No harm if Kashmir made an independent nation, says Ved Prakash Vaidik

Journalist and Baba Ramdev associate Ved Prakash Vaidik has landed in yet another controversy. Vaidik, who hit the headlines over his meeting with 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, is in news again for saying that there is no harm if Kashmir is made an independent nation. 

Speaking to a Pakistan-based news channel, Vaidik said that both India and Pakistan should stop fighting over Kashmir and make it an independent nation. 

Reacting to the controversy over his interview to Dawn News, Vaidik said India and Pakistan should work to build a bridge rather than a gorge.  The journalist further defended himself by saying that he just said Kashmir should get autonomy, which it has. “Isn't (Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister) Omar Abdullah a Kashmiri? Is he a Bihari?,” asked Vaidik. 

He further accused TV channels of showing only a part of his interview for publicity. 

Congress is raking up this as a controversy to put Narendra Modi government in the dock because it has never been out of power, Vaidik further told a news agency.

The yoga guru Ramdev's close aide's meeting with Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed in Lahore had created a controversy on Monday with the opposition Congress asking if he was sent as an emissary, even as the government and the BJP distanced themselves from the meeting, saying Saeed was a "terrorist". 

The Congress asked if Vaidik was sent as an emissary and why proper channels had not been followed. 

First published on ZeeNews