Protesting the murder of Safdar Hashmi

While performing a street play in Sahibabad township only 15 kilometres from Delhi on
1 January 1989, Safdar Hashmi, a member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
and a well known cultural activist, was murdered in broad daylight by the followers of
a Congress (I)-supported election candidate.

Apart from working in theatre, Safdar also contributed to the cinema as a critic, actor
and commentator. We filmmakers and film lovers wish to register our protest against
a system that, on the one hand, claims to promote creativity, and on the other, connives
in the murder of cultural activists.

Protest statement read out by Shabana Azmi at the National Film Festival Awards