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| Nationalist media under attack in Kashmir | | 'Sonth Literary Festival' | | Early times Report
JAMMU, Mar 30: India is a democratic country, where the press is considered, and very rightly, the fourth pillar of the system. It is described as fourth estate. It plays the most crucial role in social, cultural, economic and political life. It also exposes the misdeeds of the persons-in-power and reflects on the causes responsible for the evils facing the society and polity. It educates public opinion on issues of social, economic, cultural and political import and it also tears into the government if its foreign policy harms the paramount sovereign interests. It also shapes public opinion and keeps the nation well informed about all the issues confronting the state and the nation. The point is that there can't be democracy without press freedom.
Unfortunately, however, there are pro-separatist forces in and outside the Kashmir Valley who are extremely angry with the nationalist Indian media. They accuse this brand of media as anti-Kashmir and charge it with misrepresenting Kashmiri Muslims in India. Only on Sunday, the pro-separatist elements, Kashmiris and their supporters in Delhi and other places, condemned the nationalist media in downright language and they did so during the so-called literary meet, which was held in Srinagar's SKICC. Ironically, a number of government officials were also present when the nationalist media was attacked from right and left. The controversial three-day literary festival was organized by Lehar NGO in collaboration with J&K Tourism Department, J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, J&K Bank, J&K Information Department, Radio Kashmir Srinagar, Doordarshan, and J&K Department of Handicrafts.
What did the various speakers speak during the first day of this controversial literary event? They said: "Kashmiris and their sentiment have always been 'misrepresented in India' with news channels constantly running 'malicious and hateful propaganda' against the Valley". They also said: "When it comes to Kashmir, truth always becomes causality and propaganda takes its place. This makes people to suffer as their real sentiment and ideology (in this case the separatist and communal ideology) gets suppressed…Some leading national television anchors play the role of judge, jury and executioner which impact the life of an ordinary Kashmiri. This creates a threat perception among non-natives about Kashmir, which is as peaceful as Mumbai and Delhi…We are hurt to see negative perceptions about Kashmir created by the national media".
Some speakers also used the opportunity to accuse the nationalist media and others in the country of not trying to understand what Kashmir and Kashmiris mean. One of the speakers, who is Delhi-based and protagonist of Kashmir greater autonomy and Pakistan supporter, said that "the success of PDP-BJP government in the State would mean a total transformation of the rightwing party" and that "millions of people of his generation and others could not understand Kashmir or Kashmiris". "The killing of the democratic processes of Kashmir led to tragic consequences for India as well as this region. Kashmir could provide the motive for bringing India and Pakistan together for sustained peace and development on both sides of the border," he also said. In other words, he not only spoke for and on behalf of separatists and communalists in Kashmir but also for Pakistan endorsing the atrocious view that Jammu and Kashmir was an unsettled issue.
The nationalist media, including news channels, needs to be appreciated for the very important role it has been playing since more than two decades to put things in perspective and educate the public opinion in India about the sinister designs of Kashmiri separatists and Pakistan.
Had the Indian media not discharged its obligation towards the Indian state by exposing the anti-India acts being committed by Pakistan and its agents in the Valley and outside it, things in the state today would have been very frightening. It was because of the role of the nationalist media that the anti-India forces in the Valley and their supporters, including Arundhati Roy, AG Noorani, to mention only a few, stood thoroughly exposed. It is disturbing that such crucial departments as the Information department of Jammu and Kashmir Government supported events which. Instead of bridging the communally-motivated divide, further widens the gulf between New Delhi and the pampered Kashmir. |
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