BBC, the British propaganda machine which still covers the events and issues with colonial hangover has covered the abolition of Article 370 with the prism of ‘two nation theory’ which was outrightly rejected by the people of Jammu & Kashmir. The media outlet has termed the state as ‘India Administered Kashmir (IoK)’ in its coverage of Kashmir. It has repeatedly published articles by columnists who do not support the abolition and broadcasted the interviews of ‘experts’ who were critical of Indian government’s move.
Filmmaker Shekhar Kapur pointed out to the channel that why they refuse to call Northern Ireland ‘British Occupied Ireland and asked them to ‘stop patronizing India’.
The coverage of BBC of various issues has been widely criticized. It has been criticized for racism, homophobia, pro-Muslim bias, Indophobia, Anti-Hindu bias, Anti-Sikh inclination, and perpetuation of Imperialistic attitudes. The public broadcaster of United Kingdom was widely criticized for its coverage of Scottish Independence referendum, 2014 when it has been blatantly partial and supported pro-unionist campaign. Alex Salmond, the architect of Scottish National movement openly accused BBC of having anti-independence views.
The mouthpiece of colonial power does not come up with specifications such as ‘Britain administered’ for Scotland, Ireland, crown dependencies – Guernsey, Jersey, and Isle of Man and various British Overseas territories which includes Falkland Island.
The former colonial power attacked Scotland 20 times from 1296 to 1650 and finally formed the union with northern neighbor in 1707. The Scottish people have organized protest against the occupation by the UK. Scottish National Party (SNP) which supports Scottish independence from the United Kingdom is ruling party in Scotland with 62 seats out of 129 in Scottish Parliament. The party also won 35 out of 59 Scottish seats in House of Commons. It is ruling party of Scotland since 2007 and this shows that the people of Scotland does not want to be part of the colonial power.
The rift between Scotland and England became very clear during Brexit referendum when Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to remain in the European Union while England voted to leave. As United Kingdom leaves EU very soon, the Scottish national movement may gain further movement as the country wants to remain in the European Union.
Britain left major part of Ireland in 1921 after the years of armed struggle by Irish National forces but kept the Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom just because the region has Protestant majority. The English people ruled Ireland for hundreds of years and thousands of Irish people were killed by English armed forces in freedom struggle. The question remains why BBC does not term Northern Ireland as ‘Britain administered Ireland’.
Diego Garcia, an island in Indian Ocean near Mauritius was one of the dependencies of British colony of Mauritius. In 1965, when Mauritius got independence, the colonial power detached the island of Diego Garcia and included it in British Indian Overseas territory. The UK government forcibly removed the local inhabitants to establish a military base on the island.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that the UK must withdraw its colonial administration from the island and transfer it to Mauritius as the separation of territory in 1965 was illegal. But the US and the UK refused to implement ICJ’s decision and said, “In 2016, there were discussions between the United Kingdom and the United States concerning the continuing importance of the joint base. Neither party gave notice to terminate and the agreement remains in force until 2036.” This clearly qualifies as colonialism and the United Kingdom forcefully took a territory which originally belongs to Mauritius. The question once again rises is why BBC does not call Diego Garcia a ‘British Occupied Territory’.
Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory on the border of Southern Europe and Northern Africa, was captured by Britain from Spain in 1704. The question arises that why the British mouthpiece does not call Gibraltar a ‘British Occupied Territory’ in official mentions. The island territory voted to remain in European Union which is contrary to Britain’s decision to leave EU. The question arises whether the colonial power will leave Gibraltar after Brexit.
Falkland Islands, an island near Argentina on the southern tip of Americas was occupied by Britain in the first half of 19th century and remained a crown colony till 1981 when its status was changed to British Dependent Territory. Argentinians also make claim over the territory and made efforts to get it in 1982. But Britain attacked and this led to Falklands war which Argentina lost and Britain reclaimed the territory, it changed islands status to British Overseas territory in 2002.
BBC continues the patronising attitude towards the former colonies and ‘White Man’s Burden’ is still prevalent in the workers of the company. tfipost.com has exposed the BBC’s colonial attitude and its propaganda many times in last few years. The articles related to cases where BBC was exposed could be visited on the following link:
Many former colonies of Britain like India, the United States are now way more powerful than the UK. But the British government and people are not ready to accept the defeat and change their attitude. BBC still lives in the days of colonial hangover when they ruled the world. If the attitude does not change, the media outlet will become irrelevant very soon.