Reports quoting government sources have said that the anti-India British academician Nitasha Kaul was deported upon arrival at Bengaluru airport based on a preventive lookout circular issued against her.
The circular was issued after Indian agencies flagged her “pro-separatist” comments and statements and “anti-India” line stand on Kashmir taken on various public forums.
Moreover, it has reportedly come to light that Kaul’s statements on Kashmir have been amplified by Pakistan’s ISI as part of its anti-India propaganda.
“Preventive LOC is issued on request of a law enforcement agency, based on assessment and analysis of background of a subject particularly any history of statements or publicly-stated views challenging sovereigny, unity or integrity of India, and possibility of the person taking a similar line when in India,” an officer reportedly said.
On Monday, 26th February, Kaul took to X claiming that she was denied entry into India on the orders of the Central Government. Her post was followed by a long thread wherein she likened her work to defending democracy while berating words like “Hindutva” and “saffron”.
Kaul was invited by the Congress-led Karnataka government for the two-day event ‘Constitution and National Unity Convention-2024’ on 24 and 25 February in Bengaluru. She was denied entry and put on the next flight back to UK.
Nitasha Kaul is an ‘Overseas Citizen of India’ (OCI) cardholder and is eligible for lifelong visa-free travel to India.
Reports quoting sources stated that the lookout circular against Kaul was meant to prevent her from repeating her anti-India views on Indian soil. There is also a possibility that she may be blacklisted on the same grounds.
Kaul has also justified terrorism in Kashmir terming it an “armed struggle for freedom” and denying the genocide of Kashmiri Pandits.