SRINAGAR: Nitasha Kaul, a British writer of Kashmir origin and professor of politics at the University of Westminster in London, claimed she was denied entry into India and subsequently deported from Bangalore airport on Friday. She had been invited by the Congress government in Karnataka to speak at its Constitution and National Unity Convention.
Kaul is known for her outspoken views on democratic and constitutional values. She has been speaking and writing against right-wing politics and human rights issues in Kashmir.
“I was given no reason by immigration except ‘We cannot do anything, orders from Delhi’,” Kaul said on X. “I received no notice or info in advance from Delhi that I would not be allowed to enter.” She claimed she was deported back to London on a British Airways flight 24 hours after she first landed in India. She alleged she spent 24 hours in a cell under CCTV surveillance.
Kaul, a Kashmir Pandit, was born and raised in Delhi. She had her schooling at St Thomas School. After graduating in Economics from Sri Ram College, she moved to England at the age of 21 in 1997. She did her master’s and later PhD from the University of Hull. Kaul served as a Lecturer of Economics at the University of Bath, and an Assistant Professor of Economics at the Bristol Business School up to 2007 before being made Associate Professor in Creative Writing at the Royal Thimphu College in Bhutan. Currently, she is an Associate Professor in Politics and International Relations at the University of Westminster. Her 2009 novel, Residue, focused on a Kashmiri woman was shortlisted for the 2009 Man Asian Literary Prize.
The author said she was invited by the Congress-run Karnataka government to deliver a lecture at a conference on the topic of The Constitution and the Unity of India. The conference was held on February 24 and 25. The incident took place on February 23. “I care for gender equity, challenging misogyny, sustainability, civil & political liberties, rule of law,” she wrote on X. “I am not anti-Indian.”
Reports appearing in the newspaper suggest the attempted to get her out of the airport by talking to officials in Delhi but they failed to prevent her deportation.
