Regardless of Gurmehar Kaur’s appeal to all to “leave her alone”, there is no end to the war of words among the known and the less known over her tweet on her father’s martyrdom.The latest to comment on the 20-year -old DU student is Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)Vij on Wednesday said that Kaur was indulging in politics over her father’s martyrdom.peaking with the media in Ambala, Vij said: “I don’t even want to take Gurmehar Kaur’s name. She has been doing politics on the martyrdom of her father and has given a clean chit to Pakistan, which has been fighting with India directly and indirectly from a long time. And the people who are supporting her are pro-Pakistani. They should be thrown out of this country.
Bollywood celebrities react on Gurmehar Kaur row
Gurmehar Kaur.
Mumbai, March 1
Bollywood celebrities Anurag Kashyap, Tigmanshu Dhulia and Vidya Balan have come out in support of Delhi University student Gurmehar Kaur, saying she has the right to express her opinion and should not be trolled for it.Kashyap, who in the past has spoken about the increasing attack on creative freedom, said social media is being used to create polarisation.“Isn’t it so obvious… picking on a silent video from two years ago, the ‘Padmavati’ incident, the Ramjas incident, Tarek Fateh incident, all else that’s going wild on Twitter and Facebook is being used to create polarisation, so that the elections have a desired result by those in control,” he wrote on Facebook.The filmmaker said by reacting, “We are all participating in it and perpetuating it. That’s why I have been away for sometime and have come back to put this thought out there so one thinks about it… They are also using our reactions and provoking us because it helps their cause.. and we are giving it to them.”Lady Sri Ram College student Gurmehar, daughter of army martyr Captain Mandeep Singh, had launched a viral social media campaign against Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) following violence between members of unions AISA and ABVP workers in Delhi University’s Ramjas College.Dhulia said the fact that an innocent student is being targeted makes him sad.“She is an innocent girl, she said something and it’s sad all the prominent people are commenting on that. They have made her life difficult. I feel very bad, helpless. If the majority thinks like this I don’t think the nation is moving on the right path,” he said. Urging people to respect other’s freedom of expression, Vidya said, “I don’t want to say much about this. I think what we really need to do is respect people’s freedom of expression.‘He said something she said something’, all are right in their place. But I don’t want to add anything more, everyone has the right to express what they feel.” Gurmehar yesterday withdrew from her social media campaign, after allegedly receiving threats from the members of the RSS-backed outfit and getting trolled online.Commenting on the controversy, music composer Vishal Dadlani said, “I’m a nationalist but goons of ABVP & BJP will NOT define my nationalism. I am answerable to my country, not to any goondas. Jai Hind.”He also posted a photo that read, “Those who love peace must learn to organise as effectively as those who love war.” Filmmaker Shirish Kunder slammed the incident on Twitter saying, “A student silently protests against violence. The entire Establishment gangs up against her. Shows the power of two S’s: Silence & Students.” — PTI
Pak man supports ‘sister’ Gurmehar
Photo courtesy: Youtube grab
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 1
Fayaz Khan, a Pakistan man, on Tuesday extended his support to Gurmehar Kaur saying that he “wished for a worldwide unique relationship where brother is a Muslim and sister is Sikh”.
This was in response to a video Gurmehar Kaur had posed last year in May where she had said that “Pakistan did not killed my father, war killed him”.
Kaur in the video had stated: “It took me a while to know but today I do. I have let go my hate. It was not easy but not difficult. If I can do it, so can you.
Supporting Kaur, Khan, in the same style, conveyed his message to Kaur.
Through a series of placards in a video, he wrote: “Hi, Gurmehar Kaur. I am Fayaz from Pakistan. When I first came to Australia, I looked at Indians the way I was told in school. Soon we shared food and classroom chairs with each other like close friend.”
“We all feel sorry for you and your family for the loss of your dad in Kargil War. I have seen war and death very closely in my hometown Swat and luckily didn’t lose any family members but I am surrounded by thousand of Gurmehar Kaurs,” Khan said.
He said: “I want to visit India without visa restrictions.”
“Let us fight for peace and to save thousands of others across the border from suffering like Gurmehar Kaur. I cannot give you the love of a dad but you surely got a brother from ‘dushman dash’. Let it be a worldwide unique relationship where brother is a Muslim and sister is Sikh,” said Fayaz Khan.