Islamabad | Former Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit in an interview has claimed that he convinced the famous author Shobhaa De to write about Burhan Wani.
In an interview with a Pakistani blogger, Farhan Virk, who calls himself a part of ‘Team IK’ (Team Imran Khan), the former Pakistani High Commissioner to India says: “We have seen how after the martyrdom of Burhan Wani, the way pellet guns were used, and Kashmir was placed under an economic blockade, Kashmir’s economy was destroyed… And there was no one in mainland India who would speak about it.
“It was a challenge for me to convince any journalist to please write an article in the newspaper for Kashmiris’ right to self-determination. I finally found a lady journalist, Shobhaa De, who is very prominent. She wrote an article. I met her and made her understand. She wrote at the end of her article, ‘Now the time has come to resolve the Kashmir issue once and for all through a plebiscite’.”
The concerned article was written by the author in July 2016.
It was titled,’Burhan Wani is dead but he’ll live on till we find out what Kashmir really wants’.
An excerpt of the article: “Kashmir is a love story. A dream. A fantasy. Kashmir is a poem… an elegy. Why shatter its pristine beauty with ugly politics? Why not display enough moral courage, and talk? Let sane voices prevail over lethal bullets. Tough. But not impossible. Let’s see if the present government has the guts to go ahead with a referendum to resolve the Kashmir crisis once and for all. Let’s end the lingering pain in the region and allow Kashmiris to live in peace, with the dignity and harmony they are entitled to.”
Pakistan has strongly criticised Centre’s move of scrapping Article 370 from the state of Jammu and Kashmir. They called the move “unconstitutional” and “illegal”. They have downgraded the bilateral relations including trade, and diplomatic talks.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
