Section of US media portraying biased image on Kashmir, says Indian envoy
Washington, Sept 12: Even as the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has cleared the air of suspicion on Kashmir issue by refusing to get drawn into the situation and appealing India and Pakistan to resolve the issue through bilateral dialogue, the US media continues to portray a biased picture of the issue, according to the Indian Ambassador to the US Harshvardhan Shringala.
Shringala said that a section of the US media particularly those who call themselves as liberals, has been portraying the one-sided image of the Kashmir issue. He alleged that this section of the US media is acting on the instructions of those who are against India’s interests.
India scrapped Article 370 that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir and divided the state into two union territories. This is done in the interest of the people of J & K. In a interview Shringala said that Article 370 was a provision that encouraged chaos and chocked the economy of the state besides encouraging Pak-sponsored terrorism.
However, this section of the US media did not bring these realities into focus and intentionally projected only one-sided and biased image of the state of J & K. It continued to focus on issues that the adversaries of India wanted to highlight, the Indian envoy alleged.
The Indian embassy in the US is constantly in touch with the US opinion makers, lawmakers and officers and think tanks and providing them with material and information on J & K, he said.
Citing some examples of this lopsided reporting by the US media the Indian Ambassador said that on September 7, the Washington Post wrote that one Kashmiri youth was killed in firing from security forces and yet the Government of India claims that Kashmir is peaceful.
However, the fact is that the youth was killed not due to firing but as he was hit by some hard object on his head. India NSA Ajit Dobhal clarified on the youth’s death on September 7, 2001, the day Washington Post published this biased news.
USA Today on September 7 wrote that Indian security forces have converted Muslim majority Kashmir into jail. Security forces are raiding the houses in the night and searching people.
NSA DObhal again rejected this claim by stating that the security forces are deployed to thwart the terrorists’ bid to enter the state. Restrictions are in force only in 10 out of the 190 police station areas in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
The New York Times on September 5 reported that India’s Hindu Nationalist government has taken away the autonomy of the Muslim Majority areas of Jammu and Kashmir. Though the government claims to have opened up landline phones, the people are not able to contact through phones.
However, Principal Secretary of J & K Rohit Kansal refuted the claim of the New York Times saying that land line services are opened in all the areas of Kashmir valley. Government is considering opening of internet and mobile services also.