Shobhaa De Rubbishes Claims Made by Former Pakistani High Commissioner To India, Calls Him “A Despicable Man”

Embroiled in a soup over former Pakistani High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit's claim that she had written an article in 2016 advocating plebiscite in Kashmir on his behest, writer Shobhaa De on Monday (12 August) rubbished the statements made by Basit, reports Asian News International (ANI).

Basit claimed that after the demise of terrorist Burhan Wani, he had reached out to De and gotten her to write an article in favour of a plebiscite in Kashmir. The said article by De was titled, "Burhan Wani is dead but he'll live on till we find out what Kashmir really wants."

In the video clip, De called Basit a “despicable man who is making up a story” and said that the only time she met him was in January this year at the Jaipur Lit Festival (JLF). According to De, Basit came and “imposed himself and intruded into” a small group at a publishing party.

De further said that Basit tried to strike a conversation but was snubbed and "almost as good as asked to leave." De has also said that during the incidence, Basit had tried to bring up a number of issues but was chased away when the issue of China came up.

Basit, in an interview with a Pakistani blogger Farhan Virk, had said that he had managed to influence Shobhaa De to write an article advocating self-determination in Kashmir. The article he was talking about was a 2016 piece written by De titled, “Burhan Wani is dead but he will live on till we find out what Kashmir really wants.”

De said that she was a “proud and patriotic Indian” deeply hurt and insulted that Basit could dare to say such things about “a person who had built their career on credibility and positive, good journalism for over 40 years.”