Videos and photographs of the so-called brutalities by the Indian Army in Kashmir are being sent to Pakistan’s Foreign Office from the valley, from where Pakistan is forwarding these to other countries, international NGOs and media organisations.
According to sources, the videos and photographs are being either stored in memory cards before being sent across the border physically, because Internet connectivity is a problem in the valley; or being uploaded from the valley itself and sent to the Pakistan Foreign Office. These are then being shared on social media by individuals and groups working for Pakistan. The Sunday Guardian has learnt that the men organising stone pelting in the valley have been asked specifically to “generate” videos of “Indian Army brutalities”, so that these can be used on various international forums. To this end, the stone-pelters have been instructed to “antagonise” the Army to the extent that they are forced to take action against the “unarmed protestors”. The is then being either photographed or video-graphed by using mobile phones.
Pakistan based sources, not authorised to speak to the media, said that Pakistan’s Foreign Office is engaged in the massive dissemination of such videos, being sent to them by Kashmir based separatist leaders and stone-pelters.
“An entire department in the Foreign Office has been constituted for this. It’s continuously highlighting Indian Army action in Kashmir through social media, press releases and interaction with international journalists. These videos, as soon as they are received, are disseminated to various people. The Foreign Office has also been asked to send special instructions to Pakistan’s missions abroad to share these videos and news about the violation of human rights that is taking place as widely as possible”, a source said.
In the last two-three months, Pakistan has taken at least two high level delegations, one from the Organization of Islamic Corporation (OIC) and another led by a former Prime Minster of Norway, to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) so that they could gain “first-hand knowledge” of the Jammu and Kashmir “dispute” and “Indian brutalities”. During these visits, the foreign dignitaries were made to interact with PoK locals, who told them about the comfortable life they led in PoK compared to the people who were being “beaten up” by the Indian Army in “India occupied Kashmir”.
Security experts say that this development indicates how Pakistan is continuously evolving its Kashmir strategy in its attempt to undermine India. It is using both hard and soft measures for this purpose—by sending in terrorists and supporting the separatists; and using social media to create a negative image about India, respectively.