Opinion

News pollution rampant in turmoil-hit places like Kashmir

Politicians have left no stone unturned in their search for political profit from the upheaval in Kashmir, due to a changing scenario and the absence of any local political leadership making attempts to reach out to the local population.

Politicians are very interesting characters who have a lot of trickery at their disposal. They strive to bake their political cob when people are suffering and being subjected to injustice.

At a time when Kashmir is at the crossroads of an evolving situation amid the absence of any local political leadership making efforts to reach out to the local population, these politicians have left no stone unturned in their quest for political advantage from the chaos.

Consistent attempts to undermine people via news pollution

They sometimes make a big deal about the shortage and low supply of “essential commodities” like sugar, kerosene, rice, or even the need for power transformers.

When these things fall under mediocrity for one reason or another, these politicians turn to claims and cross allegations of corruption, frauds, and scandals against their competitor major parties or individuals to achieve the required mileage. And when this formula also fails, they undermine the people in the guise of the ‘Kashmir problem’ for which Article 370 seems to have taken their focus nowadays.

These politicians succeed in their aim to some extent due to their own media and the limits imposed on other media, particularly print media, as a natural result of operating in such areas.

Politicians encroach on news spaces and columns

Recently, a spree of killings of non-locals by suspected militants and even ‘deaths’ of Kashmiri civilians in ‘cross firing’ began to shake Kashmir.

Even though the blood of civilians continued to flow and their murders continued, politicians were able to encroach on the news spaces and columns, despite the fact that the audience, particularly newspaper readers, were averse to this type of news, believing that, if at all, it could be classified as hard news given the tumultuous state of the situation in Kashmir.

Rival politicians have been downplaying one other, while media, which are bound by ethical and other professional limitations, have been reporting on the day-to-day changes in the political situation in Kashmir. An ordinary Kashmiri, on the other hand, is unconcerned about the ground situation of these politicians and their ‘business’.

Unresolved ‘disputes’ behind all offshoots of uncertainty

Indeed, even if the ruling authority is moved from Lieutenant Governor to that of a chief minister, in case the elections are held and the UT status changes to that of a state, it has no fundamental significance, contrary to what observers say.

The root cause of the turmoil, which in Kashmir’s case is the unresolved ‘dispute’, is the fundamental source of all the offshoots of uncertainty, unrest, uprising, or whatever nomenclature one may use for it. It cannot be cocooned or immersed in the roots of poverty, unemployment, and social inequity, nor in inadequate growth and development.

Escape routes of politicians not to last long

These are, in fact, the escape routes that politicians have been using. However, it is difficult for these escape sequences to last longer since the spirit has been passed on to future generations of these turmoil-torn regions of the world, which have even been dubbed as ‘conflict generations’ by celebrity columnists.

Analysts, who keep a close eye on the happenings in Kashmir, feel that politicians would have a difficult time dealing with the ‘conflict generation’ as it has developed to the point where it can comprehend all of the ‘developments’ taking place in Kashmir.

These youth are knowledgeable and courageous enough not to fall prey to today’s ‘seasoned’ politicians’ tricks and flattery. Their ambitions are flying, and their courage is sky-high.

News pollution more hazardous than all forms of pollution

While writing about ‘news pollution’, I did stray from the course; yet this straying has a cause, and that reason is the vortex of situations that are common in places like Kashmir.

So far, we’ve learned about water pollution, air pollution, and noise pollution, among other things. People are panicked and exhausted as a result of all of this pollutions. However, it is possible that we have all become engulfed in news pollution, which has several dimensions and is more hazardous than all previous pollutions.

News pollution is an increasing hazard to the human psyche across the world, but turmoil-hit places are the worst affected.

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Aasif Ganaie

Aasif is a journalist and a news enthusiast based in Jammu & Kashmir. He voyages to explore and uncover the stories More »
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