'Hey BBC, why don’t you call Northern Ireland ‘British Occupied Ireland’': Shekhar Kapur slams Kashmir coverage
On Sunday, filmmaker Shekhar Kapur lashed out at BBC’s coverage of Article 370’s abrogation and wondered why the Beeb didn’t call Northern Ireland ‘British Occupied Ireland’.
On Sunday, filmmaker Shekhar Kapur lashed out at BBC’s coverage of Article 370’s abrogation and wondered why the Beeb didn’t call Northern Ireland ‘British Occupied Ireland’.
He wrote on Twitter: “Hey @BBCWorld .. each time you call #kashmir ‘Indian Occupied Kashmir’ I keep wondering why you refuse to call Northern Ireland ‘British Occupied Ireland’ ?”
Many Indian commentators have accused several foreign publications including BBC, Al Jazeera, The Guardian and even NYT of biased coverage over the Kashmir unrest.
England has a bloody history with Ireland. The British Crown continued to violently put down any call for home rule from the people and the potato famine of the 1840s saw around 2 million Irishmen killed, a move we'd see again the Bengal famine a century later courtesy Winston Churchill.
Meanwhile, best-selling author Frederick Forsyth has also BBC of bias in the past, particularly when he was working there as a correspondent during the Biafra War in Nigeria. He even claimed a BBC spy broke into his flat.
Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy on Saturday assured that Section 144 will be lifted soon in Jammu and Kashmir where it was in place after the abrogation of Article 370.
"There was peace in Jammu and Kashmir post the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A. Section 144 will be lifted within a week to ten days and that there will be normalcy in the Valley soon. For the past 70 years, Indians were like aliens in their own country and now the abrogation of Article 370 has led to an extension of the Indian Constitution in totality to Jammu and Kashmir. At many places, Section 144 has been relaxed in Jammu and Kashmir," Reddy said at National Seminar on Cyber Security at Institute of Engineers here.
"Pakistan was trying to mislead people by giving false reports. Similarly, some political parties in the country also misled people for their own vested interests," he said.
"Communication was also being restored in some places and will be done soon in many places. There are no signs of havoc in Jammu and Kashmir. We are just taking precautions, if provoked then things will be settled as soon as possible. After the abrogation of Article 370, we can see that people are much happier than before."
The minister said that Jammu and Kashmir will have developed in the industrial sector and the culture of the state will be recognized."
Parliament recently withdrew special status to the Jammu and Kashmir and also passed Jammu and Kashmir (Reorganization) Act 2019, reorganizing the state in two Union Territories--Jammu and Kashmir with Assembly and Ladakh without it
Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday reiterated his firm commitment and belief on abrogation of Article 370 while revealing that though he had faith in the outcomes of scrapping Article 370, he too had several apprehensions regarding the functioning of the Upper House when the Bill was introduced.Speaking at a book launch event on the two-year tenure of Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Shah said, "As the Vice-President and Chairman of Rajya Sabha, he was chairing the session of the Upper House when the law regarding abrogation of Article 370 was introduced. But while piloting the Bill, I had a lot of apprehension as to when I will introduce the bill, how will the house function? We do not have a full majority in Rajya Sabha, but I decided that still, I will introduce Bill first in Rajya Sabha."Stating that he had apprehensions in his heart of becoming part of an ugly scene, Shah said, "With such fear and feeling, I stood in the Rajya Sabha but it was the meticulous directions of Venkaiah Naidu that from listening to views of the opposition friends to the division of votes, the Bill has to nowhere face any incident which could make people of India feel that dignity of the Upper house has been lowered."