Media watch: Roy, the debater of big things

Arundhati Roy's call for 'justice' for Kashmir strikes a nerve in India.

Media watch is a daily round-up of key articles featured on news websites, hand-picked by The Express Tribune web staff.

Arundhati Roy: The debater of big things

The writer is under threat of a sedition charge after claiming in Delhi this weekend that "Kashmir has never been an integral part of India. It is a historical fact. Even the Indian government has accepted this." Ever since, the rightwing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party has been demanding the author's arrest and trial. (guardian.co.uk)

Arundhati Roy's dangerous Kashmiri cause

"Pity the nation that has to silence its writers for speaking their minds," Roy writes. Literary figures have been lining up in agreement. "One of the few voices in India who has spoken loudly against the continuing Indian atrocities in Kashmir, she is now being threatened," writes historian Tariq Ali on the London Review of Books blog. "If she doesn’t shut up they’ll charge her with sedition, aping their colonial masters of yesteryear." (latimesblogs.latimes.com)

“Nothing offensive in Arundhati's speech”

“It is a shame that the Congress government is doing this to satisfy the Bharatiya Janata Party,” Mr. Thirumavalavan said in a statement. He noted that it was a well-known fact that most of the people of Kashmir demanded independence. (thehindu.com)

Demand for arresting Arundhati childish: JD(U)

After Ram Jethmalani, it was NDA partner JD(U)'s turn to take on the BJP saying the demand for action against hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and writer-activist Arundhati Roy for their speeches on Kashmir was an "overreaction" and "childish". (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)