New Delhi, Jan 27: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has reiterated his commitment for setting up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission which will look into entire gamut of developments that have taken place in Jammu and Kashmir over the decades.
Speaking at a panel discussion on “Kashmiri Youth and Media: A Perception Survey”, Omar said the T&RC will specifically deal with issues related to both Kashmiri Pandit and Muslim communities. He made this commitment following protests by certain Kashmiri Pandit groups that the survey conducted by the Institute for Research on Indian and International Studies regarding media impact on Kashmiri youth had left out the community.
Omar admitted that the survey report was not a comprehensive one. It should be treated as a starting point. Much more needs to be done to carry this exercise forward, he added. He also advocated that the people’s mindset should change as this survey sponsored by the Union Home Ministry might be described as “doctored”.
There is freedom of speech and we must discuss all such issues, he added.
Participating in the discussion, former chairman of the panel of interlocutors, Dileep Padgaonkar said the study report had a great discrepancy as it has excluded Jammu and Ladakh. Its findings corroborate to a great extent the facts brought out by the interlocutors, he said.
He pointed to the total opaque system under which the media was functioning in Kashmir. “There is no such thing as Audit Bureau of Circulation in Kashmir. There is no way to know circulation of newspapers or reach of the electronic media,” he observed.
Padgaonkar said the entire discourse on J&K during the past six decades was skewed one. The state’s problems are only looked at from the prism of Kashmir and this perception should change, he felt.
Nidhi Razdan, associate editor (foreign affairs) NDTV, disagreed with the contention that Kashmir related developments were not given proper space in the national media. To the contrary, on many occasions the national media provides more space to the Kashmir-centric issue, she felt.
However, she lambasted the journalists belonging to the national media for their “parachute journalism” approach. Problem with the national media was that they land in Kashmir for a few days and end up becoming experts, which is unacceptable,” she added.
Senior journalist Ahmed Ali Fayaz spoke about the lack of setup to monitor the functioning of media. In this regard he said the Press Council of India has visited Kashmir only thrice in the last two decades.
Pointing towards Omar, he wanted to know as to how Pakistani channels were being viewed in the Valley despite a ban. “There is no ban on these channels in Kashmir. As many as 10 local channels were telecasting news related program even from district headquarters without requisite permission” he said.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 27 Jan 2012 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 28 Jan 2012 00:00:00 IST