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Covering Kashmir: Early years of militancy
The Jannat`s in disarray and so is the media. But when did it all start? At the time militancy was in its infancy, the media was just beginning to feel the heat. Threats started coming in, as militants slowly understood how media could prove to be useful tool in their game plan. While private news organisations began to close shop or mould with the time, state run media was worst hit. Rahul Kanwal reports.
Report : Rahul Kanwal
"The ground reality is not what we read in the newspapers", this statement by G M Sofi, Editor of the `Srinagar Times`, one of Kashmir`s most respected newspapers, reflects of the state of journalism in the strife torn state. In a land torn asunder by insurgency, no one has been spared. Not even the journalists. In Kashmir there is no such thing as journalistic independence, only journalism that aids the movement for independence.
The Press Council of India in its report on the state of media in Jammu and Kashmir found that, "Both the press and the electronic media are under constant threat of ban, violence, arson, bomb attacks and abduction of their employees and families as also physical liquidation." G M Sofi explains the situation thus, "In Srinagar no newspaper can be run fearlessly and independently because the government is in no position to ensure our safety. Our families are here. They have to move around. It is not possible to stay in hiding always. We are compelled to toe the line of the militants to keep ourselves and our newspaper alive." The situation was not always this way. In 1989, when insurgency was still in its infancy, local newspapers were full of support of the militants. "Editors and reporters firmly believed that the movement would carry the day and independence would be achieved", says Aasha Khosa, a Special Correspondent of the Indian Express, who has reported from Kashmir for many years. The idea at that time was to teach New Delhi a lesson for the years of misrule. But when Farooq Abdullah resigned as Chief Minister of J&K in the latter half of 1989 and Jagmohan took over as Governor, the Centre began to tighten the screws on the separatist newspapers. That`s when the militants too began applying pressure. Any newspaper, which carried pro-government stories, was attacked. Caught between the devil and the deep sea, many local newspapers began to shut down, most notably Al Safa and Wadi Ki Awaz.
The Urdu daily Al Safa was one of the early victims of the terrorists. Mohammed Shaban Vakil, the Editor, was shot dead in his office on April 23, 1991. A powerful explosion damaged the printing press of the daily Aftab on November 4, 1990. The other victim of militant anger was Srinagar Times, edited by Sofi Ghulam Mohammed. An explosion took place at the Dal Gate residence of the editor on October 2, 1990. Al Safa voiced the problems faced by the media in Srinagar when it said, “During the last four years, militancy has affected all shades of the public life in the Valley. The press had also to see ups and downs during these years. At times journalists had to bear unbecoming treatment at the hands of the government and at times militant outfits burnt copies of newspapers, broke the furniture and humiliated journalists…. Local newspapers and correspondents have had to suffer more at the hands of those other than the government. Publication of newspapers has been banned at will and their copies burnt by militants… Statements about clashes between different militant outfits have been a source of great anxiety for local journalists. If the length of the statement of one organization exceeded that of the other outfit, the paper had to bear the onslaught. The profession of journalism has been tied in chains and anybody who tired to break the chains would be sentenced to death.”
Such pressure was not restricted only to the local media. Even reporters of national newspapers were expected not to publish any material showing the terrorists in bad light. But since national dailies could not possibly adopt a pro-militancy line, they decided to pull their correspondents out. And so for next three years, except for the Indian Express and Tribune no other major newspaper had representatives in the Valley. The Daily Excelsior, a Kashmir-based daily, on July 18, 2000 carried a news item with a headline `2 freed from militants` clutches`. Another Kashmir daily, Kashmir Times also carried the news item on the same day with headline ‘2 youngsters rescued from militants`. Apart from different headlines, both the news reports had the same language and were a verbatim copy of each other. If one assumes that it was an agency report or an army release, then the two newspapers passing off the story as emanating from their own correspondents is symbolic of the objectivity, or lack thereof, of mass media while reporting terrorist incidents.
Violence against state media
The local media could evade the terrorist`s threat, by following their diktats. But for Doordarshan and All India Radio, this option did not exist. Being government media, they had to do what their bosses in New Delhi, who had no idea about the ground reality, told them to. Many employees of DD and AIR had to pay for the government`s negligence with their lives. S D Bajad a former Assistant Station Director of DD in Srinagar says, "We were getting incessant threats to stop, what the militants called `malicious propaganda` against Kashmiris. These threats got published in local newspapers but still the government could not make proper safety arrangements for us." This fact is admitted by the then Director General of Police in J&K, M M Sabharwal, "Because of the breakdown of law and order machinery, it was not possible to provide individual security to the electronic media or press people." Militants especially went after the newsreaders who were asked to dissociate themselves from voicing the programmes and reading the bulletins. An assistant news editor of All India Radio in Srinagar was beaten up by militants and the assistant news editor of the television station was abducted and released a week later with injury marks all over his body. Whereas the director of Doordarshan (Television) in Srinagar, Lassa Koul, was killed by the militants in February 1990. This was followed by the killing of an assistant director of the state information Department (SID), P.N. Handoo, and the SID joint director, Syed Ghulam Nabi.
Explaining the reasons behind the targeting of DD and AIR employees, Aasha Khosa opines that, " DD Kashmir somehow managed to create a lot of trouble for itself. Initially they were very pro-militancy in their reportage and somehow got away with it. But later the government clamped down on DD and stopped it from carrying pro-militancy material. The militants did not like this. They had got used to favorable reportage. So they shot Lassa Kaul at point blank range." Following this murder the newsrooms of All India Raido and Doordarshan were shifted to New Delhi and Jammu respectively in 1990 and were shifted back to Srinagar only in 1993.
