Muhammad Mueen Ahmad, globalvillagespace.com
uncaptioned image from articleExcerpt:
A Survey from Microsoft shows that India is a hotbed of fake news compared to any other country of the world. The survey shows around 64% of Indians are confronted by fake news via mainstream media with a comparison of the worldwide average of 57 percent. Microsoft further reveals that a big chunk of Indian population around 54% encounters internet hoaxes as compared to the global average of 50%. In recent past, fake news circulated on and inculcated in social media in general and Whatsapp, in particular, has taken lives of 40 compatriots by Indian themselves.
Hasbara’s Indian Version
“Hasbara” is derived from Hebrew which means “explanation” −explanation of wrongdoing in the cover of specious arguments and noble persona. History of “Hasbara” goes back to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 when Israel took up the gauntlet of the massacre of Lebanese with great gusto. This bloodshed drew the attention of the International community and media to unleash monstrous violence being committed by Israeli forces in Lebanon and Palestine.
Pakistan’s stance on Kashmir remains consistent during a decades-long rivalry with India and conforms to the United Nations’ resolution that emphasizes on giving Kashmiris the right to decide their destination themselves through a plebiscite.
Strident human right voices started echoing on international forums against atrocities of Israel. Meanwhile, Israel and her handful but strong sympathizers launched “Hasbara” headlong to let up all voices against Israeli brutalities. In simple words “Hasbara” is, more or less, a type of public diplomacy [JB emphasis] that renders Israel to take circuitous routes to hide her gamut of human right violation and strong rebuttal of International Law. The same implication of “Hasbara” type diplomacy can be seen in India over Its decades-long illegal occupation of Kashmir.
This year counts 72 years of the unlawful and outrageous seizure of freedom of Kashmiri people. Kashmir was a free state at the time of partition of the subcontinent. Muslims had a major demographic hold over Kashmir. Ruler of State Kashmir Raja Hari Singh made the ambiguous wish of Kashmir merger with India that went against the desires of Muslim majority of Kashmir. Since then India keeps decimating innocent Kashmiri people and deployed more than 0.5 million military personnel that make Kashmir world’s most volatile and highly militarized slice of land.
The same “Indian-Version-Hasbara” works here to chide any rightful voice against India oppression. One may see this “Hasbara” in form of Bollywood, sports, culture exchange diplomacy. With her mainstream media, India shows freedom-fighters of Kashmir as a proscribed faction of Kashmiri-society to the world. But Pakistan somehow managed to unveil ambiguous tall claims of India over IOK.
Pakistan’s stance on Kashmir remains consistent during a decades-long rivalry with India and conforms to the United Nations’ resolution that emphasizes on giving Kashmiris the right to decide their destination themselves through a plebiscite. …
Muhammad Mueen Ahmad is CSS aspirant and runs a community organization named HOPE PAK (Harmony For Peace And Empowerment-Pakistan) working for peace and empowerment of youth. He can be reached at Mueen.ahmad@outlook.com. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Global Village Space
