On Saturday (October 30), independent ‘journalist’ Adnan Bhat courted controversy on social media after he claimed that the internet was banned unofficially in Srinagar in the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. As per his Twitter bio, he has worked for several news organisations such as Al-Jazeera, Foreign Policy, South China Morning Post, Caravan, AJ+ etc.
In a tweet, Bhat claimed, “Went out to buy medicine for mother. Forgot prescription. Asked dad to WhatsApp it. But couldn’t download it because we have an unofficial mobile Internet ban in Srinagar. #Kashmir.” A screenshot attached with his tweet was accompanied by the message – “Couldn’t download image. Check your iPhone’s Internet connection and try again.”
While the screenshot shared by him bore the time stamp of 7: 42 pm, the journalist had tweeted about the incident at 7:58 pm (within a span of 16 minutes). Social media users were quick to point out that his father was able to send him the image of the prescription and that he was able to receive it as well. However, Bhat failed to download the same image due to ‘unofficial internet ban’, even though he was able to tweet about it.
Popular Twitter user (@BefittingFacts) pointed out,” Ok your dad was able to send it and you are able to tweet it but internet is ban. Cute”
Another Popular Twitter user (@theskindoctor13) wrote, “He received the message. He got the image despite no internet but he isn’t able to download it.”
Another user tweeted about the contradictions in the story of Adnan Bhat. “You managed to receive the image. You were able to share it on Twitter. But somehow, your internet isn’t working. Wow,” he said.
A Twitter user pointed out how Adnan Bhat had deliberately kept his mobile data to give the impression that there was an internet ban in Srinagar. “Your data is not on… What kind of journalist will you become?” he inquired.
One Twitter user, Pankaj, asked how did the journalist regain his internet connection within just 16 minutes’ time.
After realising several loopholes in the story, another Twitter user recommended Adnan Bhat to stick to cab driver stories that are often peddled by left-liberal journalists on the micro-blogging site.
There is a new genre of fiction that has gained prominence in the market. The protagonist in these stories, generally less than 280 characters in English (the character limit on Twitter), is usually a taxi driver or a maid and the narrator is usually an intellectual yet idiot (IYI) from the media fraternity.
In this genre of fiction, the narrator projects his own political inclinations onto the protagonist in order to further his own agenda under the thin disguise of neutrality. The protagonist, usually a taxi driver, is portrayed as an individual with capabilities far beyond the usual level of intellect one would expect from people working those particular jobs.
