SRINAGAR: Noted Kashmiri writer and author of the ‘Curfewed Night’, Basharat Peer was briefly detained at the airport in Srinagar after a paramilitary officer complained against him.
Sources told Freepress that Peer was flying to Srinagar when he took out his camera and started clicking pictures of the Banihal tunnel, the entry point of the Himalayan valley, from air.
A co-passenger, who happened to be the Inspector General of the BSF or Border Security Guards, objected to Peer’s actions.
This led to a verbal duel in the aircraft and Peer reportedly used foul language against the IG who thought Peer was taking pictures of “security installations”.
After they landed in Srinagar, the IG complained to the airport security who detained the writer.
The writer was released only after the Inspector General of Police, Abdul Gani Mir intervened, sources say.
They say Mir also spoke to the IG BSF and sought to settle the issue.
