What I said is a call for justice, says Arundhati

SRINAGAR - Noted writer Arundhati Roy Tuesday said her speeches supporting the call for azadi were what “millions” in Kashmir say every day and were “fundamentally a call for justice”.

Police are reportedly examining the text of her speech made at a seminar here Sunday in which she said that Jammu and Kashmir was never an integral part of India and that British imperialism was replaced in 1947 by Indian colonialism.

In a statement here, Roy said: “I said what millions of people here say every day. I said what I, as well as other commentators have written and said for years. Anybody who cares to read the transcripts of my speeches will see that they were fundamentally a call for justice.

“I spoke about justice for the people of Kashmir who live under one of the most brutal military occupations in the world; for Kashmiri Pandits who live out the tragedy of having been driven out of their homeland…”

She said that contrary to the notion that she was trying to break up India with her “hate speeches”, “what I say comes from love and pride”.

“It comes from not wanting people to be killed, raped, imprisoned or have their fingernails pulled out in order to force them to say they are Indians. It comes from wanting to live in a society that is striving to be a just one.”