When media muddies Kashmir’s troubled waters

Kashmir is burning again. Or so our national media, especially the self-proclaimed "nationalistic" channels, has advertised daylong across TV screens for the last few days.

Channels have sprayed us with images of separatist Masarat Alam flying the Pakistani flag, anchors have machine-gunned questions at politicians and authorities, and social media has got sucked into the pool of outrage.

"Thank u media for getting #MasaratAlam arrested. It would've not been possible without u. Lets maintain this pressure for other terrorists," tweeted filmmaker and Kashmiri Pandit activist Ashok Pandit.

Before it is too late, it is time to stop and ask: Is this in national interest?

Short-sighted patriotism and hysterical attention is the surest way to stoke to life a withering and desperate insurgency. The likes of Masarat Alam and Yasin Malik have made us collectively bite the bait and must be smiling.

A most radical and bold experiment is underway in Jammu and Kashmir. A party seen as sympathetic to the Hindu aspirations is in the government with one which electorally represented the voice of Muslim-dominated Kashmir, and they are trying to work towards a goal. If they succeed, it will not just transform politics of the state but also have a profound effect on national politics. That is what the separatists fear.

Massive turnouts at both parliamentary and state elections have squeezed their already-dwindling political space. There was a time when hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani would get lakhs to come out to the streets with one call, a senior PDP leader told me recently. "But now, they find it difficult to get even 3,000-4,000 people together," he said.

Similarly, Asiya Andrabi — "who doesn't even have 10 people with her," according to local leaders — is being shown again and again on national television spewing anti-India poison.

Geelani's proposed Tral yatra on Friday to create trouble over the encounter death of a young man in Tral was a pathetic flop after cops refused him permission.

And while studios in Delhi and Mumbai played images of stone-pelting round the clock, they conveniently did not tell viewers that these protests happened only in two or three places. Entire north Kashmir and most other parts were as calm as the waters of the Wular or Dal.

But the national media will have none of that. Screens burned with epithets like "traitor" and "deshdrohi" splayed across Alam's photo. Intifada-style stone-pelting undoubtedly makes for great television visuals across the world.

But sometimes, especially when dealing with a subject as hot and delicate as Kashmir, the media ought to step back and weigh the implications of a story over its mass appeal.

The current coverage makes Kashmiris feel mainstream India views every Kashmiri as a villain and terrorist. And mainstream India gets the impression that all of Kashmir is a warfield, every Kashmiri a Masharat.

Kashmir's age-old politics over dead bodies makes it the most putrid of all. By giving cornered separatists such a platform, we are pushing to the wall the extraordinary mandate Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh have given to democracy.

Flashing the Pakistani flag is not new or rare in Kashmir. But giving it disproportionate airtime to whip up patriotism neatly fulfils the troublemakers' objectives.

Alam's seditious actions are far from novel in the Valley. But one must remember that he got bail in spite of 27 cases slapped against him and the order for his release was passed on February 4.

Also, there is a crucial difference between a separatist and a terrorist. Masharat, for all his devious bigotry and hate politics, has never wielded a gun. The Indian state has not run out of options to deal with him.

The media's claim that their hounding of the CM has led to Alam's arrest may not be true as well. Mufti, who doesn't watch much TV otherwise, apparently got extremely upset when he saw the Pakistani ambassador and a spokesperson in Islamabad fishing in Kashmir's troubled waters. He immediately ordered Alam's arrest.

"PDP may have a very different approach from us, but its commitment to India and Kashmir is beyond question," says a senior BJP leader.

"Mufti saab is the best nationalist to get in that camp."

The month-old PDP-BJP government is grappling with fresh floods. Rs 200-300 crore has already been distributed as relief. Mufti is meeting prominent Bollywood personalities on April 26 to ask them to come and shoot in J&K. His government is trying hard to assure tourists that Kashmir is safe.

To derail an earnest beginning to a relationship fraught with landmines would harm not the PDP or the BJP, but India. The media needs to tread with restraint. As the PDP leader puts it: "The biggest threat to governance in Kashmir is not these irrelevant separatists. It is the 9 pm inquisition on our news channels."