From Friday onwards autonomous public service broadcaster Doordarshan will start showing weather forecasts for Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and the Northern Areas. It is a move devised to convey a diurnal message to Islamabad that it was holding on to these territories illegally.
A senior government official noted that Doordarshan National, DD News, All India Radio and Kashir channels had been told to include these territories in its daily weather bulletins along with other regions in the country. Doordarshan’s Kashmir channel is telecast in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
In weather bulletin of Doordarshan, the forecasts for Mirpur and Muzaffarabad in occupied Kashmir and Gilgit in Northern Areas will be included.
A senior government official stated, “The step will also be a constant reminder to the Imran Khan government and its few supporters that India will not allow Islamabad to take any steps to legitimise its illegal occupation.”
The decision concurred with New Delhi’s strong protests this week over the order of Pakistan’s top court that provided for establishing a caretaker administration in Gilgit-Baltistan to conduct fresh elections.
India claims the entire erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, including the Gilgit-Baltistan region, which was conferred near-provincial status by the Pakistan government in 2009.
