Mubashar Naqvi
Muzaffarabad
Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider on Friday rejected a report published in United States’ daily ‘The New York Times’ (NYT) on an alleged case of harassment in a community bunker along the Line of Control (LoC).
Haider, in a statement issued from the Prime Minister House in the State’s metropolis on Friday, termed the story unfounded and said that not a single quote from any state government’s official or documentary evidence about the misuse of community bunkers in the Neelum Valley was cited in the report.
The Prime Minister suggested NYT editorial team to focus on the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) where Indian occupation forces were killing innocent people and political workers instead of publishing false and imaginary stories about the brave and civilized people of the AJK.
He said NYT should not publish such a baseless news reports without any audio and video evidence that bring a bad name to any community,’ he said, adding no such incident had been reported.
The AJK prime minister said the private community bunkers were being constructed in all the bordering areas along the LoC while the foreign newspaper misled its readers that the bunkers had only been constructed in the Neelum Valley.
‘More than 30 percent population of the AJK lives in an area of 750 kilometres near LoC happily, despite the unprovoked firing of Indian forces on their houses. The foreign newspaper was deceived by its stringer who quoted an imaginary character of Mehnaz as claiming that she was a victim of sexual harassment in a community bunker in Neelum Valley,’ Farooq Haider said.
The paper claimed that the family had taken refuge in a bunker owned by a neighbor, who tried to touch the girl. The prime minister said the people living along the LoC in AJK had been bravely facing the firing by Indian forces on their residential areas that were not covered by the newspaper to show the world the real face of Indian Army.
‘The women in AJ&K are highly respected in normal life and during the Indian unprovoked firing in LoC areas, the people of AJK put their lives at risk to save their daughters and sisters,’ Haider added.
