Media blackout on Kashmir genocide

According to the harbingers of 'Aman ki Asha Indian troops martyred at least 45 innocent Kashmiri people including four children during the spate of recent interstate terror campaign in June 2010. Earlier it was said that Indian security forces killed 15 Kashmiri, in protest over the murder of 17-year-old young boy, on June 11, including two women and four children. Actually, the issue was simmering since April, this year, when three Kashmiri villagers from Sopore were shot to death. The political temperature also fluctuated after the failure of Indo-Pakistan talks. Meanwhile, there were reports about the injuring of a total of 572 Kashmiris when Indian troops opened fire upon un-provocative mass rallies, resorted to tear gas shelling and carried out violence in the torture cells. As a damage control measures, the telecasts of TV channels were shut down in various areas like Barmullah and Sopore for showing Pakistan channels. There were also reports about the imposition of curfew and restrictions imposed in many places across the Kashmir valley. Kashmir remained in the news, with very little clue for global community, with no traces what all has forces these people to be up against the Indian ruling machinery, when violence again engulfed the valley due to Security Forces uprising and curfew had to be clamped to bring the situation under control. Till last reports, Kashmir is burning while Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reiterated his resolve to display a 'zero tolerance policy toward any human rights abuses, committed by the half a million security forces stationed in the IHK - home to 10 million people. As usual, New Delhi again charged Pakistani government for training and financing the insurgents, claiming hundred were waiting to enter the LOC on their side to play havoc- a readymade excuse to hoodwink international observers and nave audience. The severe shortage of the supply of items of daily use and closure of business centers crippled the whole life, beyond anybodys guess. But what was so painful was medias black-out, when the Kashmiri women suffered rape, molestation, kins disappearances, psychological trauma and torture and demands to repeal the draconian law 'Armed Forces Special Power Act. To turn the tide in his favor, Sheikh Omar Abdullah first raised his voice against the AFSPA but later took a U-turn that exposed his true face and caused much resentment. Instead of covering the details, the media remained busy in simply painting a different picture, as if it was a trivial issue and a mischief of few insurgents, who were hell bent to spoil the peace of the region. Media black out referes to the censorship of news related to certain topic, for any reason. A media blackout may be voluntary, or may in some countries be enforced by the government or state. In Indias case, it is deliberate attempt to block the flow of information, blatant HR violations attempt, to keep the global community in the dark, not letting them see with their own eyes how Kashmiris are being treated. It is said that there is no smoke without fire. If there was nothing so significant that triggered massive rallies and demonstration, why then situation aggravated to such an extent that forced the IHK administration to clamp curfew in most of the districts and that too for such a long time. Media blackout are used, in Kashmir, in particular, to hold back intelligence, as it sends a wrong signal across the world, contrary to much over-blown claims of 'Shining India and the 'largest democracy of the world. Indian government has already banned the entry of all fact-finding missions in Kashmir. The UN Peace Keepers too are not allowed to enter into the area as it is interpreted as third country intervention. On the other hand, it is Pakistan that is always hosting foreign delegates to visit the valley and see with their own eyes, what all goes on under the feel good diplomacy. The UN Peace Keeping Mission are stationed on this part of the region, enjoying full liberty and government protection, as a gesture and token of our legitimacy of claims and for sake of transparency - to allow the world community to judge, where the truth lies. At the same time, Pakistan too failed to have ingress to collect the details, what all is being cooked up against us, in terms of terror charges, invariably routinely hurled contrary to the fact that it was an outcome of Indian Security Forces gross misuse of power. But the greatest tragedy which the victims of Kashmiri face is callous attitude of almost all the international Human Right Watch bodies like Amnesty International, United Nations, Red Cross and US State Departments lackadaisical and nonchalant response to the continued HR violations. When, the stories how these innocent people faced the third degree methods of torture, women undergoing the rape and molestation, mothers facing the trauma of their sons disappearance and extra-judicial killings, children becoming orphans reach across the border, it sends a wave of shock and resentment throughout the country. But, what war more agonizing was New Delhis hocus-pocus approach, her diplomats displayed throughout Composite Dialogue Process, to scuttle the peace process, while world community watching their actions so dispassionately. not realizing how worst history of criminal ignorance would leave this universe with the law of jungle, like Dark and Medieval times, once again.

ePaper - Nawaiwaqt