Angered by the pro-Pakistan propaganda peddled by its communally coloured reports after the abrogation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, members of Kashmiri Pandits on Saturday shot a letter to the Editor of Washington Post over their ‘biased reportage on Kashmir.
In a tweet, journalist Aditya Raj Kaul shared the scathing written by group of overseas Kashmiri Pandits under the banner of ‘Global Kashmiri Pandit Diaspora’ (GKDP) to the editor of the Washington Post calling out their biased reportage.
The Kashmiri Americans hit out at Washington Post for biased reportage on the Kashmir issue, alleging that the controversial media did not take into account the terror perpetrated by Pakistan in Kashmir.
“In the historic first, many Kashmiri Americans demonstrated peacefully outside your office against the biased news coverage on Kashmir following the removal of Article 370, a temporary provision governing the Federal state Constitutional relationship of Jammu and Kashmir,” read the memorandum submitted to Martin Beower, the executive editor of Washington Post.
The Kashmiri Pandit group also respectfully requested the Washington Post to publish the contents of this press release to ensure that their readers get a fair and balanced reporting of what has transpired.
“Your coverage has not addressed the dejure lawlessness that existed in the State of J&K due to Article 370 accompanied by Article 35A which supposedly granted special status to the State,” the Global Kashmiri Pandit Diaspora said in a memorandum submitted to the Washington Post.
“Nowhere in the Washington Post media narratives is their mention that in this lawless State the most heinous genocide was committed against the aboriginal people, the Kashmiri Pandits, resulting in their virtual exile,” the organiser said.
The Global Kashmiri Pandit Diaspora also accused the daily of fanning religious polarisation in the region through their reporting. “The most dangerous framing of the issue is your reporting in fanning religious polarisation with the use of Hindu-Muslim binary,” said GKPD in its memorandum.
“Washington Post’s biased reporting ignores the inconvenient truth that Article 370 and Article 35A…have denied democratic rights to minorities, women and weaker sections of the society while throttling Kashmir’s economy…(and) Kashmir Valley became breeding ground for rampant corruption, separatism,” said Mohan Sapru, the chief coordinator of the rally.
On Saturday, the group of overseas Kashmiri Pandits had also protested outside the office of The Washington Post in the US capital city Washington DC. The protest was organised against the “unbearable series” of articles published in the newspaper following the scrapping of Article 370 and Article 35A in Jammu and Kashmir by the Narendra Modi government.
The protesters alleged that the prominent US daily has been giving “one-sided and biased coverage” after the Indian government withdrew Jammu and Kashmir’s special status under Article 370 of the Constitution and divided the state into two Union Territories last month.
The peaceful gathering in the US capital on Saturday was to intended to send out a strong message to the daily as well as many other Western media houses for their “one-sided” reportage on Kashmir.
“Why Choose Jihadi news?,” asked the protesters as they challenged the Washington Post to “Hear our Voices. Tell our Stories.”
Justifying its coverage, Washington Post Foreign Editor Douglas Jehl said, “The Post’s coverage of India’s actions in Kashmir since the August 5 crackdown has been fair, accurate and comprehensive at a time when India has imposed tight restrictions on the flow of information and has severely limited access by our journalists trying to cover this important story.”
