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  • Hema Malini appreciates Pakistani actors

    The Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association has decided to ban Pakistani artistes from working in Indian movies following an attack on Indian troops in Jammu and Kashmir that left 19 soldiers dead.

    Veteran actress and politician Hema Malini says she appreciates the work of Pakistani actors but cannot say if they should work in India or not.
    Asked about her view on the ban on Pakistani artistes in India, Hema Malini, a BJP MP, said: “I don’t want to comment much on this controversial question. But all I can say is that we are artistes and so are those who come from there (Pakistan) to perform here.
    “As an artiste, I can appreciate their work. But whether they should stay here or not, I can’t comment,” she added. Hema Malini was launching a new campaign of the brand Kent RO.
    The Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association has decided to ban Pakistani artistes from working in Indian movies following an attack on Indian troops in Jammu and Kashmir that left 19 soldiers dead. IANS

  • Two auto rickshaws set ablaze in Srinagar

    The auto-rickshaws were set on fire in Saida Kadal and Baba Demb localities of Srinagar.

    Two auto-rickshaws were set ablaze by unidentified persons in Kashmir capital Srinagar on Wednesday.

    The auto-rickshaws were set on fire in Saida Kadal and Baba Demb localities of Srinagar.

  • Mobile Internet Services Restored In Chenab Valley

    Srinagar: Authorities on Tuesday restored the mobile internet services in Chenab valley and Pir Panchal region of the state, sources said.

    The services were restored in Doda, Kishtwar, Ramban, Rajouri and Poonch districts.

    The decision in this effect was taken in a meeting held in Jammu, they said.

    The internet services in the said areas were suspended on August 5, 2016 after widespread protests in the region over the civilian killings in Kashmir.

    Pertinently, Kashmir valley is without mobile internet services since July 8 when militant commander Burhan Wani was killed.

  • 10 times more security men injured in Kashmir than civilians: CRPF

    Jamshedpur: The number of security personnel injured in the stone-pelting and hand grenade hurling incidents during the recent unrest in Kashmir is ten times more than the figure of civilians injured, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Director General K Durga Prasad said on Tuesday.

    Besides the injured securitymen of Border Security of Force (BSF), Rashtriya Rifle and Jammu and Kashmir police, 3,000 CRPF jawans were wounded in the incidents, Prasad told reporters in Jamshedpur.

    Prasad, who laid the foundation of a barrack and residential quarter for the Rapid Action Force personnel here, said out of the 3,000 injured CRPF jawans, 125 were seriously wounded and many of them were still undergoing treatment in hospitals.

    A combined figure of injured securitymen was ten times more than the number civilians injured in the stone pelting, grenade hurling and mob firing during the unrest in the Valley, he said.

    Stating that the securitymen maintained maximum restrain, he said the forces did not fire even when groups of people hurled grenade and fired at them.

    “We had lost one of our Commanding Officers in Srinagar on the Independence day in the incidents,” Prasad said.

    Asked about the weapons being used by the paramilitary forces, Prasad, flanked by ADG CRPF Sudeep Lakhtakia and IG CRPF, Jharkhand Sanjay Lathkar, said less lethal weapons such as PAVA shells and plastic pellets were used to control mob.

    “We used pellet guns only when the situation was out of control,” he said.

    Referring to barracks and quarters, Prasad said, “We are constructing 10,330 units of quarter and 55 barracks in different locations across the country, which would help reduce the quarter problem from the existing 25 per cent to 16-17 per cent in the next two years. (PTI)

  • Congress leader Nirupam says surgical strikes a fake claim to draw political benefits

    Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam on Tuesday termed the “surgical strikes carried out by the Indian Army across the LoC in Pakistan-administered Kashmir” (PaK) as fake and accused the BJP of making political capital out of it.
    “Every Indian wants Surgical Strikes Against Pakistan but not a fake one to extract just political benefit by BJP. Politics over national interest,” Nirupam tweeted.
    The Maharashtra Congress leader’s remarks came after India said that its soldiers carried out surgical strikes across the Line of Control in PaK and destroyed “seven terror launch pads on September 28 night.” IANS

