Srinagar, July 22: Jammu and Kashmir High Court has asked the state government to take action against news channels that have created “hysteria” about Kashmir and its people, and blamed the television media reportage for pushing the Valley's IAS officer Shah Faesal “to the edge”.
A Division Bench of the high court expressed displeasure over the media coverage and observed that the “hysteria created by some national news channels” has created problems for the government. “The government needs to take some action against such news channels and regulate them,” the bench said, adding that the media is not above law and needs to be made aware of it.
The division bench while hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) also took note of the article “Between the Studio and the Street”, written by Director School Education Kashmir Shah Faesal, that appeared in The Indian Express on Wednesday. “He has been pushed to the edge by (the hysteria). If he resigns, then he would be pushed to the other side of the divide,” the bench said.
Faesal, who is the first Kashmiri to top the civil service exams, had last week slammed TV news channels who ran his picture alongside that of militant commander Burhan Wani to make a comparison. “By juxtaposing my photos with the images of a slain militant commander, a section of national media has once again fallen back upon its conventional savagery that cashes on falsehoods, divides people and creates more hatred,'' he had written on Facebook.
Clashes between security forces and protesters, triggered by the encounter of Hizbul Mujahideen Militant Burhan Wani, have resulted in the death of several civilians and policemen. Curfew is still on in the Valley as it enters its fourteenth day of protest.
