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Armed with lies and half truths, media wages a war

By Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal. Dated: 10/5/2015 12:15:53 PM

None of the smart journalists smirking over the claims of ownership of PAK's victimised population and the brutality of the Pakistani forces bothered to do just a bit of research, just a click away as all of them vied with each other to take the credit of the 'breaking news' and being in possession of the "authentic" video.
If videos are an indication of extent of abuse and violence, few clicks on the google would reveal that such videos about PAK pale into insignificance before the videos of
atrocities on the Indian side of Kashmir.
Repression and resentment is not totally unknown on that side of Kashmir. Pakistan for long has taken the high moral ground on the Kashmir issue and appropriated the right to be the champion of democracy and human rights on the Indian side of Kashmir but failed to see the mess in its own backyard. It has raked up UN resolutions on Kashmir but has yet to fulfill its own commitment, as per the same UN resolutions, of de-militarising its side of Kashmir. PAK by no standards is a picture of pure bliss. There is growing unease due to the lack of development and the plunder by Pakistani establishment of natural resources including water from PAK and Gilgit-Baltistan.
The truth as Hashim Qureshi, a man who today is distrusted by establishments of India, Pakistan and even Kashmiris and whose life becomes a perfect metaphor of the predicament of an ordinary Kashmiri, mentioned, "Kashmiris have borne the brunt of ruthlessness of both Indian and Pakistani governments". This ruthlessness may evince itself in different forms on either side of the Line of Control and cannot be selectively endorsed or criticized.
Last week a video from Pakistan Administered Kashmir (PAK) was circulated on the Indian television channels with Indian television anchors who thrive on Pakistan bashing, politicians and retired generals with all their moustaches and machismo, high on adrenaline went about churning the discourse of "rebellion in PAK, azadi slogans and brutality of army and police on protestors wishing to unite with India". The surfacing of the video on Indian channels coincided with the hostile climate that Indian and Pakistani officials were bent on perpetuating across the seas at the UN meeting in New York. Soon after Pakistan took the Kashmir human rights abuse case to the UN, the video began to be circulated. But was it pure coincidence?
As channel after channel hyper ventilated over the PAK video, facts went to the trash-bin and opinionated debates, comments and interpretations throttled whatever little was available to see. Hashim Qureshi of the Ganga hijacking in 1970s, was snubbed and called "ungrateful" by anchors on a television channel when he said that Kashmiris on either side of the Line of Control were sandwiched between the brutality of Indian and Pakistani forces. He was reminded of the "enormous love" with which the Indian army had treated the Kashmiris in India. (Wonder if the anchor had heard of this enormous love oozing in the 10,000 disappearances, rapes, Pathribal, Jalil Andrabi murder, Macchil, the spine chilling interrogation centres and the long list of cases in which army personnel and other security forces stand accused of torture and murders!) As for this video, there were no dates given about the incident, no dateline of how such protests erupted and what was the context. None of the smart journalists smirking over the claims of ownership of PAK's victimised population and the brutality of the Pakistani forces bothered to do just a bit of research, just a click away as all of them vied with each other to take the credit of the 'breaking news' and being in possession of the "authentic" video.
A day later while Indian television crews kept up the crescendo of sympathy for PAK's hapless victimised citizens yearning to merge with India, there was a complete silence by Pakistani media. None of the channels or publications had a word about any incident in PAK, officially called Azad Jammu Kashmir on the Pakistani side, barring one anti-India rally by the 'AJK prime minister'. It is possible for Pakistani media to be as biased as Indian media is when it comes to Kashmir, the latter having blacked out or dwarfed many massacres of innocent civilians in Kashmir unless the perpetrators are non-state actors; the former having used propaganda tools to the hilt to talk about human rights abuse in Kashmir. While there was no quest for enquiry into the basic details of the incidents shown in the video and the background, there was also no desk research conducted before the video began to be circulated. If that had been done, a click or two on the internet would have revealed similar videos, showing parts of the videos released on the Indian channels - all existing in the cyber space for quite some time. Several videos, some dated 4 years or so, have been skillfully patched together for the effect.
A major part of the video, showing protests including by women on the streets of Muzaffarabad is posted on youtube by World News and dated September 15, 2014 (link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15A0GLZcC_Q) with the following description: "Facing acute power shortage, unemployment, poverty and hunger, the people of Azad Kashmir have now decided to launch a decisive war against Pakistan. A protest rally, also attended by women in large numbers, was recently held in Muzaffarabad to decry the atrocities committed by the Pakistani Army." The video shows a woman speaking on the mike and speaking about Pakistan occupation in Kashmir, raising azadi slogans, some of which include: "Cheen ke lenge azadi", "Pakistan se lenge azadi", "Indo-Pak bhi dega azadi". However, the Indian channels went berserk with the interpretation that "terrorized POK citizens want merger with India". One channel even sneaked in the interview of an Indian cleric, known to be patronized by Indian government, who claimed on behalf of the entire population across the Line of Control that "99 percent of POK residents are fed up with Pakistan and want merger with India". One channel maintained while Pakistan raises the Kashmir issue at international forums to tarnish India's image, Islamabad has resorted to a brutal crackdown on innocent people in PoK, who are now demanding a merger with India, giving an impression that the video was about fresh incidents in Gilgit, Muzaffarabad and Kotli. If videos are an indication of extent of abuse and violence, few clicks on the google would reveal that such videos about PAK pale into insignificance before the videos of atrocities on the Indian side of Kashmir.