  • UAVs seen close to Indo-Pak border; tension prevailing: BSF

    The BSF today said “tension” prevails along the western front in the wake of “surgical strikes” and it has witnessed movement of UAVs very close to the Indo-Pak border in the recent past.
    As part of measures to beef up overall security, the border guarding force has also reviewed the preparedness of security mechanisms along the eastern front with Bangladesh so that terrorists are not able to use that country to sneak into India and launch attacks.
    “No doubt, the overall vigil has been increased (along western borders). All the defence and security forces establishments are on their highest alert. There is tension on the western border..we are having active engagement (with Pakistan) at the Line of Control and we are receiving shelling from the other side. However, we are in supportive role at the LoC (to army),” BSF Director General K K Sharma told reporters here.
    He said the BSF and their Bangladeshi counterparts Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), as part of the bi-annual talks that concluded here today, also did “touch upon” the security situation post the surgical strikes conducted by army across the LoC and that both the forces are on “high vigil.”
    “There is no new input (about Bangladeshi territory being used by terrorists)…however, vigil has been increased along the Indo-Bangla border too,” he said.
    Sharma added that while there is “tension” at the International Border (IB) that runs along Jammu, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujrat, there has been no ceasefire violation till now in these areas.
    “We have noticed UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) coming 100 meters upto the border…may be they (Pakistani forces) want to check our preparedness but I can assure you that we are fully capable of giving a befitting reply and we will not allow any nefarious design of terrorists to succeed,” he said.
    The BSF chief added the force has not issued any order for vacating villages on the border and such directives may have been issued by the respective civil administrations of the states.
    “We are even allowing Indian farmers to go to their farms which are beyond the Indo-Pak fence. We have never said vacate villages, people may have shifted out as precautionary measure. Now, people who had gone are coming back. There has been no untoward incident at the IB till now,” he said.
    Talking about a recent incident at the Attari-Wagah retreat ceremony, Sharma said an incident was reported where a “stone” was thrown towards the Indian side but it did not hit anyone and the matter was brought to the notice of their counterparts Pakistan Rangers. PTI

  • 80% bacteria in Kashmir hospitals resistant to last-resort antibiotics: DAK

    Srinagar: Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) today said that Kashmir hospitals have turned into breading grounds for deadly bacteria that are resistant to all antibiotics.
    Raising alarm President DAK Dr Nisar ul Hassan in a statement said that even last-resort antibiotics do not work against these deadly microbes.
    Hospitals in Kashmir have become superbug factories.
    As per 2015 Antibiogram of SKIMS hospital, 80% of bacteria isolated from ICUs were resistant to imipenem which is the last-line antibiotic.
    The most common isolates were E coli, Klebsiella, Pseudomonas and Acinetobacter and they were found to have 100% resistance to ceftriaxone, another high-end antibiotic.
    An increasing trend over the years in the antibiotic-resistant strains was observed in a prospective study at SKIMS.
    The situation in SMHS hospital is horrible as it is flooded with dangerous drug-resistant microbes.
    Patients go to hospitals to get well, but instead contract hospital bugs and die.
    These bugs aren’t limited to hospitals, they are out in the community and anyone, even healthy people, can become infected.
    Lack of infection control measures and poor sanitation in hospitals provide favorable conditions for resistant microorganisms to emerge, spread and persist.
    Inappropriate and irrational use of antibiotics has helped the microbes to evolve into resistant strains.
    We are kind of back to the era of not having antibiotics.
    With no antibiotics, cancer chemotherapy and simple surgery will become impossible and we are facing a future where cough or cut could kill once again.
    It is estimated that more than 700,000 people die each year worldwide, and if the trend continues, the figure will go to 10 million by 2015.
    United Nations in its General Assembly last month signed a declaration to fight a war against superbugs that have evaded science’s last remaining defenses.

