Kashmiri Pandits in US decry unfair coverage, protest outside The Washington Post office

Global Kashmiri Pandit Diaspora organised a protest outside the office of The Washington Post in the US, alleging ‘biased’ reporting on Kashmir.

The RSS wants the government to also ensure ample employment for the community. | Photo: Global Kashmiri Pandit Diaspora

New Delhi: A group of overseas Kashmiri Pandits under the banner of ‘Global Kashmiri Pandit Diaspora’ (GKDP) protested outside the office of The Washington Post in the US capital city Washington DC Saturday.

The protest was organised against what they called an “unbearable series” of articles published in newspaper following the scrapping of Article 370 and Article 35A in Jammu and Kashmir by the Narendra Modi government.

The protest outside the office of Washington Post on 7 September 2019. | Photo: GKPD

Dr Surinder Kaul, the Houston-based international coordinator of the GKDP, told ThePrint: “Ever since the abrogation of Article 370, there has been peddling of distorted versions of the situation against Kashmiri Pandits by media outlets like The Washington Post.”

He accused the newspaper of being unfair and said it does not publish articles on the “forced exodus of 4,50,000 Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley along with genocide and ethnic cleansing”.

Sonia Dhar, a 28-year-old protestor from Trenton, New Jersey, who works as home health aide, said: “It is very pertinent for us to express our raw emotions about the plight of displacement which we suffer across generations.”

Protestors chanted slogans such as “Why choose jihadi news?” and “Hear our voices, tell our stories”.

However, there was another small group of people right across the street opposing the protest.

“There were a few anxious moments between the two groups which were diffused with the intervention of civic authorities, security staff of The Washington Post and appeals of GKDP members,” said Mohan Sapru, chief coordinator of the protest.

Sapru added that there were 300 people from the NRI community in the US during the three-hour-long protest. Some joined in from New York and New Jersey.

The protesters were especially angry about an article published on 16 August with the headline ‘The Kashmir crisis isn’t about territory. It’s about a Hindu victory over Islam’. It was written by Kapil Komireddi, author of a recent book titled Malevolent Republic: A Short History of The New India.

Protestors also conveyed this to a representative of news organisation when he came to receive their memorandum.