Cracked Mirrors

Police parties raiding printing presses of leading Kashmir newspapers on July 16 did not come as a surprise—we are used to the government’s muzzling and arm-twisting. The official government ban after the raid and seizure of newspapers deprived Kashmiris of their morning papers. For five days, there were no newspapers; only after CM Mehbooba

Mufti “deeply regretted” the decision did editors and owners agree to resume publication. It was not just the ban that restrained media houses from publishing; it completed the full circle of media blockade in the Valley grappling with a new wave of violence after the killing of Burhan Wani. All mobile networks, except government-owned BSNL, are blocked; only a limited connectivity to the post-paid numbers and broadband internet is available. Kashmir has been reeling under curfew for about a fortnight and no one was getting updates on the situation.

In such a scenario, newspapers were the only source of information and by banning them the government complicated any process aimed at restoring peace. What it accomplished was to open up a space for rumour mills. Yet, this was not a first. Right from 1990, when armed rebellion broke out, the media has been braving the challenges and the adversities faced by common Kashmiris. Banning newspapers was a tool first used by then governor Jagmohan in 1990. Militants also resorted to this diktat off and on in the mid-’90s. With the situation returning to ‘normal’ until 2008, the media enjoyed a reprieve. But the ghost of restrictions returned to haunt them after the Amarnath land row pushed Kashmir back to public unrest. Governor N.N. Vohra’s administration forced newspapers to shut for about a week. And when Omar Abdullah was fighting the fire in 2010, he too followed suit—a situation was created so that newspapers could not be published. The PDP-BJP government is no different.

Notwithstanding the government shifting blame to the police, this high-handed way with the media has its roots in a perception that Kashmir is not governed by a political leadership. The political class seems helpless before the strong security grid that has evolved like a ‘deep state’. This type of restriction is also seen as the ‘handiwork’ of that ring that does not allow a political leadership to handle issues politically. While a section of national TV channels spreads hatred amongst different communities with impunity, in Kashmir, the government forces the media to toe its line. In 2010, Union home minister P. Chidambaram ordered a ban of DAVP advertisements, targeting five newspapers without any legal basis for three years. The current BJP government has revived the ban for two leading newspapers since January without reason. Clearly, the affairs of Kashmir are run by the ‘deep state’ and voices perceived as pro-people are being made to toe the establishment line.

If a newspaper has to function at all, it cannot shut its eyes to ground realities. It is part of a social milieu in which it may necessarily not agree with a pol­itical view but it cannot be blind to the realities of the place. Newspapers have to report it as a matter of fact. And if governments get nervous over truthful reporting, the solution does not lie in shutting  newspapers down but taking cognisance of what is being reported. By keeping newspapers off the stands, the government tried to ensure a complete communication blockade, as Valley newspapers are a vital medium that reports and documents events. When you don’t have access to the internet and are without newspapers, your only source on the daily grind would be the national media, which is not as neutral as it should be. In earlier days, broadcasters like the BBC would fill that gap, but their radio bulletins are off the air. Then should people rely on All India Radio, Doordarshan and a particular band of news channels? That is perhaps not the answer. You may not like them, you may muzzle them, you may deprive them of advertisements and brand them as pro-separatist, but they only can reflect the pain and agony Kashmir is going through in such phases.

(The author is editor-in-chief, Rising Kashmir, Srinagar)