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India-Pakistan
VHP thug slaps Hurriyat leader around
2002-04-02
  • In an amazingly brazen assault during a news conference, All Parties Hurriyat Conference leader Abdul Ghani Lone was beaten and abused by a rightwing Hindu militant in Jammu on Monday even as armed policemen deputed to guard him stood by silently. Star News TV channel identified the attacker as Kalkiji Maharaj, the Kashmir state president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a virulently militant arm of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party.

    Lone was being interviewed in the lobby of a Jammu hotel when he was repeatedly slapped and pushed by the VHP leader. "You are anti-Indian. Your people are responsible for killing Hindus in Jammu," Maharaj shouted as he struck Lone several times despite the presence of armed police. The Shiv Sena leader began pushing Lone when the latter had finished his press conference at a hotel in Jammu and was talking to television crews. The Shiv Sena leader kept calling Lone a traitor. Lone's personal security guard tried to intervene but he was stopped by Maharaj's security officers.

    Lone said he was not going to register a formal complaint. "These people have no sense. They are the same thugs from Gujarat. I pray to God that he gives them some sense. I do not want to take any action against him. I am not sure who is behind this," said Abdul Gani Lone.
    Most of us would agree with Lone, who seems to be one of the few sensible people in Kashmir, which means he gets it from both ends of the Stupid Spectrum. Disgraceful performances appear to be a VHP stock in trade.
    • Posted by:Fred Pruitt

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