The ghosts of Jammu & Kashmir seem to repeatedly haunt the BJP Rajya Sabha member and editor-in-chief of The Pioneer, the very erudite Chandan Mitra.
Over a decade ago, the journalist-activist Kuldip Nayar, then a member of the upper house, moved a privilege motion for an overly enthusiastic editorial that questioned Nayar’s patriotism.
In February this year, Mitra had to issue a front-page condemnation for the “wilful misrepresentation of views” expressed by him by a Kashmiri commentator in Kashmir Times.
“I am aghast at the diabolical attempt by certain persons with obvious separatist sympathies to distort my article “A ‘moth-eaten’ India?” by Ifthikar Gilani. A canard is being spread by a Kashmiri commentator Iftikhar Gilani, who writes for the Kashmir Times, that I have argued against the BJP’s stand on Jammu & Kashmir and advocated “free Kashmir or joint sovereignty” for the State. I am truly appalled by the deliberate and motivated distortion of my beliefs by Gilani and his ilk.”
And now this self-explanatory apology for a piece by G.N. Shaheen, general secretary of the J&K high court bar association, which carried the G-word thrice and began thus:
“Prime Minister Manmohan Singh talks of ‘zero tolerance’ on human rights abuses, but does nothing to rein in the Army from implementing a new policy of genocide which targets children—this renders his calls for peace bogus.”
The piece also carried this paragraph:
“Under the new pattern of genocide carried out by the authorities, young school-going children are targeted purposefully to deter future generations from embarking on the path of freedom. Asiya and Nelofar’s double murder at Shopian, the death of a class 7 student, Wamiq Farooq of Rainawari, the killing of class 9 student Zahid Farooq of Brian Nishat are but symbolic of this official policy. None of these children were militants or remotely connected with any political party, yet they had to loose their lives at the hands of the armed forces.”
Read the original piece here: New genocide policy in J&K
Also available here: Defence Forum of India
Also read: How Chandan Mitra has his halwa and hogs it too
IJR 