*NEW DELHI – **Indian government is frustrated over international mediabacklash over Occupied Kashmir, orders diplomats to counter strategy.*
*It has been reported that over 80% of the international media reports haverejected the Indian government’s version on Occupied Kashmir.*
*Concerned over “critical” news coverage on Indian-administered Kashmir,New Delhi has ordered its diplomats and officials to devise a strategy tocounter the concerns of the international community over the Indiangovernment’s actions in the valley.*
Quoting an Indian diplomat, *The Hindulink*reportedthat the Indian mission abroad have been directed to “proactively” keep theIndian narrative on Kashmir “positive”.
On August 5, India had ended Kashmir’s autonomous status and it has sincethen detained over 5,000 people, including two former chief ministers.Mobile phones and the internet are still suspended in the valley.
An official said that the Indian government was particularly concerned overa series of articles published in international publications, including TheWashington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, BBC, TheEconomist, The Independent and The Guardian.
“The government had been monitoring them closely,” The Hindu quoted theofficial as saying.
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Quoting a survey, the Indian newspaper reported that over 80% of the newscoverage on Indian Kashmir was critical of the government’s move.
Hartosh Singh Bal, a senior Indian journalist, said that the Indian mediais showing a picture of normalcy in Kashmir. He told *DWlink*thatit is trying to “create an impression that life for Kashmiris is back ontrack”.
“The government is controlling the narrative and a pliant, nationalisticmainstream press is happy to play along,” the journalist said.
In her article in the *Washington Postlink*,another Indian journalist Rana Ayyub wrote that the people of Kashmir wereangry with the Indian press over its coverage on the valley.
