Patriotic Indian Media

Srinagar, Aug 19: According to a computation made by the General Administration Department (GAD) in 2005, for submission to the Sachar Committee, the state had roughly 3,52,000 employees. The Department worked out the percentage of employees to the total strength of respective communities. Hindu employees represent 4.61 percent of the 30 lakh Hindu population in the state whereas Muslims have a representation of 2.85 percent for the 68 lakh Muslim population. So relative to the respective populations, Hindus outnumber Muslims in the State government. This should question the ‘assertions’ of discrimination effusing from the winter capital. Ridicule them. Deflate them.
Scanning the composition of the State administration, the claims of discrimination do come home, indeed. The irony, though, is that the victim of this discrimination is not the ‘Pro National’ Jammu wala as we have been made to believe but the ‘Anti National’ Kashmiri, to put in the latest Right wing lingo. One, which is being endorsed by our wannabe Prime Minister L K Advani as well.
Starting with the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), the total cadre strength is 94 with 24 officers belonging to the Kashmir division, 27 officers belonging to the Jammu division and two from Ladakh. The other 41 babus are from outside the state. So where exactly is Jammu getting discriminated in all this? Delusion, but nothing! Further, most of the core developmental departments like Planning, Finance, R&B, PHE and Irrigation are headed by non-Kashmiris. Even the all important departments of Agriculture, Revenue, Social Welfare, Health, Home, CAPD, Industries and Commerce, Information, PDD are ‘endowed’ to non-Kashmiris. The trend is the same for Science and Technology, Transport and Culture. No Kashmiri components!
Another ‘discriminating’ fact, for the record. Since 1947, out of 26 Chief Secretaries of the State, only 6 have been Kashmiri Muslims. How’s that for discrimination for the only Muslim majority state of ‘secular’ India. But no one has ever stood up for this. Makes sense, in a way. Why would a Kashmiri Muslim civil servant take the ‘risk’ of speaking against discrimination engineered by a minority and be branded as ‘anti national’. Not worth it! Never was.
Now comes the real shocker. The Kashmir Administrative Service (KAS). This is where scores have to be settled, intriguing serious questions have to be asked, discrimination has to be debated and alienation of Kashmiri Muslims has to be addressed. Out of the 338 KAS cadre officers in the state, 155 officers belong to Kashmir division, 151 to Jammu division and 22 to Ladakh division. 10 officers are from junior KAS. Now how can this representation be fair, even ethical? This is unfair by any account of economic management or population distribution. The ratio is 55:45 in favor of Muslims but why has everything been worked out and settled at 50:50? It is not supposed to be that way. Kashmir outnumbers others in terms of population, but why is that they are outnumbered when it comes to Administration, Judiciary, Police and even Private enterprise? This preposterous idea of 50:50 distribution is absolutely fake, senseless by all parameters. Save your disappointment, resentment and protests for now though. Save them for the ‘administrative genocide’ I am about to illustrate.
From 2001 till date, 478 KAS appointments have been made. Kashmiris are at 106, Ladakh at 12 and Jammu at a staggering overpowering figure of 360. Discrimination? No, not by any standards. This is something far beyond the term, with devastating consequences for the majority. As I said ‘administrative genocide’, if you like. Engineering, competent and successful, has been done for the next three decades and things (read Kashmiris) have been leveled out for the ‘pro National’ Jammu bureaucrats. In fact it would not even make sense to call it KAS five years down the line. It will be, rather already can be, rechristened as Jammu Administrative Service (JAS). And here in Kashmir, we would even have to import BDOs and Tehsildars!
And mind you, Kashmiris are not overpowered in bureaucracy alone. It’s all across. Take for example the 641 Muslims and the 1015 Hindus figuring in the tentative seniority list of 1656 Junior Agriculture Assistants as of April 2006. Or for that matter the 114 Muslim AEEs in Works Department against the 164 Hindu AEEs as of May 2005. And be assured, it only gets worse after that.
The latest recruitments don’t show any mercy to Muslims or Kashmiris. Amongst the 429 Accounts Assistants selected by the Service Selection Board in April 2008, Jammu accounts for 334 Assistants while Kashmir gets a ‘fabulous’ 95. I am not even going to comment on that.
