Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar said that calling her an ISI agent was putting her life and that of her family’s in danger.
She was reacting to the unseemly Twitter war that has broken out after Sunanda, wife of Union Minister of State for HRD Shashi Tharoor, called Ms. Tarar an ISI agent and accused her of stalking her husband.
Ms Tarar, who has a young child and spends most of her time at home, said she has no idea why this sudden attack was launched on her. She told The Hindu on the phone on Thursday that it was not a small thing to be called an ISI agent in Pakistan. She said her brother was a diplomat and her relations with the Indian people were very friendly. Every second person who followed her on Twitter was from India, she laughs.
“I am so sensitive to Indian issues and Ms. Tharoor attacked me first after I did an interview with Omar Abdullah. She tweeted that he gave interviews to Pakistani journalists and not Indians,” Ms. Tarar said.
The comments started on December 25 and finally Ms. Tarar said she had enough and changed her initial decision to stay quiet after being called an ISI agent. She has met Shashi Tharoor twice and in the company of other people and had great respect for him and followed him on Twitter. “How does one stalk on the phone? What will I get out of it? And I am not a 14-year-old to indulge in this kind of behaviour,” she pointed out.
“You cannot call people names and blame them for things they haven’t done and cause so much hurt. I can’t be attacked for doing an interview. She has also done so much harm to herself,” she said. “At the end of the day people will forget me, India has so many problems but they are going to forget her or her husband,” Ms. Tarar added.
