BY MAJEED AHMAD
A Delhi based rag magazine in its June 1 issue carried a story “False Flags: The Indian Army’s secretive role in hyper-nationalist protests in Kashmir” which is nothing but a bundle of lies and a deceit.
In the 16-page story, the magazine alleged that Indian army was behind protests against Pakistan sponsored terrorism in Kashmir.
The article was amusing to some but nightmare for many. The author, named prominent person of Kashmir valley as Indian army’s torch bearers in these protests.
By doing so, this wannabe keyboard warrior carefully send out the hit-list to terrorist groups on the prowl of people advocating peace in the valley. The self-acclaimed scribe, a stone pelter-turned-journalist is not new to shipping out hit-list of prominent Kashmiris cleverly wrapped under reportage. Before, sending out the names in army story, this arm-chair reporter, facing three FIRs for his secessionist activities, had deliberately leaked the name of journalists, who were demanding election of Kashmir Press Club as per law of the land.
He is the typical example of what United Nations call ‘Narrative Terrorists’- someone who can incite terrorist acts with writing online or offline. In its meeting on ‘Countering Violent Extremism and Terrorist Narratives’ UN said : “The Council further encourages States to engage with relevant local communities and non-governmental actors in developing strategies to counter violent extremist narratives that can incite terrorist acts”.
WHO IS THE WANNABE JOURNO?
He is a prime example of a gang of ‘supari’ journalists, who have mushroomed in Kashmir in recent years. This starry-eyed man, who was active stone pelter during 2008-2010, all of a sudden in 2011 became a ‘photojournalist.’ With no qualification at his back, a camera was what was required to become a journalist and he took the refuge in the noble profession so that he can galvanize support for anti-national elements.
After taking journalism as a shield this cheerleader of terror would reach to the spots where stone-pelting was to be carried as his friends would inform him in advance. In turn he and his ilk would not only give coverage to stone-pelters but also glamorize them in local-media then.
It was in November 2011 when during one such incident he was caught outside historic Jamia Masjid in Old City and detained. Due to the intervention of some journalists, who had good rapport with the police, he was saved.
After coming into the notice of the police, the so-called photojournalist within a year or so shifted his base to Delhi, where he came in touch with some anti-national Kashmiri journalists, including another so-called editor, who is in jail for his anti-national activities for the last four months.
HIS NAME SURFACED IN #MeToo CAMPAIGN
When on October 6, 2018 one Rama Dwivedi accused the circus master editor of being her molester during #MeToo campaign, the name of this keyboard warrior also surfaced. Here I quote the complete thread of Dwivedi’s tweet.
“He touched me inappropriately several times at that party. When I told him that his action was not apt and that what we had was in the past, the pseudo intellectual journo very conveniently said “C’mon, we have been there. You cannot say that you don’t like it.”
“I was shocked and asked him to back-off. But this so-called editor is not a person who takes a no for an answer, he believes consent is permanent. He tried to force himself upon me while muttering things like “Do I not turn you on anymore?”. At this moment he was pushed back.”
“But instead of stopping here, he then went to another room and made a pass at my friend Akanksha Narain sitting there. He even locked himself with her in a washroom. This guy got away the next day by saying “I was drunk.”
“His friends who were there in the same house, including a Kashmiri photojournalist, said not a single word to stop him. He tried to normalise the entire incident. He also came to my home next day with an intent to pacify the entire situation. Chalo ho gaya, forget that,” he told my friend not to file an FIR in this case and convince Rama not to do the same, because if this comes out “it will bring shame” to them.”
“The same guy, few weeks before all this, wanted to take our friendship to new heights. When I rejected his pass, he very shamelessly told me that he liked me and “Dosti jab itni achhi ho to naye mukaam haasil karne hote hain.”
The above tweets of Ms Dwivedi are enough to explain what sort of journalism the tainted editor and this self-acclaimed multimedia reporter have been doing all these years in Delhi and Srinagar.
In this piece of trash not only he has cast aspirations on the conduct of a professional army like Indian army, but he has also named some individuals and making their lives vulnerable to terror threats.
HOW TERRORISTS are TRYING TO SILENCE CIVIL SOCIETY
If civil society in Kashmir has started protesting against the brutalities of the terrorists, it is not acceptable to this dubious lensman and his ilk. For them killings of civilians by terrorists is acceptable and it should be taken as part of ‘jihad.’ If anybody opens his mouth and talks about peace in Kashmir he and his ilk will vilify him and get him killed by terrorists much like they got veteran journalist Shujaat Bukhari and lawyer Baber Qadri.
Despite maligning an institution of army and other state institutions and then enjoying freedom of working in New Delhi is only possible in a democratic country like India. If this chronic misreporting mischief would have written a similar piece in Pakistan, by now he would have been resting in his grave much like dozens of journalists in the neighboring country.
The time of Pakistani terrorists and their proxies in Kashmir is ending and it’s so-called left liberal media which in the name of ‘freedom of press’ is giving refuge to this murky sort of people. If police will call him for investigations as his piece of trash has threatened the lives of several ‘ people, the left liberal media terms it as ‘violation of freedom of press.’
The freedom of expression is not absolute. It carries with it special responsibilities, and may be restricted on several grounds. Those who write on Kashmir and freedom of press must shun their biased approach and report factually. The reality is that ‘journalists’ like this wannabe multimedia journo make lives of innocent civilians vulnerable in Kashmir through their social media accounts and when anybody files a complaint against them, they start a misinformation campaign across the country and the world that there was ‘threat to freedom of press’ in Kashmir. The reality is that these stooges are on the payrolls of enemy country and need to be taken to the task.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author.
The facts, analysis, assumptions and perspective appearing in the article do not reflect the views of GK.