Indian Media’s Credibility Crisis: A Strategic Window to Amplify the Truth on Kashmir: Media Workshop calls for more vibrant role of AJK Journalists to encourage settlement of Kashmir conflict:

English , Kashmir - آزاد جموں کشمیر , Snippets , / Friday, June 27th, 2025

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Altaf Hamid Rao.
MIRPUR ( AJK): June 27: A capacity-building media workshop of local seasoned journalist, affiliated with national and regional press, hosted by the Institute of Dialogue, Development & Diplomatic Studies (IDDDs) hosted a vital media workshop titled “Indian Media’s Credibility Crisis: A Strategic Window to Amplify the Truth on Kashmir” here Thursday night, strongly emphasized for more vibrant role of AJK Journalists to highlight the significance of early peaceful settlement of the Kashmir conflict through early grant of birth right to self-determination to Jammu Kashmir people for ever-lasting peace in the region.

The event was attended bylocal leading journalists, senior editors, and members of the Kashmir Press Club Mirpur.

The workshop, presided over by the Kashmir Press Club General Secretary and veteran Kashmiri Journalist Sohrab Ahmed Khan, was formally inaugurated by Muhammad Aslam Malik, a senior Kashmiri leader, who emphasized the media’s crucial role in contemporary Kashmir—particularly when all other democratic and political avenues have been choked post–5th August 2019.

Malik lauded the journalists of Azad Jammu and Kashmir for keeping the flame of resistance alive and acknowledged the remarkable role played by the AJK media in carrying the burden of the suppressed Kashmiri voice.

Dr. Waleed Rasool, Director of IDDDs, presented his research paper titled “Deconstruction of Indian Media and the Dehumanization of Kashmiris,” citing key findings from international crisis communication reports. He delivered a comprehensive and evidence-based briefing on how Indian media was exposed globally for its systematic misinformation—especially during the aggression launched by India across the Line of Control on May 5th and 6th. The fabricated narratives and brazen falsehoods quickly became a point of international ridicule, triggering a broader debate on the ethical collapse of journalism in India.Rather than functioning as a constitutional watchdog of power, Indian media has increasingly devolved into an instrument of Hindutva propaganda—surrendering professional ethics at the altar of hyper-nationalism.

The workshop critically examined the Indian media ecosystem through the academic frameworks of priming, framing, and agenda-setting, revealing how the Kashmiri narrative has been systematically erased from the public domain, especially since the revocation of Article 370.

The participants including the chair Sohrab Ahmed Khan, senior Kashmiri Journalists and former Presidents of the Press Club Mirpur-AJK Hafiz Maqsood, Altaf Hameed Rao, Rana Shabir Rajouvi, Sajjad Qayyum Khanpuri, Raja Habib Ullah, Zaffar Mughal, Sajaad Bukhari, Raja Rasheed, Khalil Yousaf, Zahid Bashir Chaudhry, Shiraaz Bukhari, Muhammad Azam, Faisal Gulzar and others in their respective output, provided a searing critique of the structural rot within Indian media, now entirely co-opted by the state. He noted that while truth is typically the first casualty in conflict, the sheer scale of Indian media’s distortion has surpassed even wartime propaganda.

Senior Kashmiri Journalist and analyst Altaf Hameed Rao emphasized how Indian TV studios were converted into theatrical “war rooms,” with blaring sirens and dramatized visuals designed to glorify military aggression. These spectacles, they warned, echoed the propaganda apparatus of Nazi Germany under Goebbels—only louder, more frequent, and more perilous.

During the workshop, AJK-based journalists raised vital concerns regarding capacity-building, digital outreach, and the lack of resources in accessing and engaging with international media platforms. However, the participants collectively praised the steadfastness and moral clarity of the AJK media in highlighting the Kashmir issue across fluctuating political landscapes.

The session concluded with a tone of resolve and collective responsibility.

It was affirmed that despite infrastructural and institutional limitations, the media in Azad Jammu and Kashmir must continue to function as the guardian of the resistance narrative. The role of AJK media is not just observational; it is strategic and active—a frontline force in the ongoing information war, one that must shape, contest, and expose manufactured realities, the event emphasized through a unanimously passed resolution on this occasion.