Arundhati Roy Apologises for 2011 Video Comparing India & Pak Army

She said: This tiny clip of video in no way represents what I believe, or indeed what I have written over the years.

Award-winning author Arundhati Roy

(Photo Courtesy: Reuters)

Award-winning author Arundhati Roy apologised on Wednesday, 28 August, after a decade-old video resurfaced where she claimed that the Pakistan Army was better than the Indian army.

She said she no longer believes in or writes about what she had said back then, reported ThePrint. In a statement, Roy said that people “say something thoughtless or stupid” sometimes.

“This tiny clip of video in no way represents what I believe, or indeed what I have written over the years. I am a writer, and what I commit to words is far more important than what I might say extempore in the course of a freewheeling talk. Still, it is a matter of enormous consequence and I apologise for any momentary confusion the clip may have caused.”

Arundhati Roy

Citing examples from her novel The Ministry of Utmost Happiness and the essay ‘Walking with the Comrades’, Roy in her statement said, “My views on what the Government of Pakistan is doing in Balochistan and the genocide that the Pakistan Army committed in Bangladesh have never been ambiguous and have always been a part of my writing.”

What Was the Controversy About?

The video, in which the author claimed that India is using its Army against its people in different states, assumed significance following the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. She also claimed, in the clip, that Pakistan never waged war against its own people unlike India.

After the video clip re-emerged, many on Twitter were outraged, with some even accusing her of having “double standards” while others blamed her being a partisan to Pakistani narrative.

Canadian journalist Tarek Fatah tweeted: “#ArundhatiRoy claims Pakistan has never deployed its military against its own people. Was she blind & deaf when 3 Million died in the Bangladesh genocide by Pak Army in 1971? Is she unaware of #Balochistan? She's literally reading off a Pakistan ISI [Inter-Services Intelligence of Pakistan] briefing note.”

Roy is not new to controversies. Last year, she called violence in India “terrifying” while in 2010, she had claimed J&K is not an “integral part of India”. For her comment, the Home Ministry had asked Delhi Police to register a case of sedition against her.