New Delhi: Condemning an editorial on Kashmir published in The Lancet, the Association of Surgeons of India (ASI) Tuesday demanded an unconditional apology from the journal’s editorial board for presenting facts in a biased and malafide manner.
“The contents of the editorial are factually incorrect, politically motivated, prejudiced, unsubstantiated and downright racist. We question the stand that the journal has taken on this most sensitive issue, where neither the author nor the editorial board of The Lancet have an insight regarding the background and circumstances that made the Narendra Modi-led Indian government to take the bold decision to revoke Article 370,” said Arvind Kumar, President, ASI.
The article titled “Fear and Uncertainty around Kashmir’s future” was featured on August 17 in the journal. It mentions how the militant presence in Kashmir raises concerns regarding the “health, safety and freedom of the Kashmiri people” following the government’s measure to scrap Article 370.
In a letter to The Lancet’s Editor-in-Chief Richard Horton, the ASI demanded an unconditional apology from the editorial board of the journal for the malafide editorial.
“The editorial is totally out of context and has been written in a bad taste, which has hurt the feelings of billions of Indians living world over. We demand an immediate withdrawal of the editorial from the online version of the journal and an unconditional apology from the editorial board to be printed prominently in the next issue of the journal,” said P Raghu Ram, Vice President, ASI.
The ASI, with 25,000 members across India, is Asia Pacific’s largest and the world’s second largest surgical association that represents the surgical fraternity in India.
On Monday, The Indian Medical Association (IMA) condemned the editorial, terming it as a ‘breach of propriety’ in commenting on a political issue.
IMA’s President Santanu Sen and Secretary General RV Ashokan also questioned the ‘credibility’ and ‘malafide intention’ behind the article.
(IANS)