Indian government frustrated over international media backlash on Kashmir, orders diplomats to counter strategy
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*NEW DELHI - **Indian government is frustrated over international media backlash over Occupied Kashmir, orders diplomats to counter strategy.*
*It has been reported that over 80% of the international media reports have rejected 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 to counter the concerns of the international community over the Indian government’s actions in the valley.*
Quoting an Indian diplomat, *The Hindu link* reported that the Indian mission abroad have been directed to “proactively” keep the Indian narrative on Kashmir “positive”.
On August 5, India had ended Kashmir’s autonomous status and it has since then 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 over a series of articles published in international publications, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, BBC, The Economist, The Independent and The Guardian.
“The government had been monitoring them closely,” The Hindu quoted the official as saying.
Quoting a survey, the Indian newspaper reported that over 80% of the news coverage on Indian Kashmir was critical of the government’s move.
Hartosh Singh Bal, a senior Indian journalist, said that the Indian media is showing a picture of normalcy in Kashmir. He told *DW link* that it is trying to “create an impression that life for Kashmiris is back on track”.
“The government is controlling the narrative and a pliant, nationalistic mainstream press is happy to play along,” the journalist said.
In her article in the *Washington Post link*, another Indian journalist Rana Ayyub wrote that the people of Kashmir were angry with the Indian press over its coverage on the valley.
