Priyanka Tiwari
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Suspense crime, Digital Desk : India made fierce protests of the British Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC) reporting regarding the Pahalgam terrorism attack in Jammu and Kashmir which left 26 people dead and many more injured. PTI reports that the Ministry of External Affairs(MEA) has conveyed India’s concerns to Jackie Martin through a letter, BBC’s India Head.
An official said:
“A letter has been drafted on official letterhead concerning the BBC describing terrorists as militants. The External Publicity Division of MEA will be in charge of the follow up informing the BBC on about their diabolic slander comments.”
Details of the Pahalgam Incident
On April 22, terrorists attacked a group of tourists at Baisaran meadows in Pahalgam. This was the first attack after India lifted the special privileges of Jammu and Kashmir. This was the first attack targeting civilians after the implanting of the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
India’s concerns with the BBC
The Indian government was highly displeased with the BBC in general and with the specific article where they labeled terrorists as ‘militants’ in quotes. The name of the article was Pakistan suspends visas for Indians after deadly Kashmir attack. There were concerns that BBC is utterly biased against India. It was pointed out that the title itself is fraudulent and that the premise of the article stems from Indian anger towards Indians.
A social media user’s stated on X:
“Wow. BBC exploits it as though ‘Indian People’ lol ‘murdering Pakistani tourists’ is the go-to narrative for Pahalgam BBC makes it seems like loses comprehension of basic tact isn’t there a floor they can fall through?"
Disinformation Policy Enforcement
Apart from objecting to the BBC's reporting, India also suspended 16 Pakistani YouTube channels that were allegedly broadcasting inflammatory, false, and inter-communal content. The blocked include:
Dawn News
Irshad Bhatti
SAMAA TV
ARY NEWSBOL NEWS
Raftar
The Pakistan Referenc
Geo News
Samaa Sports
GNN
Uzair Cricket
Umar Cheema Exclusive
Asma Shirazi
Muneeb Farooq
SUNO News
Razi Naama
Users trying to stream these channels now encounter a message that reads:
“This content is not available in this country due to a governmental restriction regarding national security or public disorder.”
Further Associated News
A congressional panel of the US recently lambasted the New York Times for using the term ‘militant’ for the Pahalgam attackers in their reports.
After the attack, India undertook following steps:
Scrapped suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty.
Closed the Attari land-border crossing.
Expelled Pakistani military attaches.
BBC’s Previous Controversy with India
This isn’t the first time BBC has received criticism in India. Earlier this year, in 2023, the Delhi High Court served a notice to BBC regarding the documentary “India: The Modi Question” for allegedly slandering Prime Minister Modi and Indian judiciary.
The government had also ordered YouTube to delete the documentary and instructed Twitter to remove all associated tweets. A PIL to outlaw BBC was thrown out by the Supreme Court describing it as “utterly misconceived”. Also, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) began a BBC India investigation under FEMA in April 2023.
