New Delhi
Indian economist and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has slammed the Narendra Modi-led government’s decision to revoke occupied Kashmir’s special status, saying that India had “lost the reputation” of being the world’s first non-Western country to adopt a democratic system.
“As an Indian, I am not proud of the fact that India, after having done so much to achieve a democratic norm in the world, where India was the first non-Western country to go for democracy, that we lose that reputation on the grounds of action that have been taken,” he said in an interview with NDTV on Monday night.
Sen said that the decision to allow non-Kashmiris to buy property in the region should have been left for the Kashmiri residents because “it is their land”.
“That is something for the Kashmiris to determine […] If that is the will that the Kashmiris have on democratic grounds, we can accept it.”
“This is something in which Kashmiris have a legitimate point of view because it is their land,” he added.
He also criticised the imposition of a lockdown — that has been in place for over two weeks — in the occupied region as well as the arrests of Kashmiri leaders under the pretext of preventing violent protests in the valley, calling it a “colonial excuse”.— NDTV
