The Hindustan Times described the recently shot 22 year Hizbul Mujahedeen commander Burhan Wani as the “The troubled state’s latest poster boy of Militancy.” Being a resident of Jammu & Kashmir henceforth referred as J&K, I don’t deny the fact that mine has always been a troubled state but what I do hold against these media giants is their innate desire to project Burhan Wani as the state’s poster boy and Kashmir as the only thing of interest as far as J&K is concerned. In a similar incident of sorts, another reputed daily- The Indian Express devoted the cremation ceremony of the deceased as its cover photo on popular social networking site – Facebook.
Expectedly, I got a number of messages from of many friends from others part of the state asking me how the people of J&K could be so senseless as to label a terrorist as a Youth Icon. Due to mis-reported incidents and twisted headlines of many of the media houses, people of India think that all of J&K is dumb and gullible to be easily fooled and it takes significant effort to explain that not all of J&K thinks like this and we are just as logical as the rest of you are. Not everyone in J&K is a stone pelter and love the the presence and security offered by armed forces just as much as you do.
As a son of the soil, it is baffling to notice that how easily and quickly media forgets about the Jammu (and by extension Leh) part of Jammu and Kashmir. As far as J&K has been concerned, Kashmir has always been the elder sibling bullying the more peaceful young sibling that is Jammu. I am not denying that Kashmir has to endure a lot over the past three decades but Jammu seems to have the brunt of most of it. Jammu has been the safe haven to families seeking refuge post the forced exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits. It is not as if Jammu has had a rosy path of attain relative peace and progress, jammu too had to fight its demons but it done so in a relative silent and self-sufficient manner.
Jammu has always had a very strong pro-India voice and has been very rational in it’s thought process. If at all, the media houses wanted to tag Burhan Wani as The State’s Poster Boy For Militancy, then logic dictates that it needs to mandate the viewpoints from all major cities of the state before dishing out a judgment. Have any of the media houses done so? Don’t be surprised if the answer is a resounding no. Hate to say this but Kashmir has always been hogging the limelight. Ask yourself this – When was the last time you heard of a J&K Chief Minister who was not from the Kashmir mainland? When was the last time you heard of riot/trouble originating from the Jammu mainland?
There is no denying that Burhan Wani glamorized the Jihadi movement and roped in the impressionable youth of Kashmir to the “noble cause.” Normally I would say that Religion and Politics are separate entities but having notice the state’s development (which not surprisingly is dominated by Srinagar’s ideology) I hate to admit that Religion and Politics are inseparable in Kashmir. When it comes to Kashmir, Religion is Politics and Politics is Religion.
The east meets west collation of PDP (always known for its soft separatist agenda) and BJP has definitely added fuel to the fire as far as the Azaadi fanatics are concerned. In the valley, where a sizeable chunk of the population is below the age of 30 years, I believe that the death of the supposed icon is actually a blessing a disguise as it will only amplify the separatist agenda and inspire the dimwitted stone pelters to disrupt the ongoing law and order practices. Will the terrorism be a high in the recent years because of “Burhan’s Shahadat”? Well,it is a difficult question to answer but it will definitely inspire a new generations of kids to shun reason and go on the path prescribed by religious merchants. I totally agree with what the leader of opposition and Former Chief Minister had to say about the issue.
“Mark my words. Burhan’s ability to recruit into militancy from the grave will far outstrip anything he could have done on social media. After many yrs I hear slogans for “Azadi” resonate from the mosque in my uptown Srinagar locality. Kashmir’s disaffected got a new icon y’day”
Notice how carefully he says Kashmir and not the entire J&K. The Indian media which by the way exists only to over glorify matters and facts should have a taken a subtle hint from his.
Also further note that why Kashmir has such fundamentally and radically and different from Jammu is altogether a new discussion topic and beyond the scope of a single article. The point I am trying to make here is that, J&K is a state and not just the Kashmir alone. Yes to outsiders it may seem that J&K is all about hand grenades, an entire generation gone wrong and shouting slogans of Azaadi, about blood pools and lost limbs, about the religious and political divide, about widows and orphans, about barbed wires and encounters, about bodies being dumped into Jehlum, about imposed strikes and Fatwas, about burning bridges and bullet ridden wall BUT the educated and informed media houses should know for better before imposing a fact for the entire state.
It may not hurt the big shots of media but it does provide a false impression to the masses. It makes me and my city look like utter fools. It dents our sense of reason and rationality. In an age of social media and engineered digital marketing, the viral approach really really hurts when the name of the entire state is hurled in the mud because of the beliefs of a certain city/religion.
Request all media houses to please don’t do this.
