Stories From Kashmir

abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) is showing up Indian media in its glory and less flattering sides. Ims of National Security visor (NSA) Ajit Doval breaking bre with Kashmiris flash across our screens is propaganda for some, confidence building for ors and a third section pours bile. A fourth is waiting to see which is most lucrative pitch to take. Like parasites y survive all systems and are also part of media. y pose a serious threat to media because y are stockbrokers hunting for next deal, terrorism and war included. 
 
Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh invites Kashmiri students for a meal to celebrate Eid. star and sunken media in India that often looks for western applause is flummoxed – how to report something good in b light? How to swim against tide? 

For broker editors, peace is a boring. It involves hard work, fact-checking and multiple sources. se are basics of journalism all good newsrooms strive for irrespective of ir political bent. In fact one of main tenets of straight reporting is to write a story as if you’re writing it for first time, making assumptions about how much reer kws. Parasites dislike deontology. For m, everyone and everything is wrong in India except m. 

Down south Congress party’s P. Chidambaram stirs up communal tensions in Tamil saying h Kashmir been Hindu dominated, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would t have abrogated Article 370. He has mand to alarm even most diehard critics of Narendra Modi government at a time when his own party is leerless and rudderless and has played a key role in running J&K to ground. 

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Let us make mistake. All political parties have played golf with dominant Abdullah and Mufti families of J&K. re are however special links between two dynasties and Gandhi dynasty that has profited from status quo. Terrorism is t an overnight dition – it has been allowed to grow, even nurtured almost to a point of return. big difference w is that Modi government is playing its version of golf where re is handicap and all cdies have been fired. 
 
Complex problems like J&K cant be solved sequentially. Multiple processes and initiatives have to be engd with and calibrated to achieve convergence. abolition of Article 370 is a beginning. A heavy helping of firm compassion will be necessary for government to turn this master-stroke into a piece of Indian history we can all own and rejoice in. media must be a lighthouse, t a parasite in this journey.

If journalists believe y are writing first draft of history, w is time to show ir deontology, kwledge and faith. y have to earn right to write about national security and terrorism where thing is a given and where lives are at stake. 

It is important to call out all propaganda. For that you need to re, something many breathless sous fiefs that includes editors in Indian newsrooms have never felt need to as dollars were free and discussions were fed. Few have re United Nations (UN) Resolution 47 of 1948 whose obligations were to be implemented in sequence beginning with vacation of aggression by Pakistan. While India has maintained its part of resolution in letter and spirit for 65 years, Pakistan has assimilated regions under its control using demographic change and violence. 

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I have yet to re a single report from India or outside that tells whole story coherently from a correct historical perspective. worst offenders this time around are London-based Anglo Saxon media. Perhaps y are envious India has mand to break free of legacy of partition that meant India would have to carry yoke of religion as part of its foreign policy. Without religion, Pakistan has foreign policy. I would even go so far as to say that unable to cope with religious difference and diversity in ir own country, United Kingdom (UK)  – something India has mand to do with all its faults and freckles – y are flapping around to run New Delhi down. So far India has steered clear of that trap, but se are early days. China, t UK, is where first kck could come from. 
 
preachers and pundits of peace may wish to reflect on war during month atom bomb was dropped on Japan ending one of history’s bloodiest wars. A little less that 50 later, same powers, armed to ir teeth, were killing each or again in Europe in Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia to correct what y claimed were fault lines of history. Which lines were y referring to and whose fault were y talking about? Was it same kind of fault that killed half a million children in Iraq as collateral dam or identical to Anglo Saxon propaganda that won Pulitzers for reporting on n-existent weapons of mass destruction (WMDs)? Abolition of Article 370A is t West Bank. Re.
 
I have reported from Sarajevo and seen how embedded American journalists reported “live” from “ground” from Intercontinental Hotel.  I was stuck in curfew in sniper’s alley with two or journalists one from Switzerland and ar from Croatia as we misunderstood safety and security regulations. It was our fault. We h fantastic stories to report. Doing so would compromise our hosts. When t to write is also deontology.  

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I have also been on or side, working with an aid ncy in Amman, Jordan where thousands of refugees arrived fleeing Gulf War. Journalists wanted stories, y were getting call backs from ir editors, y were angry. I have learnt that if you sit down and explain situation to reporters, even most aggressive will understand. Journalists are human beings first. parasite however, will t understand and will stir trouble. Voices in India calling for western news ncies to be thrown out are parasites. thing can be worse for country and its journalism. 

Absence of deontology is first sign of disrespect. In journalism, it sticks out like a sore thumb. Reporting from J&K is t a running race with a finishing line. It concerns national security that has been pawned around for profit. That industry h abruptly ended. guilty will fear monger – that’s par for course.  re is probably worse in store. Journalists with ground kwledge on both sides say ISIS jih that has been in making for years is gearing up. Expect faithless to taunt and tear, dismissing work of reporters on ground as stegraphy.  

How much do y hate mselves? How fake is ir bleak?

( views and opinions expressed within this article are personal opinions of author. facts, analysis, assumptions and perspective appearing in article do t reflect views of Republic TV/ Republic World/ ARG Outlier Media Pvt. Ltd.)