‘Kashmir and the Fire This Time’, ‘What’s happening in Kashmir? Our cameras contradict India’s official story’, ‘India Plans Big Detention Camps for Migrants. Muslims are Afraid’, ‘India Annexes Kashmir and Brings Us Back to Partition’, “Inside Kashmir cut off from the World: A living hell of Anger and Fear’.
Normally one would associate such headlines with media originating from Pakistan, however, all these headlines have been carried by The New York Times ever since the Modi government moved to abrogate Article 370. The New York Times is in an overdrive to showcase India’s alleged ‘aggression’ in Kashmir by planning Nazi styled concentration camps. These are just some of the headlines on NYT all of which are full of vitriol and propaganda articles against India. What’s more, it also gave a platform to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to shed crocodile tears on Kashmir and simultaneously threaten a nuclear war which would put the whole world in danger, if India’s ‘aggression’ is not kept in check. There has been a definite anti-India and anti-Modi bias by the NYT as just after Prime Minister Modi’s emphatic victory, they ran a headline which read, ‘How Narendra Modi seduced India with envy and hate’ alleging that the Prime Minister won the election on a tide of violence, fake news and resentment. The NYT has not even cared to go into the depth of India’s decision to revoke the special status of Kashmir. The NYT is seeing this move as a historic blow to its democracy and secular identity, conveniently forgetting how Kashmiri Hindus were uprooted from their homeland. Addressing J&K as a “Muslim-majority” region it fails to reflect just how ethnically, culturally, and religiously diverse Kashmir is. Indeed, while Kashmir is majority Muslim, Jammu is majority Hindu; and the vast, sparsely populated Ladakh is traditionally Buddhist. While the publication is doing its bit to project Pakistan as the helpless victim of India’s tyranny through a number of opinion pieces, it conveniently left out how Pakistan continues to act as a revanchist state by trying to secure the Kashmir Valley through their terrorism-driven proxy warfare and the military conflicts initiated by Pakistan in 1965 and 1999 which failed to deliver any territorial gains to the country. It also leaves out, by habit, the recent death of a Kashmiri policeman at the hands of stone pelters and other serious injuries caused to Kashmiris by violent stone pelters.
Bursting the myth of India attempting to ‘annex’ Kashmir with its move to abrogate the special status, the NYT needs to be reminded that India has the sole and the rightful claim to both Pakistan and China Occupied Kashmir since the princely state of J&K lawfully merged with the country under the 1947 Indian Independence Act. While the NYT through their ‘fearless’ journalism claims to tell a different story as compared to the Indian government’s stance and paints a gloomy picture for Kashmiris, its fearless journalism goes for a toss when it comes to covering Pakistan and China occupied Kashmir where the revanchist states have granted absolutely no autonomy to its parts. While the talk has been revolving around how Kashmir has been cut-off from the internet and communication services leading to a virtual curfew, the reason behind this step is because of the presence of Pakistan backed terrorists in the valley. India will not have to impose such preventive measures if Pakistan drops its nefarious agenda to destabilise India.
The BBC on its part has widely circulated footage of the alleged widespread protests in Kashmir amidst extreme violence by the Indian armed forces. In a spliced video, the BBC released the ‘exclusive’ footage of the protests in Saura which also contained the sound of a machine gun bursting amidst the ‘protests’ something which is never used by the Indian Armed forces against the violent mob in Kashmir which clearly means that the video is fabricated with the sound being added at a later stage to paint a gloomy situation in Kashmir. While the issue of juveniles being arrested has been covered by all the International agencies, no one cares to mention that the juveniles arrested were stone pelters and also the fact that no casualty has been reported since the abrogation of Article 370. The BBC also resorted to spreading fake news by quoting a local, “Once I took off my clothes, they beat me mercilessly with rods and sticks, for almost two hours. Whenever I fell unconscious, they gave me shocks to revive me” which was categorically denied by Army spokesperson Colonel Aman Anand who in his response said that “There have been no injuries or casualties due to countermeasures undertaken by the Army.” A Wall Street Journal report claims that very few hospitals are running in Kashmir and almost every hospital is running low on vital drugs. Contrary to the Journal’s claims, 1165 out of 1666 chemist shops have remained open in Srinagar and Kashmir Valley as a whole has 7630 retail chemist shops and 4331 wholesale shops with about 65% remaining open throughout the lockdown. The Washington Post and The Economist both sang the same tune as the New York Times and saw this as a move by the Hindu Nationalist Modi to upend a Muslim majority state and decided to flex his nationalistic muscles for his millions of followers. It is appalling how the foreign media does not even attempt to explain the fabric of Kashmir to its readers and viewers which is so much more than just a Muslim Majority state. They continue to turn a blind eye to the uprooting of Kashmiri Hindus from their rightful land.
There is enough proof to counter the malicious propaganda of the foreign media as they leave no stone unturned to hurt India’s image globally. But they should never forget the fact that at least India on its part, allows the media free-access to its area of J&K whereas Pakistan has never allowed any journalist on its part of occupied Kashmir without obtaining a NOC from the military. China continues to enjoy a considerable hold in Kashmir ever since Pakistan ceded a part of its occupied Kashmir to China who in turn, never allows any International media to its portion of J&K. India has every right to take any steps that defend its sovereignty as it’s sandwiched between two countries who have no respected for any International norms and both nuclear-armed states are determined to spread terrorism in India, a fact which the international media is yet to come to terms with. While India has got the backing of almost every major Head of State, Pakistan can seek solace from it being a ‘paper tiger’ with no real support from the International community.