Washington: The US daily newspaper ‘The Washington Post’ witnessed a strong protest by a group of Kashmiri Pandits who protested against the newspaper’s one-sided coverage of the Jammu and Kashmir issue in the newspaper.
The Kashmiri Pandits were led by the Global Kashmiri Pandit Diaspora strongly criticized the Washington Post for giving a one-sided coverage of the events after India abrogated Article 370.
In a memorandum submitted to the newspaper by the Global Kashmiri Pandit Diaspora, they said, “Your coverage has not addressed the dejure lawlessness that existed in the State of J&K due to Article 370 accompanied by Article 35A which supposedly granted special status to the State.”
Kashmiri Pandits, who reached the capital of the United States from different parts of that country, lauded Modi for his bold and historic steps.
They raised slogans in support of Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, whose government did away with the highly discriminatory Article 370 and bifurcated the state into Union Territory Jammu and Kashmir and another Union Territory, Ladakh.
“Nowhere in the Washington Post media narratives is their mention that in this lawless State the most heinous genocide was committed against the aboriginal people, the Kashmiri Pandits, resulting in their virtual exile.”
The Chief Coordinator of the rally, Mohan Sapru said, “Washington Post’s biased reporting ignores the inconvenient truth that Article 370 and Article 35A…have denied democratic rights to minorities, women and weaker sections of the society while throttling Kashmir’s economy…(and) Kashmir Valley became breeding ground for rampant corruption, separatism.”
However, Pakistani Americans made sure to conduct a silent demonstration supporting the newspaper’s biased work.
A group of US Muslims is said to have held a protest demonstration in front of the Indian Embassy in Washington DC.
Kashmiri Pandits are those who suffered the worst brunt of Islamic terrorism in the state. They had to leave their homes, lands, and their state decades back, never to return again. Pandits had welcomed the BJP government’s decision to scrap the Article 370 which had been highly discriminatory and tried to isolate away the people of Kashmir from mainstream life of India.
