Kashmir: Man-made natural disaster? -Gautam Navlakha

Even in the midst of a calamity, a war of perceptions is never too far. It is evident in the two narratives coming out of Kashmir as people grapple with flood and its aftermath. The first one highlights the contribution of the army with editorials, TV reporters and print media eulogizing its role and focusing on asking the victims if they felt "grateful" to the army for saving them, and to show how ‘separatists' are engaging in mud-slinging. One channel went so far as to ask for Yasin Mailk's arrest as he was a "traitor", without even verifying the authenticity of the report filed by a little known news agency. Few had anything to say about the ‘saffron nationalists' who assaulted the Vice Chancellor of Vikram university in Ujjain for asking landlords not to press Kashmiri students for rent since their families are affected by flood. The other narrative was reportage from the ground in Kashmir, where reporters visited areas wading through waters day in and day out and focused on what was happening in area after area bringing out the role of the local people who lent a helping hand rather than wait for help to arrive. Stories of distress and heroism all were covered, and stories of how people helped each other cutting across divides emerged. But the perception manipulation tried to obviate the fact that the flood fury affected Jammu and Kashmir and cut across even borders - 3000 villages across Pakistan-held Kashmir and Punjab were submerged. This story remained uncovered for most Indians.

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