Shobhaa De rubbishes Abdul Basit's claims on Kashmir article

Shobhaa De called Basit's statement "dangerous, malicious, and unfair to anybody who believes in the truth"

New Delhi: Columnist Shobhaa De rubbished the claims made by former Pakistan envoy to India Abdul Basit on Monday that he had influenced her to write the article in 2016 where she "advocated plebiscite" in Kashmir following the death of Burhan Wani. According to ANI, Shobhaa De stated that the only time she ever met Abdul Basit was in January 2019 during the Jaipur Literature Festival, when the former envoy attempted to make a conversation at a "publishing party" but was "almost as good as asked to leave".

#WATCH Columnist Shobhaa De responds to claims by Former Pakistan High Commissioner to India, Abdul Basit, that he managed to influence her writings on Kashmir pic.twitter.com/784dub1wBW

— ANI (@ANI) August 12, 2019

"The only time I met him, or rather he came and imposed himself and intruded into a small group was in January of this year at the Jaipur lit fest at a publishing party. He came and joined a small group, attempted a conversation, was snubbed and almost as good as asked to leave," Shobhaa De stated. "In those three minutes, yes, he tried to bring in various issues but the only issue that actually chased him away was China. That was the first and last time I ever encountered this man," she added.

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In an interview with Farhan Virk, a Pakistani blogger, Abdul Basit had stated that he had managed to influence "prominent" columnist Shobhaa De to write the article in 2016 titled "Burhan Wani is dead but he'll live on till we find out what Kashmir really wants". Columnist Shobhaa De termed his statement "malicious, dangerous and unfair to anybody who believes in the truth", adding that she is "deeply insulted and upset that he could dare to say something like that about a person who has built her career on credibility and positive good journalism for over 40 years."

With inputs from ANI

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