NEW DELHI, Feb 8: South Korean auto maker Hyundai Motor Company on Tuesday
condemned a social media post by its distributor in Pakistan announcing “solidarity
with Kashmir”.
“As a business policy, Hyundai Motor Company does not comment on political
or religious issues in any specific region. Therefore, it is clearly against
Hyundai Motor’s policy that the independently owned distributor in Pakistan
made unauthorised Kashmir-related social media posts from their own accounts”,
the company said.
The social media in India had fiercely attacked the distributor's posts on
its official Twitter and Facebook handles.
“Once the situation was brought to our attention, we made the distributor acutely
aware of the inappropriateness of the action. We have since taken measures to
ensure the distributor, which misused the Hyundai brand identity, has removed
the social media posts and we have put in place processes to prevent a further
recurrence”, the statement added.
Hyundai Motors stated that the company is not associated with the posts of
the distributor in Pakistan. It said it “strongly rejects” the distributor’s
unauthorised non-business related social media activity and deeply regrets “any
offence caused to the people of India by this unofficial social media activity”.
Meanwhile, the Federation of Automobile Dealers’ Association (FADA) said in
a statement, “We strictly condemn the act of Hyundai Pakistan and Kia Pakistan
for the tweets on Kashmir. We remain committed to our motherland and have written
to both the companies to clear their stand on the same.”
The Pakistani distributor had posted on its official Twitter and Facebook handles
its “solidarity with Kashmir”. “Let us remember the sacrifices of our Kashmiri
brothers and stand in support as they struggle for freedom,” the posts had said
on Saturday. As widespread calls for boycott of the car maker followed this
in India, the posts were removed from the media platforms.