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‘What are they scared of?’: Kamal Haasan asks GoI why plebiscite in Kashmir hasn’t been held

FILE PHOTO FOR REPRESENTATION.

Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan, on Monday, questioned the government of India over not holding a plebiscite in Kashmir and asked what they were ‘afraid of’, a report by Times Now stated. Talking about ‘Pakistan Azad Kashmir’, Haasan said that if India wanted to prove that it is a ‘better country’, then it should ‘not behave like this’.

He stated this in reference to Kashmir, when he was being asked to comment upon the Pulwama attack that killed 49 CRPF personnel on the Jammu-Kashmir highway.

“I truly regret when people say army men are going to Kashmir to die. The army itself is an old fashioned thing. Like how the world changed, How we decided that humans will not kill each other for food, likewise a time will come to stop fighting. Has the civilisation not learnt this in the past 10 years?” Haasan said while addressing a gathering in Chennai, according to the report.

“When I was running a magazine called ‘Maiyam’ I have written about Kashmir issue and what is expected. I mourn this day because I forecasted that this is what will happen, unfortunately, I should have predicted something else. Hold plebiscite and make people talk…why have they not conducted it? What are they scared of? They want to divide the nation that’s all. Why don’t you ask them again? They won’t do it? Now it (Kashmir) belongs to India, the same situation prevails across the border,” Haasan said on being questioned about the attack, the report stated.

“In Azad Kashmir, they are using Jihadi’s pictures in trains to portray them as heroes, that is also a foolish thing to do. India also behaves with an equal amount of foolishness, it’s not fair. If we want to prove that India is a far better country, then we should not behave like this. There begins the politics, there begins the new political culture,” he further said, according to the report.

ALSO READ: #IndiaWantsRevenge: Kashmiris outside fear for their lives, face xenophobia, abuse, rustication after Pulwama attack

Earlier, four medical Kashmiri students have been charged with sedition after being suspended from a private institute in Jaipur for allegedly ‘celebrating’ the Pulwama suicide attack by posting “anti-national” messages on an instant messaging app, officials cited in a report by Kashmir Observer said Sunday.

Aligarh Muslim University suspended an undergraduate Kashmiri student for his alleged objectionable tweet in connection with the Pulwama attack.

A Kashmiri student pursuing BTech in Chitkara University in Himachal Pradesh was arrested for allegedly “glorifying” the suicide bomber Aadil Ahmed Dar, who was behind the Pulwama attack, reported the Indian Express.

In Jammu, curfew was imposed on Friday after miscreants torched vehicles and damaged several others carrying number plates of the Kashmir Valley in protest against Thursday’s killing of 49 CRPF personnel.

A number of quarters belonging to Kashmiris in the Janipur area of Jammu were attacked by frenzied mobs, despite imposition of curfew in the city on Saturday.

“The mobs entered inside the premises and attacked quarters of Kashmiris while police remained a mute spectator,” they said, according to GNS.

Secretariat Employees Union President Ghulam Rasool Mir had condemned the attack and urged the administration to ensure the safety of the people from Kashmir and those from the particular community.

ALSO READ: ‘We were attacked from all sides’: Darbar move employees in Jammu say neighbours were part of the mob too

The fresh attack came despite the fact that the administration had not relaxed curfew on Saturday too.

After the mob violence, Army was immediately called in to restore order in the city.

Curfew was imposed on Friday when a mob torched and damaged at least 30 vehicles belonging to local Muslims and Kashmiris. Curfew was initially imposed in some vulnerable areas, but was later extended to the entire city as tension mounted in the wake of violence against a particular section of the society.

The authorities met with important citizens belonging to different communities on Friday to seek their help in bringing the city back to normal.

The Joint Resistance Leadership had condemned the arson attacks in Jammu, saying it is the responsibility of the state administration to ensure safety of Kashmiris living there.

“Right from 1947 (when subcontinent was divided), communal forces active in Jammu leave no stone unturned to attack and intimidate Muslims and Kashmiri people,” they said.

Trouble erupted when a group of people belonging to various right wing organisations including Bajrang Dal, Shiv Sena, and VHP took out a procession carrying tricolours through Gujjar Nagar, which is predominantly inhabited by Muslims.

Earlier, Omar Abdullah, Vice President of the National Conference had appealed Rajnath Singh take ‘special care of areas where Kashmiris as residing or studying.’

In a tweet, he had said that ‘they (Kashmiris) are soft targets in a surcharged atmosphere.’

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