Al Jazeera, the private media conglomerate funded by the Government of Qatar, is notorious for spreading Islamist propaganda. It resembles the form of an Invasive fish species found in North America that tries to intrude into the natural habitat of Native fish and aggressively competes for food. Similarly, Al Jazeera brazenly peddles its Islamist agenda to influence the internal dynamics and radicalise the populace of countries of their ‘interest’.
Al Jazeera long has tried to present a distorted picture of India’s affairs. It has tried to portray India as some kind of an authoritarian regime running the country where the rights of minorities are being crumbled upon.
For the second day in a row, on 8th November, a ruckus ensued in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, with a brawl breaking out among opposing legislators over the introduction of a resolution to reinstall Article 370 and 35A in Jammu & Kashmir. BJP members raised slogans of “Bharat Mata ki Jai” after a PDP MLA from Kupwara displayed a banner supporting Article 370’s reinstatement, intensifying the clash in the Assembly. The session featured intense shouting, physical altercations, and the BJP MLAs walkout after several of its members jumped into the well of the house and were eventually escorted out.
Similar clashes erupted on 7th November after Khurshid Ahmad Sheikh, brother of Engineer Rashid who is accused in a terror funding case, held up a banner calling for the restoration of Article 370. The clashes at the Jammu Kashmir Legislative Assembly began after PDP MLA Waheed Para moved a resolution to reinstall the special status of the Union Territory.
If we look closely at the reporting of Al Jazeera, the media tries to make use of words that present the Indian state as the aggressor in Kashmir. Regarding the scuffle, it reported ‘Indian-administered Kashmir lawmakers were forcibly ejected from parliament after scuffles broke out during a heated session where Bharatiya Janata Party legislators protested a resolution calling for the restoration of partial autonomy to the region.’ One must note the usage of the words ‘Indian-Administered Kashmir’ and ‘Parliament’ and ‘autonomy’.
Lawmakers in Indian-administered Kashmir were ejected from parliament after scuffles broke out during a session where BJP legislators protested a resolution to restore partial autonomy to the region. pic.twitter.com/hRdO9e5K9t
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) November 8, 2024
Kashmir has always been an integral part of India. Kashmir once a princely state signed the Instrument of Accession to merge with India. It is Pakistan who illegally occupied part of Kashmir (POK). Al Jazeera must remember that only Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir exist and there is no such entity as Indian Administered Kashmir. By using the terminology of ‘Indian Administrative Kashmir’, Al Jazeera is clearly catering to the agenda of the terrorist state.
Also, there is no ‘Parliament’ in Kashmir that exists but the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly. There is only Parliament in India that lies in Delhi, the country’s capital. Parliament is a symbol of sovereignty and Kashmir is a part of the sovereign state that is India.
Moreover, any layman following the Jammu Kashmir Legislative affairs could point out that the clash between the two groups was because of the demand made by one section to cancel out the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A. But the Qatari media notorious for having links with extremist outfits, Al Jazeera reported that the scuffle between the two groups of lawmakers took place because of the demand to restore the partial autonomy of the state. Neither does Article 370 have to do anything with partial autonomy of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, nor did anyone in the assembly call for partial autonomy of the state. So the question arises, Why did it decide to use the term ‘partial autonomy’ rather than sticking to factual correctness?
Al Jazeera must stop keeping the propaganda dictionary along with them to give a push to their Islamist propaganda. The report over the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly scuffle is not the only time the Qatar-funded media has tried to build a negative narrative against India.
In 2015, India banned Al Jazeera for five days for repeatedly displaying incorrect maps that excluded parts of Jammu and Kashmir (including PoK and Aksai Chin), Lakshadweep and the Andaman Islands as Indian territory. This violated India’s National Map Policy and Map Restriction Policy. Additionally, Al Jazeera has spread misinformation against India; in 2017, it published an article on a “massacre” in Jammu, using a misleading photo from Amritsar that was unrelated to the claimed events in Kashmir.
In march, 2024 Al Jazeera tried to peddle the propaganda that the Indian Citizenship Act is an Anti-Muslim Act to which The Press Information Bureau (PIB), the Government of India’s central agency under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) factchecked Al Jazeera’s claims as misleading. PIB wrote on twitter ‘Misinformation is being spread by Al Jazeera regarding the Citizenship Amendment Act, calling the act ‘anti-Muslim’. CAA will not take away citizenship of any Indian citizen irrespective of religion. It’s not against any single religion/ community. It’s an enabling law only to provide citizenship to persecuted minorities from neighboring countries – Afghanistan, Pakistan & Bangladesh”.
On October 15, 2024, Al Jazeera went up to publish an article titled ‘Who is lobbying for India’s Modi government on Capitol Hill’ accusing the Hindu American Foundation (HAF), a US-based advocacy group for the Hindu community of being a “propaganda arm” of the Indian government under Narendra Modi.
Al Jazeera also tried to undermine the Bangladeshi Hindu Genocide. It published an article with headline ‘Islamophobic, alarmist’: How some India outlets covered the Bangladesh crisis and pointed blame upon the Indian Media for igniting hatred by showcasing the ongoing Bangladeshi Hindu Genocide.
Promoting the Muslim Brotherhood agenda
On the 18th of January, 2024, in an interview with The Jerusalem Post, Yemeni-British journalist Adnan Al-Ameri highlighted how aligning with the Muslim Brotherhood agenda is essential to working at Al Jazeera. “To work for their news channel, they require you to push the Muslim Brotherhood’s views, and if you don’t share those beliefs, they’ll find ways to buy your loyalty,” he noted.
On Wednesday, Oct 23, the Israel Defence Forces reported that they have uncovered documents in the Gaza Strip that list six Al Jazeera journalists as members of terrorist groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terror groups. This was not the first time the network was linked to extremist outfits, however, now even its journalists are being named as terror operatives.