Pakistani media’s colorless, musical protest over abrogation anniversary

@the_news_21

New Delhi: Tables were turned on the Pakistani media which had set out to embarrass the Indian government on the anniversary of abrogation of Article 370. In their attempts to provide extensive coverage of the protest against India’s decision on its territories of Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh, the Pakistani news media ended getting severely criticized and humiliated on social media.

Last week, Prime Minister Imran Khan-led government had announced that it would recognize August 5 as a ‘Day of Exploitation’ symbolizing their opposition to the revocation of the special status from the Indian territories of Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh.

Following Islamabad’s decision, several Pakistani news channels changed the color of their logos to black and white, from the usual gaudy colors. Media houses staff including anchors, reporters, and support crews were forced to wear black armbands. Several reports were aired against the backdrop highlighting protest with the words ‘Youm-e-Istehsal’ meaning ‘Days of Exploitation’ and ‘365 days of exploitation’. 

A few channels even went a step ahead in mortifying themselves by playing songs, reciting poems, and ghazals on Kashmir’s abrogation. Leading this musical collection was the song titled ‘Jaa Chhod De Meri Vaadi’ meaning ‘Leave my valley’, which was composed and released by Pakistani military’s media wing on August 2.

Several social media users trolled disparaged the attempts of the media to support the government through songs and poems. They called upon media houses to uphold their dignity and role in society. Few social media users even highlighted the selective approach of the Pakistani media to overlook and refrain from reporting on Islamabad’s worsening economic state, rising COVID-19 cases, and increasing Chinese debts.

Meanwhile, some news channels kept on showing old reports and recordings of conflicts between Indian security forces and terrorists. These channels even branded these militants, who are seen holding automatic weapons as ‘free citizens of Kashmir’. The channels even showed funeral processions of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists Burhan Wani and Riyaz Naikoo – captioning them as ‘killing of innocent youths’. Few social media users shared a snapshot of this clip, as they linked Khan’s comments from 25 June in the National Assembly where he hailed Osama Bin Laden, the founder of al Qaeda as a ‘martyr’.

State-run PTV News repeatedly played a song about released by the Pakistani army, while showing past visuals of protests in the region. The lyrics of the song urge the United Nation and the international community to take notice of the ‘oppression’ in Kashmir. The PTV News also broadcasted a collection of excerpts from Khan’s statements on Kashmir, including his 2019 speech at the UN General Assembly.

Pakistan sees Israel in India

Media sources across Islamabad gave wide-spread coverage while highlighting the statement of President Arif Alvi, wherein he said that ‘India was following the Israeli way of carrying out oppressive tactics’.

In order to support the opinion of President Alvi, Pakistani channels showed footage of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2017 trip to Israel. They aired the clips of PM Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu taking a barefoot stroll along the Mediterranean shore of Dor in Haifa.