Of course, Raj Bhawan, the custodian of the constitutional rights of all sections of society remains off limits for at least one community, no prizes. The last Muslim Secretary the First Citizen of the state had was when we used to have a Sadr i Riyasat. Since then it is graciously adorned by the malis of Floriculture Department who are considered indispensable for their manicuring skills and presenting a gulab every morning to the sahib of the estate. However with the arrival of the present Governor two middle level Muslim officers from the former Chief Minister’s office are now manning the secretariat outpost of Raj Bhavan.
To conclude, all this is in complete sync with the latest branding of Kashmiris. Anti Nationals, at the end of the day you see.
PS: Yesterday’s piece on judiciary reflected only the current composition affected by deputation and transfers. The actual composition of the J&K High Court Bench gives Kashmir 6 slots and Jammu 6. Of these two from Jammu, Justice V K Gupta and Justice T S Thakur are already Chief Justices posted on deputation. Justice Bilal Nazki from Kashmir is a judge on deputation to the Bombay High Court.
The State Hugh Court has so far sent 3 judges to the Supreme Court, one of whom, Justice Anand, served as Chief Justice of India. The other two were justice Raja Jaswant Singh and Justice R P Sethi. You know their home addresses.

Srinagar, Aug 28: The cable operators in Kashmir have taken all the Indian and foreign television news channels, including CNN-IBN, Times Now, NDTV, Zee News, Aaj Tak, Al-Jazeera, and BBC off the air from Thursday afternoon in protest against the alleged intimidation and harassment by government agencies and the role played by the local representatives of some Indian TV channels. They have set a 24-hour deadline for the government to withdraw the recent orders banning the telecast of news and current affairs programmes by them. "If we're not allowed to broadcast the news and current affairs programmes with 24 hours, we'll suspend our entire network indefinitely," the president of the Kashmir Cable Operators Association, Mir Amjad, told Greater Kashmir, soon after a meeting of his association. The decision is understood to have been prompted by a chain of recent developments which culminated into the "temporary" ban on telecast of news and current affairs programmes by them early this week. Well placed sources told Greater Kashmir the authorities had been pressurizing the local television channels to slash their news and current affairs time drastically "as these were generally inconvenient" for the government. "You should reduce your news time from one hour to just 10 or 15 minutes," the authorities had told them. They said the channel operators expressed their reluctance to oblige for fear of offending their viewers, who would accuse them of downplaying the atrocities being perpetrated on people allegedly by the police and security forces. Sources said the Association office-bearers were summoned on Wednesday. "To sort out the matters," in view of the international criticism over the recent ban. A senior police official is understood to have repeated the earlier demand to reduce the news time to just 10 or 15 minutes and also tried to browbeat them on one pretext or other. "We told him that unlike in Jammu where the government had withdrawn a similar ban in just six hours, we were not being allowed to resume the newscasts even after five days," they said, quoting a cable operator who attended the meeting. During their meeting, the officials are understood to have drawn a distinction between Jammu and Kashmir asserting the two could not be treated evenly. The cable operators told them they had been maintaining high standards of journalism and objectivity in their news reporting. Another meeting is believed to have been held on Thursday between the cable operators and the authorities. However, it was after these meetings that the cable operators came to know about the "dirty role" played by the representatives of some Indian television channels in getting their news and current affairs telecasts banned by the authorities and, as a retaliatory step, decided to take their (Indian news televisions) telecasts off the air. The ball is now in the government's court. With the local newspapers unable to hit the stands for the fifth consecutive day, sources said, the government may find it very hard even to communicate its own viewpoint to the people. And, in the resultant gap, the rumour mongers could have the better of public attention with unforeseen consequences. Incidentally, the rise in popularity of the local television channels is believed to have adversely affected the standing of some New Delhi-based TV channels, who have been accused of "blacking out" the news related to the recent massive rallies in the valley. On occasions, their local representatives too have had to face the public wrath even though they might have filed objective reports to their organizations. Meanwhile, an international organization, Reporters Without Borders, had called on the Indian authorities to put an immediate halt to the censorship and violence against media in Kashmir. International pressure is mounting on India to lift the curbs on Kashmir media. "This latest crisis must not be used as a pretext for subjecting the press to more violence and obstruction," it said. Another organization, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Tuesday condemned restrictions on media imposed by security forces trying to quell unrest. