Barely hours after the gruesome attack on the CRPF convoy, a section of Indian media started the ‘humanizing campaign’ of the terrorist who killed 44 security personnel in Pulwama. In what can be described as the deadliest terrorist attack in the three-decade-long history of militancy in Kashmir, the terrorist rammed his vehicle into one of the trucks carrying the CRPF jawans.
Amidst all this, the media seeks to bring forward the side of the terrorists and deal with the issue with a ‘humanistic’ approach. Media organisations like India Today and Scroll along the lines of ‘plight of the poor Kashmiris’, wasted no time in absolving the fanatic terrorist of his act by conveniently blaming it on ‘circumstances’. Scroll has published a complete ‘memoir’ of Adil Ahmed Dar, the terrorist. The memoir describes the ‘hard life’ Kashmiri people have to undergo at the hands of the Indian army and how the army is cultivating ‘jihad’ amongst the Kashmiris.
The article goes on to describe the ‘plight’ of Dar’s family wherein his father uses terms such as ‘responsible kid’, ‘militant’ and ‘martyr’ to describe him. His father also calls him an ‘innocent kid’ whereas the truth of the matter is that Adil Ahmad Dar has been involved in terrorist activities since very long. Dar actively participated in the 2016 Burhan Wani uprising and had even been shot at once by the security personnel. Dar was also involved in stone pelting activities in Jammu and Kashmir. India Today and Scroll despite going much into the details of Dar’s terror activities, have only stated how ‘Adil Ahmad Dar was beaten up and harassed by the troops.
Moreover, Dar was not the only member to join militancy from his family as Dar’s cousins had also been involved in anti-national activities which his family terms as ‘pro-freedom politics’. The family also complained that when one of Adil Ahmed Dar’s cousins, Tauseef Ahmad Dar returned from militancy, he was locked up under the Public Safety Act instead of being issued a passport to go to Dubai. Were they expecting the country to set him free and wait for another attack? According to Dar’s family, the blame for Kashmir’s plight is on the politicians, the army and the government whereas their sons have chosen a ‘path of valor’. The media, on the other hand, seems to be defaming the army and humanizing a terrorist through these humanising pieces.
The pieces by these outlets appear more like an obituary of a freedom fighter than a terrorist’s profile. At a time when the media should be focusing on unifying the nation and sympathizing with the Jawans who lost their lives, both the outlets have directly placed the blame of ‘turning the youth into a terrorist’ on the Army and the Indian establishment. These two reports are widely being used by pro-Pakistan handles to undermine the attack on the security forces and portray India in a bad light. Essentially, Indian media is itself helping with the propaganda against India and the Indian army with this kind of reporting.