  • Closure of ‘Kashmir Reader’ a Setback to Free Speech, Says Amnesty International India

    Srinagar: Authorities in Jammu and Kashmir must revoke an order to stop the printing and publication of Kashmir Reader, a Srinagar-based English daily, Amnesty International India said today.

    The order, passed by the District Magistrate of Srinagar and served to the publication on 2 October, states that the newspaper “contains such material and content which tends to incite acts of violence and disturb public peace and tranquillity”.

    “The newspaper has extensively covered the violence in Kashmir in recent months, and reports of human rights violations by security forces. The Kashmir Editors Guild (KEG) has described the ban as against the spirit of democracy and freedom of press,” said Aakar Patel, Executive Director, AII. “The District Magistrate’s order does not specifically mention any news items in Kashmir Reader that incited violence. This vaguely-worded shutdown order suggests that the newspaper is being targeted for its reporting.”

    “The media plays a crucial role in reporting human rights abuses. The government has a duty to respect the freedom of the press, and the right of people to receive information. It cannot shut down a newspaper simply for being critical of the government.”

    Under international human rights law, any restrictions on the right to freedom of expression on the ground of public order must be demonstrably necessary and proportionate.

    The UN Human Rights Committee, which monitors the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – to which India is a state party – has said: “The free communication of information and ideas about public and political issues between citizens, candidates and elected representatives is essential. This implies a free press and other media able to comment on public issues without censorship or restraint and to inform public opinion.”

    In July, the state government shut down the publication of local newspapers in Kashmir for three days on vague grounds.

  • Look within

    Hilal Mir

    The perennial complaint of the state that the local media coverage is “biased, baseless, motivated” exists only because the state functionaries and its PR system have been largely unresponsive and unprofessional

    Why has been banned? This is the question I have been asked by several reporters, representatives of rights organisations, concerned colleagues and friends since Sunday evening, when a posse of policemen delivered at our office the Srinagar district magistrate’s gag order, intriguingly dated ‘30.9.2016’.
    The contents of the order are, more or less, self explanatory. It says the newspaper “contains such material and content which tends to incite acts of violence and disturb public peace and tranquillity”. Has the government pointed out such content to us or sought an explanation from us? No. The question therefore lingers. Why?

    There are no simple answers, although one can call it an assault on the freedom of speech and rest. A few days into the raging uprising, the state government asked newspapers to suspend publication for three days. The government spokesman said the government apprehended “trouble over the next three days and suspending publication was considered necessary”.
    And when it couldn’t handle the embarrassment triggered by international outrage, the chief minister’s advisor first denied that a ban had been imposed and requested the newspapers to resume the publication.
    When the government spokesman announces the ban and the CM’s advisor does the fire fighting, it shows the government’s capability to handle the fourth estate has taken a hit. A media gag at the peak of a mass uprising has far reaching consequences. The perfunctory manner in which the ban was announced should have spurred some introspection in the government.

