By IANS,
New Delhi : Members of Hindu rightwing group Sri Rama Sene Wednesday tried to disrupt a seminar of Indian and Pakistani journalists in the capital, shouting slogans against the neighbouring country.
The Sene activists, who were seated as audience members at the venue at India International Centre (IIC), shouted slogans and protested against Pakistan.
The seminar, “Is Media Jingoism Fanning the India-Pak Problem?”, had been organised by the Foundation for Media Professionals and some Pakistani journalists were also attending it.
Owning responsibility for the act, Sene national general secretary Binay Kumar Singh told IANS: “Everything was pre-planned as we wanted to disrupt the seminar.” He said around 30 members of the group were present there.
“Speakers at the seminar were making comments against India and they were relating India with the recent terror attack on a police academy in Lahore. How can one listen to it? Pakistan has become a global problem and war is the only solution,” said Singh.
The speakers included noted author Arundhati Roy; columnist Swapan Dasgupta; Nirupama Subramanian, the Hindu correspondent in Islamabad; and Amit Baruah, the Hindustan Times foreign editor.
A security official at the IIC said on condition of anonymity: “While the discussion was on, some Sene members started shouting anti-Pakistan slogans like ‘Pakistan is a global problem and war is the solution’. It spread commotion in the seminar room and the discussion was suspended for 15-20 minutes.”
Security officials along with some Indian journalists caught hold of the Sene members and whisked them away after which the seminar resumed.
Police said no official report has been lodged in the matter so far.