KOCHI: Former minister and MLA KT Jaleel courted controversy again, this time by terming Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) as ‘Azad Kashmir’ (Liberated Kashmir) and calling the area comprising Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh ‘India-controlled Kashmir’.
While BJP state chief K Surendran and Congress leader K P Noushad Ali demanded the Tavanur MLA’s resignation for allegedly acting against the nation’s interests. In a Facebook post on Friday, the former minister, while talking about his visit to Kashmir, criticised the NDA government led by PM Narendra Modi for the ‘miserable’ life of people there.
The people’s anger with the second Modi regime for dividing Kashmir into three is evident in their expression, Jaleel said. He said the part of Kashmir that was acceded to Pakistan came to be known as ‘Azad Kashmir’. Former diplomat TP Sreenivasan told The New Indian Express that Jaleel used the terminologies that Pakistan uses.
“Their use by a public representative is a serious offence,” he said. BJP state president K Surendran said Jaleel’s Facebook post was against the interests of India and the Army. He should be punished for sedition. We can’t expect better views on India from a former SIMI leader,” Surendran said, referring to Jaleel’s previous ties to the Students’ Islamic Movement of India, a banned outfit. Congress leader K P Noushad Ali sought to know the CPM’s stand on the matter.
Meanwhile, BJP has termed Jaleel’s Facebook post on Kashmir as “nothing less than treason”. “It is a blatant anti-national statement. He should be brought before the law and also asked to resign as MLA,” Union Minister and senior BJP leader V Murlaeedharan said in Kochi on Saturday.