    Instead, the ‘administration’ put the muzzle on Kashmir Reader. Only this time the gag order comes with legal armour, apparently to frighten the rest of the local media into submission.
    A day before the ban was imposed, one of our reporters called a senior police officer for information about a story. The officer told him that he should start looking for a job as Kashmir Reader would be shut down sooner or later. The officer labelled the newspaper as “Lashkar-e-Toiba’s own organ”. The conversation, which the officer would probably dismiss as a joke, is frightening. If a senior police officer perceives a newspaper as the property of a militant outfit, we naturally become the legitimate targets of a ‘surgical strike’.
    The same mindset is pervasive in the structure of the state. Hardly any official or minister expects a reporter to question him about a story in a detached, professional manner. The professional aloofness is considered an affront to the power.
    Media can function professionally in an atmosphere of mutual respect. A reporter’s job becomes easy when officials are available to answer to their queries. It becomes more important in emergency situations. Will a police officer’s belligerence help a young reporter grow professionally? Will it not colour his perception of the entire police force?
    The perennial complaint of the state that the local media coverage is “biased, baseless, motivated” exists only because the state functionaries and its PR system have been largely unresponsive and unprofessional.
    In a situation, where scores of events are occurring every day, isn’t it incumbent upon the government to proportionately strengthen its media outreach? Unlike Indian and international media outlets, the local media has to process a larger number of stories every day. Therefore, the state and its organs should be easily accessible for the local media so that the reportage is fair and balanced. No professional organisation would want to publish reports that do not carry as many sides of the story as possible.
    Now, Kashmir Reader has been accused of publishing content that “incites acts of violence and disturbs peace”. It would have been helpful if the gag order had made a mention of a specific report so that we could answer it.
    But in the absence of such communication, we assume that it is a generalised accusation. Newspapers were not published for three days but the ‘violence’ persisted. Who incited the violence during those three days? The government’s mishandling of the media springs from its wilful refusal to accept the reality on the ground. The state should take a hard look within to seek answers to who incites violence.
    It should ask itself whether the street is not further enraged when the chief minister makes a casual remark on the killing of children, rather than blaming the media which only reports her remark.
    The relations between the local media and the state government are complex. The masses are not familiar with such complexity. But the successive governments are fully aware of these dynamics. Suffice to say, it is unwise to hold media relations hostage to the whims of a few persons. While the media is always looking for self improvement, it would do the government good to reciprocate fairly and professionally.
    Author is editor Kashmir Reader.

     

  • Kashmir and the notorious world of TV News

    Umar Shah

    Ram Gopal Verma’s movie, Rann, released in 2010, and has a conversation between a journalist Anand Prakash Trivedi, played by Raj Pal Yadav and an aspiring Bollywood filmmaker Nandita Sharma played by Gul Panaag. Yadav asks Panag what she does? After hearing that the woman is a part of the film industry, Yadav tells Panag: “Madam, filmain toh hum bhi banate hain, magar hum usse NEWS kehtae hae (We (journalists) too make films. The only difference is that we call it NEWS).”

    Till July, 2015, there were as many as 403 TV news channels operational in India as per the figures put forth by the Indian government’s ministry of information and broadcasting. The only priority for these 24×7 news channels is to keep their screens buzzing with ‘Breaking and Exclusive News’ reports.

    Ahead of the 2014 polls, the BJP presented Narendra Modi as its Prime Ministerial candidate, declaring him as India’s promising face who could usher a revolution in economic development and upliftment of the downtrodden. The TV cameras started zooming their lenses at Modi’s every rally and every meeting. The prime ministerial candidate in return started selling the ‘Gujarat Model’. The news channels accepted it in its very form of originality- caring little to uphold the principles of journalism and confirm the veracity of Modi’s claims. Not even a single TV journalist dared to visit Gujarat, its far flung areas, its hamlets and its countryside to confirm the truth behind the model being marketed to India’s millions of voters, young and old, rich and poor, who were aspiring to find their country prosperous and worthy to live. The news channels accepted the BJP claims without even an iota of efforts to scrutinize them, despite knowing well how such claims would decide the future of India for next five years.

    Solid ground reporting remains elusive in today’s TV journalism in India. Gone are the days when reporters would tread the treacherous paths to capture truth, that often nestles under the shades of grey. It is now the Studio talk- the cheapest way to keep feeding the 24×7 beast.

    When CAG slammed the UPA regime over numerous ‘corruption gates’, news channels found it easier to copy paste the CAG findings. They worked little to examine the facts. The SCAM, SCAM, SCAM was the cry every news channel was making then. But how many of them have themselves gone through the documents to verify and ascertain?

    The foundation of journalism lies in the principle that Governments lie. In today’s world of TV journalism in India, the arguments, counter arguments, bizarre claims and jibes by governments and opposition are the prime sources of news. Tickers buzz with quotes, allegations and rants. “The CAG said the country had lost 1.76 lakh crores in spectrum allocation; we believed it, almost uncritically,” writes eminent Journalist Rajdeep Sardesai in his book The Election that changed India.

