After IMA, now Association of Surgeons of India slams Lancet editorial on Kashmir

New Delhi: Condemning the editorial on Kashmir published in the British medical journal The Lancet, the Association of Surgeons of India on has asserted that it was factually incorrect and prejudiced, demanded an apology from its Editorial Board and withdrawal of its online version.

“The contents of the editorial are factually incorrect, politically motivated, prejudiced, unsubstantiated and downright racist,” Raghu Ram, President elect and Arvind Kumar, the current President of ASI said in a letter to Richard Horton, Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet.

The editorial, ‘Fear and uncertainty around Kashmir’s future’ was published in the journal on August 17.

The Association questioned the journal’s stand on an issue “where neither the author nor the Editorial board of Lancet has an insight” on the background and circumstances that led the Narendra Modi government to take the “bold decision” to revoke Article 370.

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Kashmir is an integral part of India and The Lancet has no business to comment on a political issue and a political decision that concerns an internal matter concerning the Republic of India, ASI said. The Editorial is totally out of context and has been written in bad taste, which has hurt the feelings of billions of Indians living the world over, it said.

“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,” it said.

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