The Centre's Special Representative on Jammu and Kashmir Dineshwar Sharma has requested Home Minister Rajnath Singh that a meeting be held with certain television news channels, which are circulating "vicious propaganda" against Kashmiris, The Hindu reported.
The meeting would take place, soon, the publication said, citing a senior source.
The source, on Wednesday, 10 January, told The Hindu that at least four news channels regularly do stories exaggerating events in Kashmir. This, they said, has a detrimental effect on the peace process being conducted by the central government.
The newspaper quoted a senior Home Ministry official as saying:
Sometimes these channels are just making a mountain out of a molehill. Many times, the debates are vitriolic and are distant from facts on the ground. This gives fodder to secessionist forces in the Kashmir Valley to sow hatred against the government.
The official added that CM Mehbooba Mufti has raised similar concerns with the Centre, previously.
In July, last year, while addressing a seminar on "Understanding Kashmir," Mufti had said a few channels were trying to show Kashmiris in a bad light.
However, the report cited another official saying that the government would keep “the freedom of the press” in mind and deal with the issue cautiously.
This is not the first time Jammu and Kashmir administrations have expressed concern over the reporting on the Valley done by TV channels.
South Kashmir officials had said that while only students from a few institutions had participated in stone throwing at the security forces after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, the media had reported it as if all the students in the region had done so.
In its efforts to initiate a sustained interaction and dialogue to understand legitimate aspirations of people in Jammu and Kashmir, the Centre had appointed former Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief Sharma as government's representative in Kashmir, in October, last year.
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