Ershad Mahmud, political analyst hailing from PAK, in an interview via e-mail said, "A part of this video consists of protests which were held around two months ago in Muzaffarabad organized by a breakaway group of the Student Liberation Front (SLF) demanding restoration of the student unions in the government run institutions. Police wanted to stop them up to a certain point, but they wanted to stage demonstration in-front of the assembly building. It was not allowed and protesters were beaten by the police as they refused to obey the orders. In reaction to police heavy handedness, some students raise anti-army slogans." Another part of the video consists of the clipping of the protest against authorities in Gilgit against the shortage of the flour, he mentioned. He dismissed any major conflict within PAK, shift in ideology or major scale of police or army brutality. He, however, admitted there were aberrations. "AJK is a home of political activism and dissidents or political protests have been part of social life since the beginning. Sometime protests get out of control and turn into violent clashes. Often law enforcing authorities use lathicharge to maintain the order."
Is that situation any different from what happens in mainland Pakistan or anywhere in India? Protests over all kinds of issues get out of control and are managed by sheer brutality; even in non-conflict areas there have been stray incidents where army uses its brute powers often for no reason at all. Compare these situations to Kashmir on the Indian side, where development, elections and tourism tells only a very selective narrative. The dominant narrative is of security camps, bunkers, curfews, restrictions and brute lathicharge by security agencies and police, not only on protests for 'azadi' but also on those protesting over development issues. India's track record on human rights is dismal and the cover of impunity that security forces enjoy for their brutality and murders would put humanity to shame; no amount of humanitarian work in situations of earthquakes and floods done by armed forces can whitewash that gruesome reality.
This is not to say that things in PAK are all fine and calm. Of course, like in Indian Kashmir, there are sentiments and ideologies of all shades existing there as well. One acquaintance with origins in PAK maintained that he "did not see any discontent in the territory, whether simmering or pronounced, that has political or economic connotations. Conversely, issues of governance (e.g. quantum of self-governance) that form part of the agenda of various political forces, have not been put to use for any active political mobilizations". However, Ershad Mahmud differs a bit. "As far as political environment is concerned, no major shift has been seen during the last couple of years. AJK's assembly elections are due next year and all eyes are on the upcoming elections," he avers, but adds that some activists often complain that invisible forces keep an eye on their activities and NGOs were served notice that before launching any major initiate they are bound to seek permission from the government. "A couple of books were banned recently under the pretext that these are anti-Pakistan or against the ideology of Pakistan while some of the book shops were told not to sell these books anymore. Besides, some books and maps were confiscated," he further elaborates.
Repression and resentment is not totally unknown on that side of Kashmir. Pakistan for long has taken the high moral ground on the Kashmir issue and appropriated the right to be the champion of democracy and human rights on the Indian side of Kashmir but failed to see the mess in its own backyard. It has raked up UN resolutions on Kashmir but has yet to fulfill its own commitment, as per the same UN resolutions, of de-militarising its side of Kashmir. PAK by no standards is a picture of pure bliss. There is growing unease due to the lack of development and the plunder by Pakistani establishment of natural resources including water from PAK and Gilgit-Baltistan. There is resentment against the share of electricity that the region gets. Among the youth, one does hear of increasing sentiment for re-unification of Jammu and Kashmir and 'azadi'; certainly not merger with India. If Maths be taught to the television anchors intoxicated by their own imaginations, then: if 'A' is not equal to 'B', it is not necessary that 'A' should be equal to 'C'. If they be taught to see things, not from a 'sarkari' or hyper-nationalistic prisms, but from the prisms of journalistic ethics and objectivity, they would have seen that the picture of discontent and brutality in PAK fails to match the scale of it on the Indian side, at least since 1990, which is when armed uprising began. It may be convenient to simply blame Pakistan for aiding and abetting militancy in Kashmir but only a quest for truth would reveal the many blunders of the Indian state - the lack of democratic space, lack of development and treating Kashmiris with suspicion - that created conditions conducive for Pakistan to do that.
The truth as Hashim Qureshi, a man who today is distrusted by establishments of India, Pakistan and even Kashmiris and whose life becomes a perfect metaphor of the predicament of an ordinary Kashmiri, mentioned, "Kashmiris have borne the brunt of ruthlessness of both Indian and Pakistani governments". This ruthlessness may evince itself in different forms on either side of the Line of Control and cannot be selectively endorsed or criticized. Journalists on either side should be treated of their myopia that forbids them to see the negatives on the other side of the fence but not what is happening on their own side. There is a larger context to the entire story and that should not be missed. To reach there, journalists on either side need to shed their jaundiced lenses and make people of Jammu and Kashmir on both sides central to the discourse and engage dispassionately with the varied narratives of peace and violence, prosperity and deprivation, contentment and discontent.