As I write, Kashmir rebellion enters its fourth week with people of valley protesting the injustice and oppression of the government forces. The forces are fighting the battle for the government and leaving hospitals overflowing with the injured, most of them battling for life. The scenes mainly at SKIMS and SMHS Hospitals tell you that Kashmir is passing through a warlike situation. Meanwhile, the anchors of Indian news channels are frothing at their mouths by terming the uprising terrorism, by basing their narrative on the necessity to eliminate Burhan Wani, rather than focusing on the shoot to kill approach of the government forces.
Many news channels are profiling Burhan Wani’s successor with the most absurd facts and revelations. In the name of holding debates, clashes of nationalism are taking place between Kashmiri and Indian intellectuals which make the news studios of these channels analogous to what is happening between the forces and protesters on the streets. The moral of these so called debates is to pacify the Indian nationalists who have developed an imperfection in analyzing the Kashmir situation due to the uninterrupted exposure to the frenzied and doctored media outlets. While justifying trigger happy approach of forces, these media-men analogize the murder of unarmed civilians in Kashmir with the gunning down of government forces at the hands of rebels.
Their ostensible purpose is reporting but the real goal remains hate mongering. They report 2016 rebellion by morphing visuals of 2010 to filter out the forces atrocities to appease their ring masters in New Delhi. But the worst of all is, local press has been gagged in sync to maintain false and groundless opinions through the lens of Indian media.
The slavish yes-men news anchors have turned intelligence officers, security analysts et al who pigeonhole the protestors as paid agents of Pakistan and separatists. Not a single attempt has been made by them to report beyond their predetermined approach and examine the situation through the protestors’ point of view that bore the wounds on their chests rather than their backs by braving the lethal consequences of so- called non-lethal assault of forces.
These TV stations switch to exclusive mode only when their reporters find out some newsflash which can be brought into agreement to their self-centred editorial policy. It becomes then “Sabse Badi Khabar” and comparatively while the hospitals are packed with intensive care patients and the valley reels under health-care exigency, K-word has no mention even in their top-100 news airing.
Some sections of the media from the same part of the world are working exceptionally well. They have queried the State and Centre governments over the terror of pellets unleashed by the completely berserk forces. They have asserted that the point is not whether the elimination of Wani was necessary but whether the bloodbath that followed is justifiable.
The pseudo media outlets are terming the unrest as sporadic, instigation by separatists and merely a law and order problem. The government is under an obligation to think beyond containing the anger and resentment of people. At a time when government is dialling the separatist camp to wind down the resentment, national media continues to present the Hurriyat leaders in a bad light.
The people who are cognizant of what I have pieced together can join me in affirming that the Indian media is playing a dirty role by turning out to be frenzied, parroted and doctored. Instead of reflecting the situation of Kashmir, the Indian media distorts it completely.
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