United Nations, Aug 7: An extraordinary attack on the Indian media and defence of Pakistani-origin aide of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon marked another round of the raging row over Kashmir at the world body’s headquarters in United Nations.
Ban’s chief spokesperson Martin Nesirky defended his colleague Farhan Haq, associate spokesman, who is in the centre of the controversy, against attacks in the Indian press that he had “concocted” Ban’s statement on Kashmir, which came out of the United Nations on July 28.
Nesirky also slammed the Indian press for suggesting Haq’s “ethnicity” as a possible motivation for the remarks on Kashmir, which New Delhi has strongly objected to. Haq is an American citizen born in Washington DC with roots in Pakistan. He is the son of the late Dr Mahbubul Haq, a former top official of the World Bank and a ex-finance minister of Pakistan.
“I won’t tolerate insults being directed against my colleagues,” a visibly agitated Nesirky told journalists at the regular briefing at the UN.
“I really take exception to the insinuations based on ethnicity that I’ve seen in Indian publications. I firmly reject them,” he said and added: “Not only are they offensive, they are wrong.”
The Chief Spokesman also said that he had written a letter to the editor of an Indian newspaper, which accused Haq of having played a role in the preparation of Ban’s statement. “I will not tolerate having my colleagues insulted like this,” he said.
The e-mail containing controversial remarks was originally sent out by Haq to journalists who had been asking questions about Kashmir since the latest wave of unrest mounted after June 11 when a 17-year-old student died after being hit by a teargas shell fired by police during a protest. The remarks noted that the Secretary General called on “all concerned to exercise utmost restraint (in Kashmir) and address problems peacefully” and he “encourages both sides to rekindle the spirit of the composite dialogue”.
Following protests by the Indian government, the UN backtracked from the statement and described it “media guidance from the UN Secretariat and not a “statement by the Secretary General.”
At the Saturday briefing, a western correspondent pointedly asked Nesirsky whether Ban’s chief of staff Vijay Nambiar, a former Indian diplomat, had influenced his boss to disown the statement. The spokesman offered no comments.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 7 Aug 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 7 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 8 Aug 2010 00:00:00 IST