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has also expressed its anguish over the attacks on media persons that left a local photojournalist dead and fifteen others injured in the spate of violence against the media prompted by a wave of protests in the wake of the economic blockade enforced by the fanatics of Jammu and some Indian states. The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has voiced its concern about the recent violent protests leading to civilian casualties and restrictions to the right to freedom of assembly and expression. "OHCHR calls on the Indian authorities and in particular security forces to respect the right to freedom of assembly and expression, and comply with international human rights principles in controlling the demonstrators," according to a statement issued Thursday in Geneva. At least 13 journalists were manhandled by the Central Reserve Police Force in Srinagar as they tried to get to their offices on Sunday despite the curfew introduced earlier in the day. The journalists had passes issued on 11 August but the CRPF said they were no longer valid. In some cases, the CRPF snatched and destroyed I-cards of journalists, saying that they had orders to prevent journalists in particular from proceeding to their workplaces. News websites have been updated sporadically only because some employees have been confined to their offices by a curfew imposed in the entire Kashmir region. No restriction on any News Channels: Spokesman Srinagar, Aug 28: A government spokesman today clarified that the government had not imposed any restriction on the transmission of any of the national and international authorised news channels in the state. Reacting to the shutdown of all national and international news channels in Srinagar from this afternoon, the spokesman said that the cable operators who have the distribution rights of these channels have at their own shutdown transmission of the channels. The government has absolutely no role in it.

Srinagar, Aug 28: At a time when the world talks about freedom of press, people in Kashmir have been restricted to go through the dailies or watch news and current affairs programme on local channels. Due to curfew, local newspapers have not hit the stands and TV channels have stopped airing their programmes since Monday morning. It's days now since the international media watchdog, Reporters Without Borders, called upon Government of India to lift the restrictions on media in Kashmir. The state government on Thursday came up with a statement denying that any restriction has been placed. Reacting to this, a spokesperson of Reporters without Borders told Greater Kashmir said, "Of course, the areas affected by press freedom violations are Kashmir and North East states. He informed that in 2007, India was at the 120 rank on 169 countries in press freedom index by RSF. The index measures the state of press freedom in the world. It reflects the degree of freedom that journalists and news organizations enjoy in each country, and the efforts made by the authorities to respect and ensure respect for this freedom. According to the report by RSF Israel (Israeli territory) was at 44, Kosovo was at 60 rank and Iceland stood at the top rank. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers. "We are being restrained from serving our people with the correct and updated news," said reporter, Umar Manzor with Wadi news channel. "I had to go through 15 check points before reaching office. The manner CRPF personnel treated me was cruel," said Gowhar Ahmad, a reporter with a newspaper. The Indian Constitution, while not mentioning the word "press", provides for "the right to freedom of speech and expression" (Article 19(1) a). The government claimed that reports broadcast by certain stations violated the Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act 1995. Many journalists in the Press Enclave say that government had trampled over this right. Journalists on Monday staged demonstration here. "Give us freedom of work, let the press be free," they said.

ANOTHER BITING AND BITTER, PERHAPS THE BITTEREST, LEAF WAS ADDED TO THE 60 YEARS SOMBER AND TRAUMATIC HISTORY OF KASHMIR ON SUNDAY MIDNIGHT.
Not only were many a Kashmiri leader who had led peaceful public rallies over a week earlier were arrested in an overnight crack down but announcement piercing the deathly silence of the night proclaiming curfew in all the 10 districts of the valley were made from megaphone fitted police vans. There is nothing new in the imposition of restriction on public movement in the state. In fact, Kashmir and curfews for indiscriminate use of the later have become synonymous. In the 60-year history, there has hardly been a year when there have not been restrictions on the assembly of people or section 144 has not been in force or when curfew has not been imposed in one or another town.
