‘English-speaking liberal media’ biased, covered Kashmir unfairly – India’s foreign minister

Global news outlets have failed to paint a fair picture of the recent events in Kashmir as they have “preset views” on revoking the region’s autonomy, the Indian foreign minister said.

New Delhi had to struggle with “the English-speaking liberal media” to get its point across on Kashmir in recent months, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar admitted at an international forum on Monday.

“They were very ideological about it. They had strong preset views on this subject,” the minister argued.

In many ways, they did not present a fair picture. Maybe they did not absorb a fair picture either.

Jaishankar did not cite any concrete examples of the coverage he thought was unfair.

The international media have reported on instances of human rights violations in the Indian-controlled part of disputed Kashmir after New Delhi revoked the area’s decades-old self-governing status in early August. The decision was followed by imposing a communication lockdown and curfew-like restrictions in Kashmir.

India denied violating the human rights of Kashmiris, saying that the restrictions were introduced to maintain law and order, and will be gradually lifted once the situation on the ground becomes less dangerous.

India’s neighbor Pakistan, which claims the whole of Kashmir as its territory, meanwhile, says that revoking the region’s autonomy violated international law and has warned that it would lead to widespread violence. Indian officials claim the step was necessary to fight Islamist insurgents there, and will boost the region’s economy.

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