{"id":22430,"date":"2018-11-12T20:19:14","date_gmt":"2018-11-12T14:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/?p=22430"},"modified":"2020-07-22T18:03:03","modified_gmt":"2020-07-22T12:33:03","slug":"clipped-video-barkha-dutts-2004-report-on-plight-of-kashmiri-pandits-viral-as-justifying-their-massacre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/clipped-video-barkha-dutts-2004-report-on-plight-of-kashmiri-pandits-viral-as-justifying-their-massacre\/","title":{"rendered":"Clipped video of Barkha Dutt’s 2004 report on plight of Kashmiri Pandits viral as justifying their massacre"},"content":{"rendered":"

A hashtag #ApologiseBarkha is trending on micro-blogging platform Twitter. Several users have shared a video of the journalist claiming that she justified the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits.<\/p>\n

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Barkha Dutt justifying the horrific Kashmiri Pandit genocide! #ApologiseBarkha<\/a><\/p>\n

Her other crimes against India:<\/p>\n

1) Radia tapes conspiracy – portfolio fixing
\n2) Kargil – army positions leaked
\n3) 26\/11 – critical information leaked
\n3) Gujrat riot fake news & inflammatory coverage pic.twitter.com\/NE4LfEwTYt<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Saurabh (@Saurabh74246564) July 22, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The hashtag picked up after an Instagram page ‘Kashmiri Youth Movement’ shared a video of a man claiming to show the same video to his grandmother, a Kashmiri Hindu, who demanded an apology from Dutt.<\/p>\n

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Barkha Dutt has justified the ethnic cleansing, mocked and hurt our community. We demand an apology. She must apologise. #ApologiseBarkha<\/a><\/p>\n

A post shared by Kashmiri Youth Movement<\/a> (@kashmiriyouthmovement) on Jul 19, 2020 at 5:48am PDT<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Viral since 2015<\/h4>\n

That the journalist suggested “Kashmiri Pandits were rightly massacred in 1990s” is a recurring claim. On November 9, 2018, Chayan Chatterjee<\/a> tweeted the clip with the same narrative. This 23-second clip has been projected as a justification for the massacre of Kashmiri Pandits.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/Satyanewshi\/status\/1061119145817731073<\/p>\n

In the 23-second clip, Dutt can be heard saying, “Today hapless victims, they were once privileged elites of the valley. They may have been a minority but at that time, they had monopolised government jobs, plum postings and other such social benefits. In fact, the sharp economic disparity between the Pandits and the poor Muslim majority was one of the earliest reasons for popular discontent in the state.” On basis of the clipped video, social media users claimed that Barkha Dutt defended the massacre of Kashmiri Pandits.<\/p>\n

The oldest instance of the same clip that Alt News could find was from 2015. A known fake news purveyor Facebook page Shankh Naad\u00a0<\/a>had shared the video on November 6, 2015. It had received more than 2.37 lakh views and 5,400 shares. The message shared along with the video stated, “Barkha Dutt justifying Kashmiri Pandit’s genocide”.<\/p>\n

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Video clipped and given a false narrative
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Alt News found the full-length video<\/a> published on NDTV’s website on May 7, 2013. The title of the video –\u00a0“Kashmiri pandits: The forgotten minority (Aired: October 2004)” –\u00a0itself is in absolute contradiction to the claims made on social media. Here, Dutt talked about the plight of Kashmiri Pandits, a minority in the Valley.<\/p>\n

\"\"Moreover, the summarized caption published along with the video further confirms that Dutt’s reportage was not a justification of the massacre but focused on the impoverished conditions of Kashmiri Pandits since they were forced out of the Valley in 1990.\u00a0“Despite all the attention on the state of Jammu and Kashmir, one issue often forgotten is that of the Kashmiri pandits. Ever since the pandits were forced out of the Valley, they have stayed on the margins of public and political attention. In this episode of Reality Bites, Barkha Dutt investigates the events that led to this mass exodus and also how the danger of a declining population is only made worse by a life in exile, as assimilating to new cultures and new cities means discarding an old ethos and embracing new rituals,”\u00a0read the caption. This clearly suggests that the claims on social media are false.<\/p>\n

Video placed out-of-context<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Barkha Dutt introduces the report by explaining the misery of forgotten and marginalised Kashmiri Pandits. She starts off by saying, “The Prime Minister will fly to Srinagar in early April, announcing this after meeting with him in Delhi, Jammu Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed said a new political dialogue at the highest level should get off the ground soon. But in all the attention on the state, often forgotten is the community of Kashmir Pandits. It was exactly 13 years ago, this very month that the Pandits where forced out of the valley and have since stayed on the margins of public and political attention.”<\/p>\n