Srinagar: Days after it came under fire for a responding a statement of Kashmiri leader and former Hurriyat Chairperson Syed Ali Geelani, Pakistan’s Special Committee of the Parliament on Kashmir has said that its earlier statement was not aimed at Geelani, “who is respected by all of us”.
The statement, issued on its official Twitter account on Thursday evening, also clarified that the account was not directly handled by the committee’s chairperson, Shehryar Afridi. Even in a damage control bid, the committee didn’t retract its statement terming opposition to the ceasefire reiteration as “serving cause of Hindutva regime”.
“We would request all Kashmiri activists that there was no intent but even if anyone’s feelings have hurt, we are clarifying the tweet in question,” the committee said today.
The committee stirred a controversy after it responded to a statement by Geelani, issued through the nonagenarian leader’s Pakistan-based representative, questioning the ceasefire.
Several prominent Pakistani citizens and Kashmiri activists, including the prime minister of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, had criticized the committee for its response to Geelani’s statement.
Member of the Pakistani senate and head of the Pakistan chapter of Jamat-e-Islami, Siraj-ul-Haq had also come in defence of Geelani, stating that his “reservations and concerns” should have been addressed. He also demanded that the committee’s chairperson Afridi be removed immediately.
