By Rahul Kumar

New Delhi, Mar 28: The Kashmir Files is all set to release in New Zealand in the coming week with the country's Chief Censor clearing the movie for public viewing after increasing the age restriction from 16 to 18 years.

Chief Censor David Shanks told New Zealand media: "I watched the film, and I am satisfied that it does not promote extremism or violence in a way that would require it to be classified as objectionable in New Zealand".

The NZ Herald reported that the reclassification of the movie was announced on Saturday morning.

The movie which depicts real life incidents from the genocide of the Kashmiri Hindus in the Muslim-dominated Kashmir valley, had come under objections from the Muslim community in New Zealand, who alleged that the film promotes anti-Muslim sentiment.

The Kashmir Files depicts actual happenings from Kashmir where the Hindus were killed, tortured and forced to flee their own land after a communal campaign was unleashed by Islamist separatists with support of Pakistan. The film shows the ethnic cleansing and also how lakhs of Kashmiri Hindus lived in tents as refugees in their own country.

Initially, New Zealand had classified the movie as R16 but after community interactions and checking the age classification in other countries, the Chief Censor increased the age to 18 years and above, says The Australia Today.

Shanks said: "However, I think an R18 restriction is warranted given the nature and intensity of the violence and cruelty depicted. This age restriction is consistent with what the film received in Australia and India". He added that members of the Hindu community believe that the film has historical value and should be cleared without age restrictions.

New Zealand's former deputy prime minister Winston Peters-the head of the political party New Zealand First, came out in strong support of the movie. In a statement released over Facebook, he wrote: "The 'Kashmir Files' has been shown in America, Australia, India and many other locations around the world. To date the film has been viewed by over 1.1 billion people. The film is about true and real events surrounding the 1990 ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Kashmir and today over 400,000 Kashmir Pandits remain in exile after 32 years".

Advocating releasing the film, Peters said: "To censor this film is tantamount to censoring information or images from the March 15th atrocities in New Zealand, or for that matter removing from public knowledge all images of the attack on 9/11".

Justice for the gruesome killings, threats and murders still eludes the Kashmiri Hindus, with many leaders and some political parties denying that ethnic cleansing of the Hindus ever took place in a bid to hide their own role in the brutal wave of terror that swept Kashmir during the 1990s. Three decades later, The Kashmir Files has dug up hidden realities based on the testimonies of the survivors and victims, with calls to rehabilitate the displaced Hindus and bring their killers to justice.