Indian minister accuses New York Times of ‘spreading lies’ after damning report on Kashmir
An Indian minister launched a sharp retort at The New York Times (NYT) for publishing a news report on the alleged arming of civilians in the contentious territory of Kashmir over which the Narendra Modi administration exercises control.
The report “India is arming villagers in one of Earth’s most militarised places” detailed the alleged revival of local militias in Jammu territory in the years since Kashmir’s special status was abrogated. It accused the government of displaying a military approach to tackle the conflict in the Himalayan part controlled by India.
nurag Thakur, the federal minister of information and broadcast under the Modi administration, accused the US daily of “spreading lies” about India and nourishing a grudge against the country’s prime minister.
“The New York Times had long back dropped all pretensions of neutrality while publishing anything about India. NYT’s so called opinion piece on freedom of press in Kashmir is mischievous and fictitious published w/ [with] a sole motive to spread a propaganda about India and its democratic institutions and values,” the minister tweeted.
He added that this was “in continuation with what NYT and a few other link-minded foreign media have been spreading lies” about India and its democratically elected prime minister Narendra Modi.
“Some foreign media nourishing a grudge against India and our prime minister Shri Narendra Modi have long been systematically trying to peddle lies about our democracy and pleuritic society,” Mr Thakur said without elaborating about the nature of these lies.
“Freedom of press in India is as sacrosanct as other fundamental rights,” the minister said.
He said “Indians will not allow such mindsets to run their decisive agenda on India soil”.
India ranked 150 among 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index in 2022. The nation tumbled from its previously held spot of 133 in 2016 in the index released by the global media watchdog Reporters Without Borders.
In the news report published on Wednesday, The New York Times featured the Dhangri village where ordinary civilian men working as drivers, shopkeepers, and farmers have allegedly been handed arms at night to keep guard as local militia in the face of rising deadly militant attacks on Hindu families.
The federal Indian territory of Jammu and Kashmir has remained a flashpoint amid controversial claims of land control by Pakistan and been a fertile ground for tensions springing due to terrorism and religious discord between the Hindu and Muslim population.
Tensions have further heightened in the Himalayan area due to rising local militant crossfires and rising attacks elsewhere in the country on minority communities.
The report noted that the continuing attacks on civilians have sparked questions about the government’s military approach to a “fundamentally a political problem in Kashmir”.
