Date:27/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/27/stories/2008082760091500.htm

National

BJP criticises journalists and writers

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Those who were now talking about India giving ‘azadi’ to Kashmir should also answer whether they would prescribe the same formula to other groups demanding freedom like in Assam, the Bharatiya Janata Party said here on Tuesday.

Referring to recent articles written by Arundhati Roy and “other writers and journalists” suggesting that the time may have come for India to take a call on Kashmir, BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said these people must also know that in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and the so-called Azad Kashmir there was “no freedom, no democracy, no representation, no freedom of the press but discrimination against those Kashmiris who had gone to PoK from the Indian side.”

He quoted from a report of the European Parliament dated April 25, 2007 that acknowledged Pakistan’s training, arming and funding of Kashmiri militants. It had also noted that Islamabad “failed to hold militants accountable for atrocities they have committed on the Indian-administered side.”

The report referred to the devolution of democratic structures at all levels on the Indian side while the Pakistan side lacked full implementation of democracy and had “yet to take steps towards democracy in Gilgit and Baltistan.”

Mr. Prasad said those crying about ‘azadi’ should also note that while in India, Kashmir is protected by a special status spelt out in Article 370 of the Constitution, there was no such protection for PoK or other parts of Pakistan or China-administered Kashmir. He added that in fact efforts were on in PoK to change the demography.