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Pak journalists face Kashmiri Pandits’ ire
Tribune News Service and agencies

Jammu, October 4
The Pakistani media delegation, on its first visit to Jammu and Kashmir in 57 years, today faced the ire of the displaced Kashmiri Pandits when the members of the team visited one of the migrant camps near here.

The 16-member Pakistani media team, which arrived here last night on a six-day visit to the state, was greeted with anti-Pakistan slogans and banners by the migrants when it visited the Muthi camp, about 10 km from here.

Members of the displaced community voiced their protests over the “continuing Pakistan-sponsored cross-border terrorism”.

Blaming Islamabad for their migration from the Kashmir valley, they urged the visiting delegation “to press the Pakistan Government to stop supporting militancy in Jammu and Kashmir.”

The Kashmiri Pandits also accused the Pakistani media of not “condemning their ethnic cleansing” and highlighting their problems.

“While the alleged human rights’ violation by the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir finds suitable place in their newspapers and TV channels, the Pakistani media does not mention anything about the barbaric acts perpetrated by the militants,” they said.

Srinagar: After spending two days in Jammu, the group of 16 visiting journalists from Pakistan, is arriving here tomorrow for interaction with a cross section of people and journalists over the next three days.

While the journalists from Pakistan, visiting the state for the first time since Partition, are scheduled to meet the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, other mainstream political parties and Army officers, they will also meet leaders of several separatist organisations. The visit has been welcomed by a cross-section of people here with the hope of reflecting a clear picture of the situation prevailing in the state. The visiting journalists will be accorded a welcome on their arrival by the Srinagar-based journalists in the evening.

Contrary to the welcome and willingness expressed by several separatist leaders, including Syed Ali Shah Geelani to meet the visiting Pak journalists, the underground women’s organisation, Dukhtaran-e-Millat, has asked them not to meet the visitors. Its leader, Ms Asiya Andrabi, addressing a press conference here today questioned as to how the Pakistan Government allowed its journalists to visit Kashmir on the visa granted by the Government of India. She also questioned the sincerity of the Government of India while granting permission to those, whom it always blamed for the anti-India propaganda. The journalists were guests of the Congress, the National Conference, the PDP, the Communist Party, the BJP and the Indian Army, and not those of the people of Kashmir, Ms Andrabi claimed.

The Chief Minister, while welcoming the first ever visit of the journalists to Jammu and Kashmir, said such interactions helped reduce distances and created the right atmosphere for the improvement of relations. He expressed the hope that the visit would boost the ongoing process of reconciliation between India and Pakistan adding that it was a step in the right direction. The visit had been sponsored by the South Asia Free Media Association (SAFMA). The Chief Minister will host dinner for the visiting journalists here on Thursday.

“This is the first time since 1947 that journalists from the neighbouring country are visiting our state and I am hopeful that this will help the process of reconciliation move forward”, he said. Mufti Sayeed said the visit of the Pakistani journalists was part of a process and a delegation from Jammu and Kashmir would pay a reciprocal visit later. He said he had always been advocating greater people-to-people contact from both sides and believed that such interactions helped remove misgivings and misperceptions about each other and foster closer relations.

The Chief Minister said Pakistani journalists are not aware of the situation here and it would be a great opportunity for them to objectively see and report it. He said they would find the world of difference between what they had been writing and reporting from there and what is the ground situation here.

“Let them make their own assessment after visiting this place”, he said and added that the government had nothing to hide from them. He said his government had welcomed earlier visits of European Union delegation, Red Cross and International Human Rights Commission whose members were allowed to meet whoever they wanted.