No 'pyaar' only 'dosti' with Amarinder: Aroosa

Chandigarh, Dec 26: Controversial Pakistani scribe Ms Aroosa Alam today charged Capt Amarinder Singh's opponents for misintepreting her relatinship with the former chief minister and linking her name romantically with him.

"It is a political controversy hatched by Amarinders opponents", she said while addressing a 'Meet the Press' programme at the Chandigarh Press Club here. "It is for Amarinder to find out who is behind this", she said when asked whether it was the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) or certain Congress leaders who were behind this conspiracy.

"It is not 'pyaar' (love) only 'dosti' (freindship). He is my good friend and will remain so", the Pak-journalist who is here to inquire about the health of Capt Singh's ailing mother said.

Appealing to the media not to rake up this issue she reminded those present of a popular Punjabi saying, " Char ghar te daine (witch) ve chad dindi hai (even a witch does not cause harm in her neighbourhood".

"We should respect each others private lives", Ms Alam said while inquring from the male journalists present whether they had female friends.

While pointing out that she faced a lot of problems in Pakistan after the media began wrongly interpreting her relationship with the former chief minister, Ms Alam said that she had a family and a social status in her country. " You know our society, even if a politician has a relationship with someone else, not a word is written about personel lives", she added.

"The ball is in the media court" Ms Alam who is the president of the Pakistan chapter of SAFMA and vice president of the Rawalpindi Press Club added while refering to the media controversy as 'bachonwali baat' (child chatter).

When mediapersons pointed out that the controversy was actually generated by a Pakistani newspaper early this year, Ms Alam admitted this and said that the proprietor on the particular newspaper had a personel grudge against her as she had exposed one of his land dealings.

"I was even dubbed an ISI agent by the media and god knows what else, which was all absurd", she said while pointing out that SAFMA believed in the free movement of journalists of the region.

"I have always liked to come to India and even before i met Amarinder i used to come here", she said while pointing out that she first met the former chief minister at the inaguration of the Jalandhar Press Club.

UNI