Asma Jahangir meets Bal Thackeray

Mumbai, Mar 11 : Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) chairperson Asma Jahangir today said that Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray Thackeray had declared that he did not provoke anyone, but only reacted when he was provoked.

After a meeting with Thackeray, Asma said, "It was a meeting to understand, what the manifesto of his party was and his views about religion. Thackeray said he did not provoke anyone but only reacted when he was provoked."

Asma, who was appointed the Special Reporter on Freedom of Religion or Belief by United Nations in 2004, arrived in India on March 3.

Thackeray's speeches and articles are believed to be responsible for sparking deadly Hindu-Muslim riots in Mumbai in 1992.

Asma also visited Gujarat on March 9, met the 2002 Godhra riot victims in which over 1000 persons were killed.

ANI