Last week, Pakistan-India peace talks were jeopardized once again as a set of stamps released in July by Pakistan Post invited controversy.
India had mentioned it as one of the reasons for cancelling talks between Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). While the stamps were first issued in July this year, Indian authorities have claimed that the stamps were re-issued around the time India confirmed the Qureshi-Swaraj meeting after receiving a proposal for the same from Prime Minister Imran Khan.
According to FM’s speech at UN, the stamps carry 20 different images of “atrocities in Indian-occupied Kashmir”. Earlier, India took issue with a stamp printed with an image of Burhan Wani for “glorifying” a Kashmiri freedom fighter linked with the militant group Hizbul Mujahideen.
Now, two of the images are alleged to have been falsely attributed.
Naila Inayat, a freelance journalist for Associated Reporters Abroad (ARA), called attention to two of the stamps.
“Pakistan can’t even do propaganda properly. Now the Kashmir postage stamps that foreign minister also mentioned at the #UNGA carry incorrect photos.”
“One is from a protest by Kashmiri Pandits, while the other photo is of Chittisinghpura massacre of Sikhs.”
Pakistan can’t even do propaganda properly. Now the Kashmir postage stamps that foreign minister also mentioned at the #UNGA carries incorrect photos. One is from a protest by Kashmiri Pandits, while the other photo is of Chittisinghpura massacre of Sikhs. pic.twitter.com/diiPPDMnGx
— Naila Inayat (@nailainayat) September 30, 2018
The first stamp attributed as “Missing Persons” reportedly is from the Kashmiri Pandits exodus that took place in January 2014 at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi and marked the “27th year in exile”.
The second stamp attributed as “homeless children” is actually from the Chittisinghpura massacre of Sikhs, the fatal shooting of 35 Sikhs that took place in the Anantnag district of the State of Jammu and Kashmir in India in March 2000.
