Shobhaa De said that Basit tried to talk to them and raise various issues but when the group started raising issues on China, he left the conversation.
New Delhi| Retorting the claims made by former Pakistani envoy Abdul Basit, writer and columnist Shobhaa De has asserted that he is trying to defame her. She called the claims made by Basit nothing but “lies”. The rebuttal came after Basit claimed that he influenced Shobhaa De to write an article after the Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani was shot dead.
In a video, she is seen denying charges by Basit. De said that she would have let it pass without comment but it is important to “nail lies”. Calling Basit a “Despicable” man, Shobhaa De said that he is trying to discredit not only her but India as well.
I will not engage with a liar. Period.
— Shobhaa De (@DeShobhaa) August 13, 2019
“The only time I have met him or rather he came and imposed himself, intruded into a small group was in January this year at Jaipur Lit Fest at a publishing party,” Shobhaa De said. “He came and joined the small group attempted a conversation, was snubbed and was almost as good as asked to leave,” she added.
She further said that Basit tried to talk to them and raise various issues but when the group started raising issues on China, he left the conversation. “That’s the last we saw of him. That’s the first and the last I have ever encountered this man,” Shobhaa De clarified.
She further said that what Basit is doing is dangerous and malicious and absolutely unfair to anybody who believes in the truth.
Why the controversy?
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.
#WATCH Columnist Shobhaa De responds to claims by Former Pakistan High Commissioner to India, Abdul Basit, that he managed to influence her writings on Kashmir pic.twitter.com/784dub1wBW
— ANI (@ANI) August 12, 2019
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.
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