Page 16 - magazine14_Neat

16 July 03 to July 09 2017 : Weekly News Magazine messenger

COVER STORY

e there are fed with the ‘right information’. Don’t panelists on the developments as she does not understand these languages.
these channels (mostly non-Kashmiris) talk endlessly and often So there is no TV channel dedicated to Kashmir where you have
argue on the merits and demerits of giving free choices to Kashmiri panelists discussing Kashmir for Kashmiris.
Kashmiris. After all, Kashmir is not like any other Indian state. it is
Obviously, the population is forced to watch channels they are
a ‘sensitive’ state.
offered and watch helplessly as its the prerogative of the
As one panelist put it. You should have dumped the body of that channel editors to decide whom to include in the discussions, if
‘terrorist’ anywhere instead of giving that back to his family. He at all there are any, on Kashmir. After all, Kashmir does not fetch
meant this would have robbed that 2 lakh ‘misguided’ people many TRPs and as one producer told me last year there is not
chance to attend his funeral. Or to put it simply rob them of an much Bollywood thing happening in Kashmir either these days.
And when Kashmir indeed becomes news it’s always bad news
outlet to vent their anger and frustration.
In the course of debates, none asked this simple question. Why and the nation does not want to hear that anymore.
People in the power corridors in Delhi do not want to hear that
have so many people come out to grieve for Burhan? What did
either. There are after all enough CRPF and other armed forces
he do to achieve that status?
And the right course also includes blocking the ‘wrong’ personnel dumped in Kashmir to take care of the restless
information. population. And they have been doing their job the way they
Thus the range of TV channels Kashmiris are allowed to watch know. After all, they are not trained in the school of politics.
these days are representative of a country of diversity, the nation I was asked by a senior Western Diplomat during a recent chat
of India. From Tamil, Telugu, Bengal, Punjab, Maratha, Hindi, about my take on immediate Kashmir solution. I said let Delhi
English, Urdu but none Kashmiri. treat Kashmiris at par with other states, half of the problem will
Kashmir perhaps is the only place left in the 21st-century world be over. Rest they can take care later. But alas they don’t
which does not have a satellite channel. understand Kashmiri.
I have to struggle hard to brief my inquisitive elderly mother of