Mashal Malik do us a faour
London 27 December 2017
Mashal Malik, like so many others, wants to stay in news. There is
nothing wrong with that, provided this publicity seeking obsession is not based
on blatant lies.
She claims to be a leader of JKLF; and very often is promoted by the Pakistani
media. At times people feel her view are not in line with the declared policy
of JKLF. In any case, that is not my problem. This is something that sincere
members of the JKLF need to resolve.
I admire her confidence and timing to make interventions to get the
media coverage. When the Pakistani media was overwhelmed with the visit of
Kulbushan Yadav with his wife and mother; she chose to make an intervention.
Very confidently she said India has not given a visa to her and her
young daughter that they can also meet Yasin Malik. Her confidence and narration
also impressed me. I was about to issue a statement condemning India and
supporting her case.
I decided to seek some advice from a Kashmiri journalist friend. He said
she is ‘telling lies’. He said:
‘She applied for a visa in 2013; and she was given a visa for 2 years,
that expired in 2015. She has not applied since that date. She is living in
Pakistan doing politics and her husband lives in Srinagar’.
Why she has not applied for a visa to be with her husband? If she has
not applied for a visa, then why is she making these false statements?
I was stunned. How could she tell lies so confidently? I thought maybe
this friend doesn’t know facts, so I contacted another well-informed Kashmiri
journalist who is also close to the JKLF. He also confirmed these details. He
also said, many members of the JKLF are not happy with what she does in name of
JKLF.
She is respectable to me as a woman and as a wife of my old friend.
However, I wish if she had taken this opportunity to speak about the plight of
people of Gilgit Baltistan, who are protesting against Pakistani policies in
this freezing weather. Today is the 7th day of the protests. There
is a complete shutter down strike in Gilgit Baltistan; and people are suffering
immensely due to lack of food, medicine and other basic facilities.
The Pakistan media has ignored this. Islamabad government and their
puppets in Gilgit Baltistan have also ignored the plight of these people and
have not taken any steps to resolve the situation. If she had also spoken about
this human tragedy; I would have been the first one to salute her courage and
mission.
Her silence on the plight of people of Gilgit Baltistan only suggests: Like
other Pakistanis, she is also only interested about problems of people of
Kashmir valley and India bashing.
I have no problem in her India bashing, provided what she says is based
on facts. If she tells ‘lies’, like in the case of visa, then what she says
about the Indian wrong doings, will also be taken in the same light.
My request to her is, do us a favour, please don’t damage the Jammu and
Kashmir struggle for independence by telling lies or twisting facts, because it
helps India to cover up all the wrong doings going on in Jammu and Kashmir.
Writer is a political analyst, and author
of many books and booklets. Also, he is Chairman South Asia Watch, London and
Director Institute of Kashmir Affairs.
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