In Kashmir one of the easiest things to do for a journalist is to interview Grand Mufti Bashiruddin, arguably Kashmir media’s favourite rent-a-fatwa religious preacher. He can be always available on phone when you need an attribution for a story. Similarly, he is equally ready to come on camera and often oblige with a byte or two that gives the story the extra sting or shock  value, catapulting it into a big
league of news which attracts more hits and eye-balls.
This, in turn, also helps Grand Mufti. He often ends up becoming the
only news in the story, relegating the subject he is called to speak
to the background. He did it on the issue of the alleged conversions
to Christianity in Valley last year. And he has done it again this
year over the issue of the all-girls rock band. And trust him to do it
again sometime in future on some another issue. After all, it is this
intermittent media exposure that has lent him some kind of a national
profile – a huge leap for a person whose traditional job has been to
announce sighting of moon on Eid.
What is, however, deeply problematic is the way he has become an
expedient tool for  over-simplification of many a complex Kashmir
story.  And how with his fatwa or an odd statement  or two he adds
just the convenient kind of finish to a story that makes it an
oven-fresh, ready-to-use delicacy for the media. For instance, just
when the threats and insults to the girls by a clutch of anonymous
Facebook users seemed an insufficient ground for constructing an
epical freedom of speech tussle between a backward society and a
hapless teenage musical band, Grand Mufti was brought on the scene in
time to complete the package. He can give the media what it wants on
demand.
What is shocking, however, is the way the Hurriyat factions behaved.
There was a fatwa of a difference between their and the Grand Mufti’s
reaction.  Just when we were contending with the fallout of Grand
Mufti’s statement, they sneaked up from behind and jumped into the
fray, to grab a piece of media attention.
In the consequent bedlam and the war in TV studios, it was the
original truth of the story that was irreparably lost for the world. A
popular Russian proverb says that in the news there is no truth and in
the truth there is no news. Yes, because, truth is always complex and
in its intrinsic layered form will never be of use for the soundbyte
journalism.
And by the way, what was the truth of this incident which played
frenetically on TV and the other media for over a week.  On December
24, the girls performed at a CRPF-sponsored concert along with several
other male bands in a competition titled “battle of bands”. They won
the third prize and received an award money of Rs 6000. But the fact
that the event was organized by the CRPF agency riled a section of
public opinion which hold the security agency responsible for killing
scores of youth through 2008-10 unrest. This set off a debate on
Facebook where insults and obscenities were traded by the supporters
and opponents of the girl band, which was selectively picked up for
the assault. This happened in December. The girls were hurt by the
comments, their families were appalled but the posts were a temporary
setback. They knew it was not something that had uniquely affected
them. Like anywhere in the world, online anonymity makes beasts of
many people in Kashmir too. Politicians, artists and even journalists
are hounded for their statements, performance, stories or for nothing
at all.  These girls were ready to take it on chin and move on but
then media stepped in.
No, it is nobody’s case that media shouldn’t have entered the scene.
From the looks of it, the story was tantalizingly up for grabs. What
was terrible was the way the media -TV channels, in particular -
rushed to draw sufficient conclusions out of insufficient premises;
the way the story was quickly kneaded  into shape and its loose ends
fixed. Soon, the characters like Grand Mufti were recruited to
compensate for the facelessness of the stray online users and inject
the peppy religious element and build the story into fundamentalism
versus modernity speech. What is more, the story played breathlessly
for over a week, sending girls scurrying for cover and sealing their
chances to ever sing again.
And who were these internet users who had first hurled threats, in the
first place. A PTI report quotes Police sources  as having said that
“they are tracking down the Internet Protocol addresses of the 26
users whose comments, out of the total 900 posts on the band’s
Facebook page, were found abusive”.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 12 Feb 2013 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 12 Feb 2013 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 13 Feb 2013 00:00:00 IST