Author: Vaman Rao
Publication:
Date: October 19, 2001
Ladies and Gentlemen at CNN,
I am pained to agree with a recent
article in the eminent daily, the Economic Times (October 19, 2001), that
CNN should henceforth be called PNN - the Propaganda News Network or Pakistan
News Network. The CNN reporting in the aftermath of 9-11 attack on WTC
and Pentagon and subsequent attack on Afghanistan has become so shallow
and erroneous that watching news reports from CNN has become an exercise
in mis-education. The article in the Indian Express, the widely-read Indian
Daily, a couple of days ago, makes the same point. To give a few examples:
Ms. Christiana Amanpour, the over-rated but poorly-informed reporter with
British accent, keeps on telling the listeners that India is an aggressor
and that Pakistan is threatened with its own security when she reports
that India shelled eleven Pakistani posts inside Pakistan. She does not
have the basic knowledge that it was not in Pakistan but the Pakistan-occupied
territory of Kashmir, on the Line of Control, that these posts were silenced.
She also forgot to mention that the Indian shelling took place when under
the cover of Pakistani fire, the terrorists were sneaking into the Indian
state of Kashmir. You may recall that these very terrorists, only a few
days ago, had razed to ground the building of the State Legislature in
Srinagar and had killed more than fifty innocent civilians discharging
their democratic duties. It is to avoid a repeat performance that India
took a defensive measure and foiled the heinous Pakistani attempt. By the
way, this type of skirmish is a regular happening at the Line of Control
(LOC), and there was nothing eventful about this particular incident. Pakistan
always makes the terrorists sneak into India under the cover of their fire.
Pakistan chose to publicize it this time to gain world sympathies with
the munificent help from friends like Amanpour. All this was in public
domain and yet Amanpour chose to repeat the handout put out by Pakistani
establishment.
All of us are aware of her Muslim
and Iranian background and her bias in favor of Muslim causes. We have
seen that demonstrated amply when she reported and distorted events in
Yugoslavia and Bosnia. But as a reporter she must vow by facts, not inject
her own biases to outdo the Nazi propaganda machine.
Julie Chan purports to tell the
story of how the Kashmir problem started. She tells that Kashmir was divided
between India and Pakistan, although each wants the whole of Kashmir. The
next day, perhaps after some protests from of the viewers of CNN, she also
added that the Maharajah of Kashmir joined India even though the state
had a majority Muslim population. But by relating the story in that manner,
she implicitly put the blame on India that India is there illegally. Is
it the bias on the part of her script writers or plain ignorance? In either
case, it is unacceptable for a network claiming to be world-wide.
The Government India Act of 1947,
an Act of British Parliament, allowed the Chiefs of 500 odd princely states
to join either India or Pakistan or remain Independent. Several states
joined Pakistan, and some others joined India. Before the Maharajah of
Kashmir even had a chance to make up his mind, Pakistan invaded Kashmir,
using Afridi tribesmen and British Officers (of regular Pakistani Army).
They were about to capture Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir, when the Maharajah
signed on the instrument of state's accession into India. The instrument
of accession was received and accepted by Lord Mountbatten, the then Governor
General of India. After that, India sent its troops to get rid of the invaders.
They recaptured a large territory, and before they could complete the task,
the UN arranged a cease-fire. That is how Pakistan came to illegally occupy
the Kashmiri territory. India made a mistake in complaining to the UN that
its territory had been invaded. It was cold war time, and the Kashmir problem
became a cold war issue. It became a bone of contention between the big
powers and the facts of history and on the ground were thrown to winds
in the UN discussions.
It must however be emphasized that
it was India which took the complaint to the UN as a victim of unprovoked
aggression, but some people have chosen to propagate that India is the
aggressor.
There was no Kashmir problem till
1989, except in the corridors of UN, as there was peace, regular elections
and democratic functioning of the government in Kashmir. With the rout
of USSR from Afghanistan, the terrorists, trained, financed and directed
by Pakistan found a new cause in Kashmir, and the violence started there.
Pakistani government started using terrorism as an instrument of its state
policy, and that is how there IS a problem now in Kashmir, thanks to ISI,
the Government of Pakistan and the ignorant (or biased) friends in the
American media. All this information is part and parcel of the UN documents
and several books written on the subject. Still Julie Chan purports to
educate her listeners on the genesis of Kashmir problem in such a distorted
fashion.
Many other reports follow the same
misinformation and forget to understand the parental role Pakistan has
played in siring the Taliban, making them a terrorist outfit, and giving
them the logistic support and administrative respectability. So much information
is available in the mainstream media on the subject in the country and
yet CNN reporters feign not to know all that and project Pakistan as lily
white saint and a victim of aggression. The fact is Pakistan is the center
of global terrorism today, and all terrorist activity of the last one decade
and half can be traced to DIRECT Pakistani connection.
I know it is a long letter. But
if it can be an instrument of education to your reporters, it has served
its purpose.
Sincerely,
Vaman Rao
Professor of Economics
Western Illinois University
Macomb, IL 61455