The curfew in force all over Kashmir for the past seven days is unprecedented. Terming the caging of 60 lakh men, women, children, young, old, toddlers and infants and denying them food and medicine, as curfew can be a misnomer. It will be too mild to call it even an emergency. The Peoples Democratic Party president, Mehbooba Mufti, very aptly described it as the martial law. Martial law in no way is different than the situation that has been prevailing in Kashmir during the past week.
Humanity was torn to shreds when hundreds of patients suffering from serious ailments could not be shifted to hospitals. Stories instilling awe and fear about many pregnant women gasping for breaths on roadsides and even breathing their last have been galore. Reports about men in uniform beating doctors have disturbed the entire medical fraternity. It was for the first time that restrictions had been imposed even on the movement of hospital ambulances. There are reports about the paramilitary forces firing on ambulances which were not contradicted. It is not an overstatement but a hard reality that because of scarcity of baby food in the valley and restrictions imposed by the government many crying infants were lulled to sleep by their mothers’ empty stomach. Many chronic patients depending on daily medication had to go without medicines during the unparalleled curfew.
Kashmir, particularly during past two decades, has seen many a grave situations when not only the law enforcing agencies but the entire state as such had gone out of gear. But during those tough times too, newspapers continued their publications. In recent history, it was for the first time when no newspaper was published because of strict restrictions on the movement of newsmen and other newspaper staff. It was nothing but muzzling the media when the government, besides banning private news and current affairs cable channels, very tactfully prevented publication of newspapers. The situation as has been obtaining in Kashmir since Sunday mid-night is reminiscent of the 1976 Emergency in India.
The question arises what prompted the government to create a situation which reminds one of primitive times when human values were almost irrelevant. Ostensibly, there was no reason for placing entire Kashmir under an undeclared emergency. The All Parties Hurriyat Conferences and other allied organization were holding absolutely peaceful rallies in support of their known political demands. True, the APHC rallies attracted hundreds of thousands of people and about a million had responded to the call of conglomerate at Eidgah but these rallies were so disciplined and orderly that not a brickbat was thrown on the security forces at any place. This has been acknowledged even by the known critics of Kashmiris. There was no law and order breakdown anywhere in the valley. Instead, if one looks dispassionately at the law and order situation in Kashmir in the backdrop of the months gone by, it was much more peaceful. Instead of reacting harshly with strong arm methods to the violence-free political scenario, the government should have capitalized over it and given peace a chance to strike deeper roots. It is high time for New Delhi to reassess the Kashmir situation and find out ways and means for a lasting solution to the nagging problem which cost the Indian nation no less.

Srinagar, Aug 31: In the wake of forced economic blockade on Kashmir the freight for fruit from Valley to Delhi has gone 140 per cent up from Rs 25/box some months ago to Rs 60/box, even as the rates for apple have come down at Azadpur Mandi, Delhi.
Former president, New Kashmir Fruit Association, Imtiyaz Ahmad, confirmed to Greater Kashmir that the freight has gone up. “Drivers demand high transportation cost as they are risking their lives,” he said.
He said, “Due to lesser number of vehicles taking fruit from Kashmir to outside the fruit growers/dealers have suffered enormous losses with most of the fruit in the Valley getting rotten.”
Imtiyaz said: “At present about 25 fruit laden trucks move from Valley to outside daily which is far less than the past year.” He said last year during the same period over 150 trucks laden with apples would go to different states daily from Kashmir.
“There is no way out for us except to pay for higher transportation costs,” said a grower, Tariq Ahmad.
President New Kashmir Fruit Association, Bashir Ahmad Bashir said that almost entire pear produce in the Valley has gone waste. Worried about the falling rates, he said, “Merchants at Azadpur Mandi are exploiting the traders from Valley by giving them throwaway price for their produce.”
He said at present the Kesri apple variety per box is sold at Rs 100 while as during the same period last year it was sold at Rs 200 per box. “It is a matter of grave concern for the growers and fruit traders of the Valley,” Bashir adds.
“Valley apple growers are not plucking fruit from trees so as to prevent it from getting rotten in the boxes for want of transpiration,” he said.