TRT WORLD’S BLIND BLUSTER

On June 23, Istanbul-based Turkish media giant TRT World published a news feature written by a Kashmiri named Suhail A Shah, who tweets at @shahsuhayl. The headline of the report: Kashmir’s heroin crisis is reaching epidemic proportions. Read the news feature here

Witness sham journalism! Blind to the elephant in the room. Blind to the geo-politics driving terror and drugs in Kashmir.

Where are the drugs coming from?
Does Jammu and Kashmir produce them?
Does the rest of India produce these drugs and supply them to Kashmir?
No.

These drugs come from across the border, produced in golden crescent area of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They are smuggled into Kashmir by Pakistan.

Yes. The heroin crisis is reaching endemic proportions in Kashmir. But does TRT World tell you that Kashmir is fighting narco-terrorism? Does TRT World reveal that terrorism in Kashmir is being financed by the sale of drugs?

TRT World is silent on the fact that the parts of Kashmir which have strong terror networks and terrorist movement have higher drug trade at district level. The local terrorists and the Over-Ground Workers provide the eco-system for supplying the drug supply chains. The police and security forces are fighting not just terrorism but narco-terror too.

TRT World does not reveal that Pakistan is using drones to drop arms and ammunition in Kashmir, and also for dropping narcotics with Indian territory. Frequent seizure of these drone consignments have been made by the police, but heavy supply continues.

Pakistan Has Invested Heavily in Making Kashmiri Youth Drug Addicts, Also Indoctrinating Them. TRT World Does Not Reveal This

The Turkish media giant and the so-called journalist from Kashmir conveniently belt out the trope – Kashmir is on fire with drugs. TRT world does not tell you the inconvenient truth – that Pakistan has invested heavily into making Kashmiri youth drug addicts. Pakistan has poured in money to destroy our young generation.

The problem of drug abuse was alien to Kashmiri society. Just a few decades ago in which if it was found out that charas (cannabis) was being grown on any field in Kashmir, the Kashmiris would themselves go and destroy the field. This is the same society that Pakistan has destroyed by pumping in drugs. Now the Kashmiri society is not able to control the fire of drug abuse raging in its midst. Parents are scared of their children falling prey to drug abuse.

The Triple Whammy Destroying Kashmir

Destroying Kashmir is Pakistan’s well-conceived strategy.

For three decades, Pakistan has exploited its religious and linguistic affinity with Kashmir to indoctrinate the Kashmiris with deadly Islamist ideology and the most extremist interpretations of Islam like Wahabism, Salafism, and Deobandism.

Second, Pakistan has flooded the social media in Kashmir with massive disinformation and lies in order to poison vulnerable Kashmiri minds. Third, Pakistan has used narco-terrorism as a war tactic to waste the young Kashmiri human resource. TRT World and the fake journo are content to skim the surface of the iceberg. The fake journo does not have the guts to address the root cause of Kashmir’s drug malaise in Kashmir. TRT World does not want to reveal Pakistan’s culpability for the epidemic of drug abuse and narco-terrorism in Kashmir.

Both are molding facts for the convenience of their masters.

This is deliberate international disinformation and journalistic deceit. These are deliberate fabrications to target India, and they should be treated so. The playfields should be leveled.

Cross-LOC trade between India, Pakistan was used for funnelling of illegal weapons, narcotics, fake currency

Pakistan used cross-Line of Control (LOC) trade with India to deepen the drug networks in Kashmir. The trade routes were used by rogue merchants to smuggle narcotics into India. The routes were also used as a conduit for hawala money, weapons, and fake currency. Several such consignments were confiscated by the Indian security agencies. Finally in April 2019, India suspended the cross- LoC trade in Jammu and Kashmir. According to top security officers, the misuse was happening “on a very large scale.”

Probes by security agencies revealed that a significant number of persons engaged in the trade were closely associated with terrorist organizations in Kashmir.

Cross-LOC trade began in 2008 with the setting up two Trade Facilitation Centres located at Uri’s Salamabad in Baramulla, and Chakkan-da-Bagh in Poonch. The trade used to take place four days a week. It was based on barter system and zero duty basis.