After Ghulam Ali concert, Sena threatens to disrupt Kasuri event

Shiv Sena sent a letter to the Nehru Centre in Worli, which was supposed to host the launch of former Pakistani external affairs minister’s new book, asking them to scrap the event or face disruptions

After ensuring Pakistani ghazal artist Ghulam Ali’s concert is cancelled, the Shiv Sena has now threatened to disrupt former Pakistani external affairs minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri’s visit to Mumbai on Monday.

(From left) National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, ex-PM Manmohan Singh, Pakistan’s former foreign minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri and senior BJP leader LK Advani during Kasuri’s book launch “Neither a Hawk, Nor a Dove” in New Delhi recently. (PTI)

The party, on Sunday, sent a letter to the Nehru Centre in Worli, which was supposed to host the launch of Kasuri’s new book, asking them to scrap the event or face disruptions.

Kasuri was Pakistan’s foreign minister under General Pervez Musharraf and has elaborated on his stint in his new book, ‘Neither a hawk nor a dove: An insider’s account of Pakistan’s Foreign Relations’. Pre-empting this, the organisers of the event, the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), had written on Friday to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and city police chief Ahmad Javed asking to be beef up security.

However, local Sena leaders have, in their letter, said no amount of security can prevent the Sena from disrupting the event. “The Sena has a history of ensuring Pakistani artists and cricketers are not allowed to enter Maharashtra and Mumbai and our view on it is well known. If the organisers don’t scrap the event, we will disrupt it, ‘Sena style’”, said the letter written by Sena leader Ashish Chemburkar.

Chemburkar, speaking to HT, said Kasuri had no business publicising his book in India. “Everyone knows what happened during Musharraf’s tenure and how Indians were needlessly killed. If he wants to publicise his book, let him do it in Pakistan?”

ORF chairman Sudheendra Kulkarni said, “The Sena can protest lawfully and peacefully but it doesn’t have the right to disrupt and disturb the programme. Kasuri’s book was launched last week in the presence of former PM Manmohan Singh and BJP leader LK Advani. Are they any less patriotic than the Sena?”