"The ground reality is not what we read in the newspapers", this statement by G M Sofi, Editor of the `Srinagar Times`, one of Kashmir`s most respected newspapers, reflects of the state of journalism in the strife torn state. In a land torn asunder by insurgency, no one has been spared. Not even the journalists. In Kashmir there is no such thing as journalistic independence, only journalism that aids the movement for independence.
The Press Council of India in its report on the state of media in Jammu and Kashmir found that, "Both the press and the electronic media are under constant threat of ban, violence, arson, bomb attacks and abduction of their employees and families as also physical liquidation." G M Sofi explains the situation thus, "In Srinagar no newspaper can be run fearlessly and independently because the government is in no position to ensure our safety. Our families are here. They have to move around. It is not possible to stay in hiding always. We are compelled to toe the line of the militants to keep ourselves and our newspaper alive." The situation was not always this way. In 1989, when insurgency was still in its infancy, local newspapers were full of support of the militants. "Editors and reporters firmly believed that the movement would carry the day and independence would be achieved", says Aasha Khosa, a Special Correspondent of the Indian Express, who has reported from Kashmir for many years. The idea at that time was to teach New Delhi a lesson for the years of misrule. But when Farooq Abdullah resigned as Chief Minister of J&K in the latter half of 1989 and Jagmohan took over as Governor, the Centre began to tighten the screws on the separatist newspapers. That`s when the militants too began applying pressure. Any newspaper, which carried pro-government stories, was attacked. Caught between the devil and the deep sea, many local newspapers began to shut down, most notably Al Safa and Wadi Ki Awaz.
The Urdu daily Al Safa was one of the early victims of the terrorists. Mohammed Shaban Vakil, the Editor, was shot dead in his office on April 23, 1991. A powerful explosion damaged the printing press of the daily Aftab on November 4, 1990. The other victim of militant anger was Srinagar Times, edited by Sofi Ghulam Mohammed. An explosion took place at the Dal Gate residence of the editor on October 2, 1990. Al Safa voiced the problems faced by the media in Srinagar when it said, “During the last four years, militancy has affected all shades of the public life in the Valley. The press had also to see ups and downs during these years. At times journalists had to bear unbecoming treatment at the hands of the government and at times militant outfits burnt copies of newspapers, broke the furniture and humiliated journalists…. Local newspapers and correspondents have had to suffer more at the hands of those other than the government. Publication of newspapers has been banned at will and their copies burnt by militants… Statements about clashes between different militant outfits have been a source of great anxiety for local journalists. If the length of the statement of one organization exceeded that of the other outfit, the paper had to bear the onslaught. The profession of journalism has been tied in chains and anybody who tired to break the chains would be sentenced to death.”
Such pressure was not restricted only to the local media. Even reporters of national newspapers were expected not to publish any material showing the terrorists in bad light. But since national dailies could not possibly adopt a pro-militancy line, they decided to pull their correspondents out. And so for next three years, except for the Indian Express and Tribune no other major newspaper had representatives in the Valley. The Daily Excelsior, a Kashmir-based daily, on July 18, 2000 carried a news item with a headline `2 freed from militants` clutches`. Another Kashmir daily, Kashmir Times also carried the news item on the same day with headline ‘2 youngsters rescued from militants`. Apart from different headlines, both the news reports had the same language and were a verbatim copy of each other. If one assumes that it was an agency report or an army release, then the two newspapers passing off the story as emanating from their own correspondents is symbolic of the objectivity, or lack thereof, of mass media while reporting terrorist incidents.
Violence against state media
The local media could evade the terrorist`s threat, by following their diktats. But for Doordarshan and All India Radio, this option did not exist. Being government media, they had to do what their bosses in New Delhi, who had no idea about the ground reality, told them to. Many employees of DD and AIR had to pay for the government`s negligence with their lives. S D Bajad a former Assistant Station Director of DD in Srinagar says, "We were getting incessant threats to stop, what the militants called `malicious propaganda` against Kashmiris. These threats got published in local newspapers but still the government could not make proper safety arrangements for us." This fact is admitted by the then Director General of Police in J&K, M M Sabharwal, "Because of the breakdown of law and order machinery, it was not possible to provide individual security to the electronic media or press people." Militants especially went after the newsreaders who were asked to dissociate themselves from voicing the programmes and reading the bulletins. An assistant news editor of All India Radio in Srinagar was beaten up by militants and the assistant news editor of the television station was abducted and released a week later with injury marks all over his body. Whereas the director of Doordarshan (Television) in Srinagar, Lassa Koul, was killed by the militants in February 1990. This was followed by the killing of an assistant director of the state information Department (SID), P.N. Handoo, and the SID joint director, Syed Ghulam Nabi.
Explaining the reasons behind the targeting of DD and AIR employees, Aasha Khosa opines that, " DD Kashmir somehow managed to create a lot of trouble for itself. Initially they were very pro-militancy in their reportage and somehow got away with it. But later the government clamped down on DD and stopped it from carrying pro-militancy material. The militants did not like this. They had got used to favorable reportage. So they shot Lassa Kaul at point blank range." Following this murder the newsrooms of All India Raido and Doordarshan were shifted to New Delhi and Jammu respectively in 1990 and were shifted back to Srinagar only in 1993.