networks to be able to amplify local grievances and turn them into this macro instability, and they did that in Colombia, in Chile.”

“A lot of the specifics of the nation’s security has been in mitigating these agitation networks that create chaos throughout the country, and they have been neutralizing some of these threats while they’re studying others,” he added.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

World

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 815

Published

1 hour ago

May 19, 2024

Press Room

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 815

Here is the situation on Sunday, May 19, 2024.

Fighting

Slavyansk oil refinery in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region halted operations following a Ukrainian drone attack overnight, Interfax news agency reported. The refinery is a private plant with a capacity of 4 million metric tonnes of oil per year, about one million barrels per day.
Ukraine’s air force claimed it destroyed all 37 Shahed attack drones launched by Russia overnight. The regions targeted by the drones include Kyiv, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Cherkasy and Kherson.
The governor of Kharkiv said nearly 10,000 people had been forced to leave their homes since Russian forces launched a surprise ground attack on May 10. Russia claimed its military took control of another village, Staritsya, in the Kharkiv region near the Russian border.
Ukrainian prosecutors said Russian shelling killed a 60-year-old woman and injured three other civilians in the northeast city of Vovchansk, 5km (3 miles) from the Russian border. A 59-year-old man was also injured in the village of Ukrainske.
Russia said its forces shot down nine US ATACMS missiles over Crimea and at least 60 drones over Russian sovereign territory. Its forces also shot down a Tochka-U missile fired by Ukraine in Russia’s Belgorod region.
Belgorod regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said a Ukrainian drone attack injured a woman and a man in the village of Petrovka. The two were treated for shrapnel injuries.

Politics and diplomacy

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged issues with staffing and “morale” within the country’s troops as he signed a mobilisation law that came into force on Saturday. Kyiv has lowered the age at which men can be drafted from 27 to 25 and tightened punishments for those who avoid the call-up.
Ukrainian prosecutors said they were investigating as a potential war crime a Russian air attack on a residential area of the regional capital, Kharkiv, in which six civilians were wounded, including a 13-year-old girl, 16-year-old male and an eight-year-old.
Ukrainian officials accuse Russian soldiers in Vovchansk of using dozens of captured civilians as “human shields” to defend their command headquarters.
Moscow denied deliberately targeting civilians even as thousands have been killed and injured since its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Poland announced it would spend $2.5bn to fortify its eastern border, which includes Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.

World

Ukraine investigates civilian injuries, battles rage in Kharkiv region

Published

7 hours ago

May 18, 2024

Press Room

Ukraine investigates civilian injuries, battles rage in Kharkiv region

Ukrainian prosecutors said they were investigating attacks on civilians in two cities in the northeastern region of Kharkiv and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy reported successes by troops fighting a fresh Russian assault there on Saturday.