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SRINAGAR: As the raids by the Central Bureau of Investigation on NDTV and its promoters evoked outrage across the country, there has been a mixed response in Kashmir with many people mocking the network for "getting taste of its own medicine".
"NDTV is the normalizer of the lethal postcolonial empire --something that tries to give it a human face. TimesNow/ Repubic (sic) is the provocateur-- the face that growls and reveals its fangs," Gowhar Fazili, an academic and political commentator wrote on Facebook.
The CBI raids are being seen as an example of "vindictive politics" of the BJP led Centre after one of its prominent spokesman, Sambit Patra, was asked to leave the 'Left, Right and Centre' show hosted by Nidhi Razdan, a leading anchor of the NDTV, for accusing the network on air of being 'biased'.
However, in Kashmir, where people view the national TV networks with scepticism for reporting the happenings through the 'national security' prism, the raids provided them the ammunition to hit out at the NDTV which has denied any wrongdoings.
"The chickens (sic) have come home to roost," Habeel Iqbal, a lawyer posted on Facebook. He said when the incident of alleged rape and murder of two young women took place in 2009 in south Kashmir's Shopian district, "NDTV was telling us that we are living in "denial".
"They said Kashmiris are living in 'mistrust' as CBI is the premiere investigation agency. NDTV has no moral authority to cry foul now," Iqbal, who lives in Shopian, said.
Barkha Dutt, the journalist and former NDTV employee who reported extensively on Kashmir, also faced mockery from netizens in the Valley, "The nationalistic media frenzy was invented by @ndtv when @BDUTT allegedly reported from Kargil, just saying," Karim Nanvour, an anonymous account posted.
"Forgot how Barkha dutt and others wre given free hand to concoct the stories on Kashmir by NDTV .... #Republik, #TimesNow et'al are just following what was started by NDTV at first place," Shahid Lone, a student posted on Facebook. Solidarity towards NDTV is a luxury which hypocrites can afford!"
A Jammu and Kashmir journalists and publishers body calling itself Kashmir Editors Guild (no ‘relative’ of the Editors Guild of India) however, condemned the CBI raids, describing them as “muscular manifestation” of "muzzling the independent media".
"The raids indicate that there was a sort of emergency being imposed without making it public. The strong-arm tactic being used to force media take the official line is in no way going to help democracy as it violates the basics of guarantees to media that the Constitution enshrines,” the guild said in a statement.
