While Pakistani establishment struggles to soothe out the internal uproar after India’s move to abrogate Article 370 and bifurcate the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, help for the rogue nation is coming out from various media outfits in form of fake and skewed news reports. Over the past few days, a number of such fake media and news reports have been identified which have not only been spreading fake news but have also been hesitant in apologizing and removing the said reports even after conclusive evidence against them.
Leading the international media is British Broadcasting Corporation or the BBC which has been called out a number of times for its skewed and controversial reporting on sensitive issues. It has been putting out such reports which are factually incorrect and overtly misleading. In a similar ‘exclusive video’ released by the BBC, it had claimed the Indian security forces had fired on protesters. However, the ground situation was totally contrary to what BBC had projected, as a matter of fact verified official reports had clearly dismissed any incident of firing and also refuted the claims of large scale protests in the region.
The BBC witnessed tear gas being used to disperse the largest protest since a lockdown was imposed in Indian-administered Kashmir – a protest the Indian government said didn’t happen
[Tap to expand] https://t.co/lPudV9uez3 pic.twitter.com/aUhwWRkqme
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) August 10, 2019
The video released by BBC is a compilation of smaller clips seemingly in different climatic conditions and possibly even different geographical regions, moreover in the video the several protesters can also be seen waving flags of the terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad; these types of protests by radicals and terror organizations are routine in the regions of Pakistan occupied Kashmir, referred to by Pakistan as Azad Kashmir.
SP Pani, IGP Kashmir also refuted these media reports and conclusively laid out the ground realities and said, “This is to clarify some international media reports regarding firing incidents in the valley, they are wrong, no such incident has taken place. Valley has remained largely peaceful over last 1 week”
#WATCH SP Pani, IGP Kashmir denies media reports of police firing in Kashmir says,"This is to clarify some international media reports regarding firing incidents in the valley,they are wrong, no such incident has taken place. Valley has remained largely peaceful over last 1 week" pic.twitter.com/aF0SSMoIG2
— ANI (@ANI) August 10, 2019
If @BBCNews considers #ZakirMusa fanboys representative of Kashmir, then it clearly has no idea what’s going in this part of the world. Shame on BBC for running al-Qaida propaganda in Indian Kashmir. PM @narendramodi @DrSJaishankar must take it up with @BorisJohnson Johnson govt. https://t.co/wFv1McJych
— Aarti Tikoo (@AartiTikoo) August 10, 2019
Along with BBC, several other media organizations; Reuters, Dawn and others have also been called out on similar reports on the issue.
Spokesperson of the Ministry of Home Affairs also refuted reports by these organizations and said, “A news report originally published in Reuters and appeared in Dawn claims there was a protest involving 10000 people in Srinagar. This is completely fabricated & incorrect. There have been a few stray protests in Srinagar/Baramulla and none involved a crowd of more than 20 ppl.”
A news report originally published in Reuters and appeared in Dawn claims there was a protest involving 10000 people in Srinagar.
This is completely fabricated & incorrect. There have been a few stray protests in Srinagar/Baramulla and none involved a crowd of more than 20 ppl.
— Spokesperson, Ministry of Home Affairs (@PIBHomeAffairs) August 10, 2019
As evident a number of reports have been surfacing mostly by the push of anti-India and pro-Pakistani elements that make a significant part of BBC’s workforce in the region. This is also substantiated by their selective ignorance towards massive human rights violation in Pakistan occupied Balochistan and Pakistan occupied Sindh, also in regions of Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
Nonetheless, BBC’s anti-India agenda has not been hidden, and for long BBC’s has indulged in denigrating tactics against India. Earlier a documentary made by a BBC filmmaker Leslee Udwin, titled “India’s Daughter” was under fire, with critics claiming that the documentary instead of highlighting and spreading awareness about crimes against women was only a meek attempt to shame Indians and reinforce the inferiority imperialistic mindset.
Moreover, India is not the only nation to have countered such fake and misleading reports by the international news organization. Earlier On 18th June 2011, BBC had published a story about a Jerusalem Court ordering a dog to be stoned to death but later had to retract its story after the Jerusalem court had summarily denied the story that was reported.
Earlier BBC was also called out for propagating a fake video of child labour from Bangalore. However, after extensive complaints and pressure, the BBC had shamelessly admitted that the child labour footage was not genuine.
Foreign anti-India media establishment in India has been infamous at aiding nefarious foreign propaganda to undermine peace and prosperity in the region, and have evidently accelerated its efforts post the 2014 general elections after parties which had provided them free ground for long were driven out from power. While these skewed attempts continue to hurt India’s interests both internally and geo-politically, authorities should surely take on these ‘reports’ to keep a check on such activities where ulterior motives overpower ethics and sensitivity.
