New Delhi: Nobel laureate Amartya Sen said on Friday that the recent unrest in Kashmir has been grossly mishandled by the Indian government to the extent that the region reflects as the biggest blot on Indian democracy in the West.
“It is the biggest blot on Indian democracy. There’s no question about that. There are a number of claimants to that position of being a blot. It is a case that figures a lot in foreign discussions. On my first night when I came here, a long CNN coverage on the brutality of policing and law and order was aired,” said Sen, Nobel Prize winning economist and a Harvard University professor in an interview with Karan Thapar on his show ‘To The Point’.
“I don’t deny that Kashmiris are meant to be Indians. The Kashmiris’ attitude to rest of India has varied a lot. Basically, we have mishandled it for a number of decades. Right now, we are mishandling it very badly indeed,” said Sen, according to the India Today.
“It is not a law and order problem. It is the people of Kashmir we are looking at. It is quite important to do the law and order right. The kind of horrific and violent treatment of protest and also banning newspapers will isolate Kashmiris. All these are penalising Kashmiris in a way is giving them absolutely no reason to feel close to India,” he was qutted as saying.
When asked if this will put off Western investors, Sen said: “I don’t know and don’t really care. But I do think that the lives and freedom of Kashmiris and the sense of pride and belonging of Indians to India is more important than whether Modi gets his investment or not.”
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