This week, the Modi government abrogated the provisions of Article 370 that gave Jammu and Kashmir a ‘special’ status and also scrapped Article 35A that barred non-residents from buying property in Kashmir. Following this historic move, several elements tried to toe the Pakistan line and instigate the people. One such element was the Leftist propaganda portal, The Wire, headed by American passport holder Siddharth Varadarajan.
The Wire released a video talking about ‘the security, political and diplomatic fallout’. The show was hosted by none other than American passport holder Siddharth Varadarajan himself. The video started with him talking about how the move that ‘eliminated the existence of Jammu and Kashmir as a state’ was unconstitutional. This statement was, of course, made because the Modi government, in addition to abrogating Article 370 and 35A, had also bifurcated Jammu and Kashmir into J&K and Ladakh and declared the two Union Territories.
While Siddarth Varadarajan goes on and on pretending to have a stake in what happens within the boundaries of India, an interesting map popped up in the video. It was a map of Jammu and Kashmir.
However, the map had some interesting notings.
In the Kashmir map displayed by The Wire, the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir including areas like Srinagar etc were labelled as “Indian Occupied Part”. A large part of Kashmir, that Indians refer to as Pakistan Occupied Kashmir since it has been under the illegal occupation of Pakistan, was labelled as ‘Azad Kashmir’.
Calling Jammu and Kashmir as ‘Indian Occupied Part’ is a grave offence and peddles the exact narrative that Pakistan wants. Jammu and Kashmir, including Aksai Chin and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir has always been an integral part of India. In fact, governments beyond party lines have always maintained a united voice in this matter.
After massive outrage on Social Media, The Wire pulled down the previous video. As can be seen from the embedded video link in the below tweet, the video now says it is unavailable.
Original video here.https://t.co/Edtnvs6uZn
— Abhishek (@AbhishBanerj) August 8, 2019
The Wire has now uploaded a new video. Interestingly, however, in the new video, at the same 5:32-minute mark, there is now no map at all.
If one were to give The Wire the benefit of the doubt, one would assume that they would replace the incorrect map with the correct one. However, in the new video, at the same minute mark, they have removed the map altogether.
The Wire has a long history of peddling lies, propaganda and often toes the Pakistani line in its editorials. This just seems like another instance where the Leftist propaganda portal reveals its true self.
