Pakistan politician Mushahid Hussain says Arundhati Roy, Mamata Banerjee and Congress will help deliver ‘Azaadi’ in Kashmir

After the centre’s decision to abrogate article 370 of the constitution which grants a special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir and the decision to bifurcate the state in 2 union territories, several entities are less than pleased- for reasons best known to them. However, this dissent takes a perturbing turn when the same is being called out by Pakistani politicians to advocate their cause for Jammu and Kashmir when it is an internal matter of the country.

Mushahid Hussain, a Pakistani politician, journalist and geo-strategist appearing in a debate on Pakistani news channel Geo TV stated that there are many “sympathisers” for Pakistan in India. In the list of sympathizers, he mentioned the obvious culprits- writer Arundhati Roy, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and the grand old party of India, the Congress.

Replying to the journalist’s question on Jammu and Kashmir, Mushahid Hussain stated, “We will have to approach this [Kashmir] issue in a serious and sustained manner. And this is a long battle. India is a huge country. And many people from India are sympathisers with you also like Arundhati Roy, Mamata Banerjee, Congress party, Communist party, Dalit parties. All of India is not with Modi.”

This statement of Mushahid Hussain is wrong on multiple levels, given that Jammu and Kashmir is an Indian state and bifurcation of states is an internal matter which certainly does not require Pakistan to “approach the issue is a serious and sustained manner” or even treat it as a “long battle”.

After the removal of article 370, India has reiterated to Pakistan that its move to scrap Article 370 of the Constitution is an internal matter and advised Pakistan to not create an alarming environment after the move. However, there are some in India who are apparently appreciating and even encouraging Pakistan’s unethical and illegal involvement in the Kashmir matter.

This isn’t the first time when the skewed and controversial reports on sensitive issues were used by the Pakistani deep state to further radicalize its population against India. A couple of days ago, a video had surfaced which showed the former Pakistani High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit, revealing shocking revelations about how Pakistani establishment had approached Indian journalists to put out reports which were ultimately aimed to favour Pakistan against India.

In the video, Pakistani diplomat Basit stated, “One of the challenges we had faced was how to find a journalist who can be convinced to write a good article on behalf of us, advocating a plebiscite in Kashmir. Then we found a lady, Shobhaa De …”

In an article titled ‘Burhan Wani is dead but he’ll live on till we find out what Kashmir really wants’ Shobhaa De had asked if the government had the guts to “go ahead with a referendum”.

Earlier in 2016, UN designated Islamist terrorist and Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief, Hafiz Saeed had praised Indian journalist Barkha Dutt, appreciating her work. He stated, “India main Barkha Dutt jaisey log bhee maujood hain bohot acchey baat karneywaley bhee maujood hain (In India good journalists like Barkha Dutt are also present and there are many who make sense)”.

The involvement of Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir is absolutely unnecessary. If the terrorist country is suddenly in need for showing compassion they should focus on their own regions of Balochistan and Sindh in which the situation is deteriorating every day, rather than meddle in India’s internal matters. However, people like Arundhati Roy, Mamata Banerjee and leaders of the Congress have left no stone unturned in compromising India’s interests, in favour of Pakistan. That Mushahid Hussain, like many other Pakistanis, thinks that such people in India can help Pakistan in Kashmir is shameful and needs introspection from the likes of Arundhati Roy, Mamata Banerjee and Congress.