[GOTFIVEONIT]

India takes Pakistan TV channels off air in Kashmir

By Sheikh Mushtaq
Thu Apr 24, 3:51 AM PDT

Indian authorities have blocked cable TV operators from broadcasting four Pakistani television channels in Kashmir, a move the region's separatists described as "cultural aggression" by New Delhi.

Pakistani television channels are very popular in Muslim-majority Kashmir and cable TV provides the main form of entertainment for people in the troubled region.

More than 50 channels, including three Islamic ones, are usually available, showing news, films and other entertainment in Hindi and English. Some channels also broadcast in the Kashmiri language.

"After receiving orders from the administration, we immediately blocked all four (PTV, ARY, Aaj and Geo TV) channels," Irfan Ahamad, a leading cable TV operator said in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir.

Officials said the cable operators did not have the necessary government clearance to broadcast the channels.

Militant groups that had once shut cinemas, liquor shops and beauty parlours after a separatist revolt began in 1989 in the Kashmir valley were outraged.

"It is another indication of naked aggression by Indian authorities," read a statement from Kashmir's hardline separatist leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chief cleric and chairman of Kashmir's main separatist alliance, All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom Conference), termed the ban on Pakistani TV channels as "cultural aggression" by Indian authorities.

"Kashmir has religious and cultural links with Pakistan and it is unethical to ban Pakistani TV channels," local newspapers quoted Farooq as saying.

More than 43,000 people have been killed in Jammu and Kashmir, mainly Hindu India's only Muslim majority state, since a revolt against New Delhi broke out in 1989.

Human rights groups put the toll at about 60,000 dead or missing, but the level of violence has fallen since India and Pakistan, which claim Kashmir in full but rule it in parts, began a peace process in 2004.

Half a dozen alcohol shops, a cinema hall and some beauty parlours have reopened in Srinagar and other parts of the region since then.

But people are still killed in daily shootouts and occasional bomb attacks.

On Wednesday, Indian security forces shot dead three senior members of Kashmir's main rebel group, Hizbul Mujahideen, in separate shootouts, police said.


(Editing by Bappa Majumdar and Alex Richardson)

[Jamroll]

And so the facade of Indian progressiveness, freedom and democracy starts cracking.

[GOTFIVEONIT]

Originally Posted by Jamroll

And so the facade of Indian progressiveness, freedom and democracy starts cracking.

well the ban only seems to be in kashmir and not the rest of india. however while private pakistani sattelite channels are available in india, such as quran tv which is very popular among indian muslims, ptv is banned in india.

[Jamroll]

Originally Posted by GOTFIVEONIT

well the ban only seems to be in kashmir and not the rest of india. however while private pakistani sattelite channels are available in india, such as quran tv which is very popular among indian muslims, ptv is banned in india.

And why is it banned in Kashmir? Because the Indian government is actively oppressing the people of Kashmir.

[GOTFIVEONIT]

Originally Posted by Jamroll

And why is it banned in Kashmir? Because the Indian government is actively oppressing the people of Kashmir.

the ruling hindu elite are known to oppress muslims all over india, not just kashmir. In fact, when cable tv started taking off in India, ptv was one of the most popular cable channels in the old city of Hyderabad, which is heavily muslim dominated. My relatives were SHOCKED at the horrors committed by the Indian army in kashmir. Many believed that that it was being done simply because the people were muslim, and they identified with it too, because muslim nationalism run's very high among indian muslims, particularly in riot hits areas such as old city hyderabad.

in fact it runs soo high, especially the animonsity between hindus and muslims, there is alot of segregation that goes on between the two communities, that my younger cousin had a pet dog when he was a boy, to which he named raam after the hindu idol hahaha.

[Rambo]

lol these indians want to force thier culture on the kashmiri people, kashmiries are more closer to northern pakistanis in every way.

i have heard a india is planning to move a lot of other indians and hindus to kashmir to balance the population

[Walisidz]

Kashmiris aren't weak people, when will these indians understand this?

Some of my family members in IOK manage to get PTV and AJKTV (a state sponsered channel dedicated to Azad Kashmir) regardless of the ban. Over our dead bodies will we become "indianfied" like the rest of india. We're proud people with our own rich heritage.