    2014 was the year of floods in Kashmir. Ravaging waters of Jehlum wreaked havoc in Valley’s most parts, submerging houses and destroying government as well as private properties worth thousands of crores. The TV News Channels turned blind eye towards the hardships people faced in the midst of the nature’s fury. The screens started showing the selective areas, housing mostly tourists, being rescued by the army. Army later charged 500 crore rupees from state government for its rescue operations in Kashmir but who gives a dam. The beast had a breakfast, lunch, dinner and he had slept that day quietly.

    Contrary to what TV cameras revealed to their audience about Kashmir getting entirely marooned, there were still major areas where waters didn’t reach. One among them was Hyderpora where anti-India resistance Syed Ali Geelani resides. However, the breaking news in the prime time was about Geelani being rescued by army from his house. When I later went to interview the octogenarian and told him what TV channels claimed, he laughed and laughed. I had interviewed Syed Ali Geelani for more than six times till then but never witnessed such a notorious laugh on his face ever. “Didn’t they say I hugged the army tightly when they came for my rescue,” he said and laughed again.

    During flood relief operations , a short video clip of approximately 3 minutes of duration was captured by an anonymous person in which an argument between the local Congress workers and JKLF activists was recorded. The TV news channels had to split their screens into 10 boxes and an issue of JKLF stealing the rescue boat was discussed at threadbare. India’s ‘eminent faces’ including the former army Generals, writers, self proclaimed social activists were roped in to ridicule ‘PAK Agent Malik’. A former army general even shouted during the debate that it is Pakistan that has mandated its agents in Kashmir to create disruption in relief distribution so that it could regain a constituency in the region.

    The channel that was first to air this anonymous video with the hashtag ‘Exclusive: PAK thief exposed’, didn’t even bother to confirm the authenticity of the video ahead of airing it to millions of its viewers. It was finally the Bureau Chief of that channel who threatened to resign if views of the ‘accused party’ aren’t included. Furious, Yasin Malik was finally given a chance to appear as a guest on the channel. What we saw before the JKLF chief’s screen turned blank was he furiously telling the news anchor ‘You are a mental patient and you immediately need a psychiatrist.’

    Post 2014 witnessed the emergence of ISIS and Pakistan flags during protests in old city of Srinagar. Such pictures turned enough for the TV news anchors to declare ISIS presence in Kashmir. As the first protest got a massive prime time chuck, next Friday saw the number of these flags doubled. I asked a stone thrower in old city about the reason behind the waiving of such flags during protests. “We eagerly wait for 9.P.M news in our homes every Friday. We see people fighting and screaming over the issue. We see how flags are encircled with red colour and shown for hours with commercials staring celebrities,” was how he put forth the reason. But does he and others, waving such flags know what it really means? “It means nothing for us but everything for the news channels.”

    Today, when Kashmir is reeling under constant curfew, strikes and clashes, the TV news channels have exposed their Kashmir correspondents to serious threats. These ‘sound-bite hungry soldiers’ can’t freely walk in civilian areas, leave alone covering any public event. If you watch them on TV giving Piece to Camera (PTC) on Kashmir’s roads, believe it that the road is either deserted or guarded by the forces’ personnel.

    We have seen how TV journalists were thrashed and beaten up by people in hospitals where injured were rushed after post July 8 protests. We have seen how resistance leaders have barred these correspondents from covering any of their events. We have seen people sensing India’s mood about Kashmir’s plight through these media houses results in more anger, more protests and more killings.

    Whether these channels would ever rise up from the wild accusations, bizarre claims and uncalled for provocations is yet to be seen. All we can say at present is that these channels whose screens keep buzzing like the monitors at the airports announcing flight schedules, have so far contributed much in brewing up the anger that we witness sauntering on Kashmir’s every street. May Journalism prevail in its true sense and meaning!

    (Umar Shah is a journalist based in Kashmir. If you wish to contribute to Kashmir Today, Please send your submissions to [email protected])