The opening disclaimer of the series IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack has been updated to include the real and code names of Muslim militants featured in the show, streaming platform Netflix said in a statement on Tuesday.

Netflix India’s statement came after the Centre summoned its head of content in response to a controversy that erupted regarding the representation of the hijackers in the series, reported PTI.

Directed by Anubhav Sinha, the limited series was released on Netflix on August 29. The show is based on the commandeering of an Indian Airlines aircraft from Kathmandu to Delhi on December 24, 1999, by members of a Pakistan-based terror outfit. Five terrorists hijacked the plane and eventually landed it in Kandahar in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.

After the series was released, Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and several social media users criticised the makers for allegedly attempting to “whitewash the crimes of Pakistani terrorists”.

In January 2000, the Ministry of External Affairs stated that the terrorists had used the pseudonyms “Chief”, “Doctor”, “Burger”, “Bhola” and “Shankar” during the hijacking. Their real names were Ibrahim Athar, Shahid Akhtar Sayed, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Mistri Zahoor Ibrahim, and Shakir.

The Hindu deity Shiva is also referred to as “Bhola” and “Shankar”.

Those protesting the show’s release have claimed that the use of Hindu names for the characters obscures the fact that the hijacking was carried out by Muslim militants.

“No one has the right to play with the sentiments of the nation,” an unidentified government official told PTI. “Indian culture and civilisation should always be respected.”

On Tuesday, Monika Shergill, vice president of content at Netflix India, said: “For the benefit of audiences unfamiliar with the 1999 hijacking of the Indian Airlines flight 814, the opening disclaimer has been updated to include the real and code names of the hijackers.”

Shergill also said that Netflix India is committed to showcasing India’s “rich culture of story-telling” and ensuring their “authentic representation”.

Row on pseudonyms

On Sunday, Amit Malviya, the chief of the BJP’s publicity cell, accused Anubhav Sinha of “legitimising the criminal intent” of the hijackers by featuring their pseudonyms in the series.

“Decades later, people will think Hindus hijacked IC-814,” he said.

Former Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar had told media persons that he was happy about the Centre taking cognisance of the matter.

“Every man and woman in India and indeed in South Asia knows that the hijack of IC-814 from Kathmandu was committed by Pakistan’s ISI ‘Inter-Services Intelligence]-backed terrorists...nobody thinks that there were some people from India who did the hijacking,” he said, reported The Hindu. “So, how the people have Hindu names in that movie.”

On Monday, a public interest litigation was filed in the Delhi High Court seeking a ban on the series as it “distorted” the “real identities” of the hijackers, PTI reported.

The petition claimed that the series “erroneously” showed the real hijackers as having Hindu names, thereby hurting the sentiments of the Hindu community.

The petition was filed by Surjit Singh Yadav, a farmer and president of the fundamentalist organisation Hindu Sena, according to PTI.

Yadav urged the court to direct the Centre and the Maharashtra government to ban the series.

“The distortion of crucial facts about the real identities of the hijackers not only misrepresents historical events but also perpetuates harmful stereotypes and misinformation, warranting interference of this court to prevent further public misunderstanding and potential harm,” he said.

IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack is adapted from several sources, including the memoir Flight Into Fear co-written by the flight’s chief pilot, Captain Devi Sharan, and Srinjoy Chowdhury. In the series, Sharan is played by Vijay Varma.

The six-episode series revisits the ordeal of the crew and passengers as well as the Indian government’s response to the hijacking.

The standoff – during which a passenger died – ended on December 30, 1999, after the Bharatiya Janata Party government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee freed three jailed terrorists.

They included Masood Azhar, whose outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed carried out the attack on the Indian Parliament in 2001, and Omar Saaed Shaikh, accused of beheading American journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002.

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