What is urgently required is a fully
secure building in Delhi, staffed by army officers at the top echelons.
Lets call this building, the BLUE BOX.
The top ‘management’ of this Blue Box must be thin. The rest of the team,
thousands, will be civilians, with age around 25 years.
Content writers, videographers, special
effects experts, video editors, hackers, social media experts, research
scholars, experts in Islamic theology, linguists, songwriters and musicians,
all under the same roof.
We need recording studios, server rooms,
IT hardware, software, high speed Internet and all equipment related to content
creation and social media. We need Kashmiri Muslim men and women working for us
- those thousands of them who also put their lives on the line each day to tell
India’s story.
We must mobilize them.
They should be paid well, and made to
sign NDAs. Thousands of Twitter handles, Facebook profiles, Instagram accounts,
blogs, Vlogs, websites and WhatsApp groups need to be created, a veritable
firestorm of pro-India content.
There must be action at multiple levels.
Creation of content to counter malicious propaganda, creation of content to
push our own narrative and ‘managing’ local Kashmiri media are the three
immediate challenges.
IW must percolate down to the Rashtriya
Rifles Sector level. It is important for the Sector Commanders to have their
own IW team of professionals (civilians included), which is directly plugged
into IW of Victor Force and Kilo Force. These must, in turn, be plugged into
the IW cells of XV Corps, Northern Command and ADGPI. It is also essential to
post a qualified IW officer at the RR battalion level. He may not generate IW
content directly, but most information will pass through him. Information
Warfare is both top down and bottom up. A simple top down approach can be
detrimental because when it comes to social media use, both information and
content are mostly generated at the ground level.
The need of the hour is to go on a massive
media and social media offensive. It is important to flood Kashmir with a
counter narrative.
RR Battalion and Sector Commanders must
have the independence to deal with local and national media.
Because, otherwise, one has to be a
Kashmiri to be able to stay in and report from the Valley.
The local Kashmiri media is another
kettle of fish. Hiding behind the façade of freedom of expression, it deals in
rumors, insinuation and lies. While Indian media is known to be a little
elastic with the truth, local Kashmiri media often behaves like the propaganda
wing of the Hurriyat. I wouldn’t be surprised if individual reporters are on
Pakistan’s payroll. Look at it from the ISI’s perspective. It makes perfect
sense.
Kashmiri TV channels are an urgent
requirement.
DD Kashir is a dead duck.
FM Channels should become a part of
Kashmiri life. Both audio and video content must be beamed live across the
Valley.
Newspapers in Kashmiri and Urdu should
be launched that tell our story.
We simply have to find a way to
communicate with Kashmiris through TV, print, radio, web and social media.
There is no other road.
Massive infusion of funds is needed in
the education system in Kashmir. Madrasas funded by Jamaat-i-Islami must be
shut down gradually and replaced with schools with a modern curriculum.
This madness, which pervades Kashmir, is
a mental illness. This madness will not go away, unless we attack its
foundation. The foundation is in the mind.
But end, it must. The Blue Box is no
longer a luxury. It is a question of survival.
Ministries and departments cannot run
the Blue Box. It cannot be run by intelligence agencies. They simply don’t have
the capability or the understanding. Teenagers and young adults, mavericks who
don’t follow the rules, must run the Blue Box. The army must supervise this
operation.
It is time to call in the Indian Army
once more. The only difference will be that this time, the laptop will replace
the AK 47.
The Indian Army is the only institution
that has men on ground and can get the job done. No excuses, no stories, no
delays.
The Blue Box is what the Indian Army
urgently needs in Kashmir. It has enough weapons, bulletproof jackets and
helmets. There is no dearth of such equipment. But you cannot kill an idea,
however poisonous, with an AK 47.
*Only an idea can kill an idea*
Gaurav Arya
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