Muslims of Jammu and Kashmir, unlike other states, are celebrating Eid under a complete lockdown. It has been a week since the Centre abrogated Article 370 which granted special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Since then, the valley has been placed under lockdown. The government did withdraw section 144 on Saturday but was again imposed on Sunday.
All the communication lines are cut. Hardly any news is coming out of the state, but the state is making headlines in every newspaper. As per the government account, the valley is at peace. But not according to some of the reporters and media organisations.
On August 9 there were media reports of 10,000 people protesting against the Centre’s move. The police even had to use pellet guns to stop them. The New York Times article on August 10 put out a detailed report on the ground situation in the valley with the headline ‘Inside Kashmir, Cut Off From the World: ‘A Living Hell’ of Anger and Fear’
On August 10 the Ministry of Home Affairs denied any protest involving 10000 protestors and said there were protests were scattered and few.
MHA Spokesperson: There are media reports claiming there was a protest involving 10,000 people in Srinagar.This is completely fabricated & incorrect. There have been a few stray protests in Srinagar/Baramulla and none involved a crowd of more than 20 people pic.twitter.com/fesONQ3xhX
— ANI (@ANI) August 10, 2019
Moreover, the Jammu and Kashmir police on August 11 denied any reports of violence saying there hasn’t been a single bullet fired in the past week.
BBC and Al-jazeera’s videos of people protesting against the lockdown were termed as ‘fabricated’ by the Indian government. The Information and Broadcast ministry even send notices to the two media organisations over the videos.
BBC then put out the statement defending its video and journalism.
BBC statement on #Kashmir coverage pic.twitter.com/XJfLOrh9nQ
— BBC News Press Team (@BBCNewsPR) August 11, 2019
Telegraph’s Kashmir reporter Sankarshan Thakur even wrote a dairy on the lockdown.
My take on what has transpired in #Kashmir and what May follow @ttindia https://t.co/hMWx6yc7Ou
— Sankarshan Thakur (@SankarshanT) August 11, 2019
While the BBC and Al-Jazeera got notices for there videos, Indian news agency Asia News International (ANI) tweeted a photo of Eid prayers from a Mosque in Jammu claiming it to be from Srinagar. AltNews fact check showed how the news agency misled people. Moreover, the photo was even used by a renowned Hindi media without even verifying it.
ANI, India TV portray photographs of mosque in Jammu as Eid prayers in Srinagar | @thoughtbuoy https://t.co/ZQuwkP2aw7
— Alt News (@AltNews) August 12, 2019
While the valley continues to be under lockdown, the government is firm on its stand of ‘peace in the valley’.
Also Read: Understanding Kashmir, From Conflict To Becoming An Integral Part Of India
