FO, Indian scholars, diplomats condemn Shiv Sena’s act

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Tuesday expressed its “concern” over attempts in India where functions organised for prominent Pakistanis have been disrupted with the recent ugly incident of the Shiv Sena’s reprehensible attack on the Observer Research Foundation’s Sudheendra Kulkarni, who organised the Mumbai book launch for the former foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri.

“There is a need to ensure that such incidents do not recur,” a late night statement from the Foreign Office stated.It noted with concern “attempts to disrupt functions organised in respect of prominent Pakistani personalities on visit to India”.

The statement also pointed to the recent cultural event in Mumbai by Pakistani maestro Ghulam Ali, which was cancelled because of threats from a fundamentalist organisation, as well as attempts made to disrupt a function in Mumbai organised for Khurshid Kasuri.

The Indian police said on Tuesday they had arrested six members of Shiv Sena over the ink attack. “We have arrested six men, they are all Shiv Sainiks and have been released on bail,” Mumbai Police Deputy Commissioner Dhananjay Kulkarni told AFP.

Many in India have expressed strong support for Khurshid Kasuri and condemnation for the Shiv Sena. Some amongst those who spoke up for Kasuri were his Indian friends and former diplomats and officials that he has interacted with while in office. However, except for editorials andreports from New Delhi in the Pakistan media, the government and most political parties have been silent, perhaps engrossed in Sunday’s polls in Lahore.

The Aam Aadmi Party termed the Shiv Sena “the Indian Taliban”, at a time when concerns over freedom of speech increased after the execution-style killing in August of M M Kalburgi, a leading secular scholar who had angered hardline Hindu groups

Former special envoy Satinder Lambah described the attack on Kulkarni who bravely attended the book launch with black ink dripping on his head and face as, “Regrettable, unfortunate and condemnable.”

Perhaps the best came from the Indian Express which lead the front page with the painful image of Kulkarni saying, “Photo Courtesy Shiv Sena”.India’s former foreign secretary Nirupama Rao, a distinguished diplomat who has interacted with Pakistani diplomats, tweeted, “Where is my India? Anguished and ashamed. I am sure Gandhiji is weeping. Tears in Heaven. Let us be a grown-up nation. Let us put away intolerance. Cry, the beloved country.”

The Indian media notably The Hindu has pointed out that the Shiv Sena, “for all its bravado, knows that its hardline Hindutva stand has been appropriated by the BJP, and there is little it can do on the development plank either”.

It points out that this hard line group is increasingly coming across as a party bereft of ideas. “With little manoeuvring power in the State government, it is left with no option but to go back to its violent roots. A sheer inability to get mass support has spurred the Sena into going back to its violent past,” it notes.

Former ambassador Neelam Deo, co-founder of the Mumbai-based think tank Gateway House, told The Hindu that such events were disappointing to liberals outside India as well. “Let’s remember that there are many in Pakistan and neighbouring countries who have seen India as a democratic tolerant country to aspire to. That kind of moral image is being risked today.”

Asked why leading diplomatic thinkers had been reacting publicly to the events of the last few weeks, which was out of step with the past, the former Ambassador, K.C. Singh, told The Hindu that it was a question of the gap between India’s image and the reality.

“I think it is of concern to all-well thinking people in the country, not just diplomats, that this sort of incident ill goes with the image PM Modi is promoting abroad, and even could overshadow it,” he said.

“Considering the PM was elected on the vision of a progressive inclusive aspirational 21st-century India, the question we are asking is why he doesn’t challenge the rhetoric and actions of his allies and Sangh Parivar fringes?”

Even BJP’s former Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani broke his silence as he stated earlier in support of his close aide, “I strongly condemn whosoever has done this. Of late, we have seen an increase in cases of intolerance. This is against democracy.”

Not to be left behind was Congress spokesperson Ajoy Kumar, who said it was the “manifestation of the larger malice of intolerance and suppression of voices at whim’ which was increasingly being witnessed in the country ever since the Modi government came to power 16 months ago.