Arundhati Roy defends remarks on Kashmir

Under attack over her statements on Kashmir, writer Arundhati Roy today said she only spoke what "millions of people" in Kashmir say everyday for years.

"Pity the nation that has to silence its writers for speaking their minds," Roy said in a statement from Srinagar where she is on a visit.

"Pity the nation that needs to jail those who ask for justice while communal killers, mass murderers, corporate scamsters, looters, rapists, and those who prey on the poorest of the poor, roam free," she said.

Her statement came against the backdrop of the government contemplating taking action against her and hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani under charges of sedition and seeking legal opinion in this regard.

Roy has made two speeches in New Delhi and Srinagar in the past few days in which she sought independence for Kashmir from India.

The writer said she has read in newspapers that she may be arrested on charges of sedition for her remarks supporting 'Azadi' for Kashmir.

"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," she said.