Important to protest if insulted as an Indian: Shazia Ilmi

BJP leader Shazia Ilmi, who confronted Pakistan supporters raising anti-Modi and anti-India slogans in South Korea, said that it is imperative to peacefully register protest if insulted as an Indian.

"I and two others were in Seoul for United Peace Federation conference as a delegation of Global Citizen Forum. After the conference, we went to the Indian Embassy to meet our envoy," Ilmi told ANI here.

"On our way back to the hotel, we saw an aggressive protest by an unruly crowd carrying Pakistani flags and calling all kind of names to India and our Prime Minister. They kept saying Modi terrorist, India terrorist. A lot of people were watching them. We just felt it's our duty to tell them to not abuse our country or our Prime Minister. You have a problem with abrogation of Article 370, which totally is an internal matter, and has nothing to do with you all," she added.

Ilmi stated that when the protest became very aggressive, "the South Korean authorities came over and took us away."

"It's important for all of us to register our protests wherever we are. I know (in) some countries it is not easy to speak out. It's important to peacefully register your anger at being insulted as a countryman, as an Indian. Any time somebody says anything about your country, your Prime Minister, you should raise your voice and not necessarily fear the consequences of you are doing it peacefully," she said.

Earlier, in a video, a group of people raising anti-India slogans and using abusive language for Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday in South Korea's Seoul were seen taken head-on by a group of BJP and RSS leaders including Shazia Ilmi.

A video accessed by ANI shows a group of people holding Pakistan flags chanting anti- India and anti-Modi slogans. The 3 minutes 25 seconds video shows Shazia Ilmi accompanied by a few other people stepping out of a taxi and heading towards the group, whose members continue to shout slogans like "Haq hai humara Aazadi" (Freedom is our right) and "Hum le ke rahenge Aazadi" (We will take freedom).

In the video, Ilmi is seen requesting them not to abuse Prime Minister Modi.

The protestors then begin to call India a "terrorist" to which the BJP leader and others accompanying her began raising pro-India slogans like "India Zindabad".

Local police intervened and escorted Shazia and her associates from the location.

The demonstration against India and Modi came following abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir.