[Reader-list] Unannounced curbs on media in Jammu

Sat Aug 2 23:53:08 IST 2008

Dear Shivam,
I would still say that you are too obsessed with anti Indian and anti
Kashmiri Pandit stand,inspite of you being a friend.

I wanted to reply to your post where you wanted the readers to read the
following story [
http://tehelka.com/story_main40.asp?filename=Ne090808divided_house.asp
] <http://tehelka.com/story_main40.asp?filename=Ne090808divided_house.asp>

I wrote a reply and chose not to post it for i did not want to to give
importance your OBSESSION.

Your problem with Jammu struggle goes deep into your love for anti
establishment . When Kashmiri muslims  were agitating against providing
decent facilities to Amarnath , you want ahead and posted an article with
subject Amarnath row: Azadi sentiment gets a fillip [
http://shivamvij.com/2008/07/09/amarnath-row-azadi-sentiment-gets-a-fillip/]

What has escaped you is almost 3 weeks of curfew in jammu , shoot at sight
orders and atrocities committed on hindu population of Jammu by muslim
police.

Why Shivam ? What are you made of ?

If you recollect the time when you were with tehelka and it's summit I asked
Mehbooba a question about Kashmiri Hindus, she said that Kashmiri hindus
were welcome in Kashmir as visitors and tourists , i wonder why havent that
thing hit you term her as communal .

And neither have you evercalled Geelani , Yasin and Mirwaiz as one ?

As a Jouro, i know where you stand for truth.

Pawan
www.thekashmir.wordpress.com

On Sat, Aug 2, 2008 at 9:04 PM, Shivam Vij शिवम् विज् <mail at shivamvij.com>wrote:

> Dear Pawan,
>
> On 7 July I had posted a similar news article about an attack on
> journalists in Srinagar. See
>
> http://readerlist.freeflux.net/blog/archive/2008/07/07/reader-list-crpf-attacks-journalists-in-srinagar.html
>
> This one that you post about Jammu claims that journalists have been
> threatened ("Hurry up, turn or you will face the consequences"). But
> in that case journalists were beaten up. I had in my post even pointed
> out that such an attack in any other state capital would have received
> attention in the national/Delhi media, over which my friend Aditya Raj
> Kaul certainly has more influence than Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
>
> You had replied that post of mine, thus: "Article 370......they live
> with it ...they should die with it ...their
> prefrence ....they have a separate constitution ,.....let them appeal under
> RPC acts......."
>
> Now I would have liked to respond to that, but I didn't because you
> had made a grave personal accusation which caused some self-doubt. You
> had written, "Your obsession is just too compulsive." I thought,
> perhaps Pawan has a point after all - not about the Ranbir Penal Code
> but about my being unable to see out of my box because of being
> obsessed with it.
>
> But now, you post an article about threats and "unannounced curbs" on
> the media in another part of the state, Jammu, which is also governed
> by the Ranbir rather than the Indian Penal Code. You not only
> *condemn* an attack on journalists in Jammu despite Jammu also being
> governed by the RPC, but also you go on to call upon *all* members of
> this list in joining you in the act of condemnation of this reported
> act of reporters being prevented from doing their job under duress.
>
> Now I think that the Hindi press in Jammu is unabashedly communal, its
> front-page headlines are more interested in stoking passions rather
> than disseminating news. What else could you expect from papers like
> Dainik Jagran, which have a documented record of causing deaths in
> communal conflicts and aligning itself with the anti-Muslim RSS (
> http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=559&bg=1 ).
>
> Now, despite this background, I join you in condemning these
> unannounced curbs on the media in Jammu, if the report is true, no
> matter what the magnitude of this exercise of conflict-related
> censorship is. In other words, I am saying that I condemn this even if
> the security personnel were instructed to do so only to prevent the
> press from stoking further passions, causing more deaths and 'unrest'.
>
> I condemn the act for the following reasons:
>
> Firstly, I am against censorship unless it is being used to prevent
> very imminent, direct violence. In this case I think what is required
> is better regulatory mechanism than a toothless Press Council of India
> to prevent papers like Dainik Jagran from stoking communal passions.
>
> Secondly, even if I feel relieved that the police is preventing the
> journalists with an honourable intention, I can't support the act for
> reasons of consistency. For I can then not argue against censorship in
> Srinagar by the CRPF, using actual violence to prevent publication of
> reports about the protest outside the Hazratbal shrine. The Indian
> state can justly claim that it was doing so because the journalists
> and protesters were seeking/promoting secession.
>
> To cut a long story short, would you please explain why you want us to
> join you in condemning censorship and harassment of journalists in
> Jammu even though you refused, on 7 July, to condemn the beating up of
> journalists in Srinagar with lathis just because the state does not
> follow the Indian Penal Code? I mean, why shouldn't we wait for India
> establish "full flow of the Indian constitution" in Jammu *&* Kashmir
> before we can condemn the violation of that Constitution - as is your
> argument for Srinagar?
>
> Every Kashmir-related post on this list that you find uncomfortable,
> you either ignore it or just say, "You don't know the facts." You
> don't by extension state what the alleged lie is and what the facts
> are. But the least one expects is consistency from you. This
> discrepancy amounts to intellectual dishonesty. It forces me to
> conclude that you don't care if Muslim journalists are beaten to death
> but you have every concern for Hindu journalists. Such blatantly
> communal sentiments are not expected from someone who constantly
> reminds us of having been on the receiving end of Kashmiri Muslim
> communalism.
>
> However, perhaps you have an explanation, and perhaps I am
> over-reaction. I look forward to your response.
>
> warmly,
> shivam
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sat, Aug 2, 2008 at 6:03 PM, Pawan Durani <pawan.durani at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > Let us all condemn this act.
> >
> http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/unannounced-curbs-on-media-in-jammu_10079039.html
> >
> > Unannounced curbs on media in Jammu
> >
> > Jammu, Aug 2 (IANS) "Sorry! Press is not allowed," that is the curt
> answer
> > to the pleas of journalists who want to move in Jammu city to cover the
> > ongoing riots over the Amarnath land row. Any other person with an
> identity
> > card or a curfew pass is signaled to move on. But reporters are told:
> "Hurry
> > up, turn or you will face the consequences."
> >
> > A group of reporters and cameramen trying to enter the walled city were
> > stopped at Bikram Chowk Saturday and told to "go back".
> >
> > "These are the orders from the higher authorities, we cannot do
> anything," a
> > police official on duty at the spot told the scribes.
> >
> > Journalists at many places like Rehari, Shakti Nagar, Parade, Pacca Danga
> > and Link Road areas were not allowed to step out of their houses.
> >
> > There was no official word as to why the curbs were imposed on media.
> >
> > No official was available for comments and the phone calls went
> unanswered.
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> --
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