‘IndiaCantSee’ campaign featuring Kashmir unrest goes viral

A social media campaign, ‘#IndiaCantSee’, featuring the ongoing unrest in Kashmir went viral over different social media platforms in both India and Pakistan.

Launched by Pakistani advocacy group ‘Never Forget Pakistan’, the social media campaign drew attention to the reported ‘atrocities by Indian armed forces during street protests’ in Kashmir.

The Facebook post titled ‘What if you knew the Victim? #IndiaCantSee #LetKashmirDecide’ featured photoshopped images of a number of Indian politicians and celebrities with injury marks on their faces.

Posting the photoshopped images of celebrities - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, cricketer Virat Kohli and actors Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai, the group cited that the campaign is ‘not about jingoism’ but aimed at creating ‘empathy’.

‘This campaign is designed to highlight the atrocities and abuses carried out by the Indian Armed forces and Police who enjoy complete immunity under the Armed Forced Special Powers Act which has made a mockery of India’s claim to be a secular democracy.’

The 11 images, accompanied by messages signed by ‘real’ victims, are being shared widely in social media platforms since those were uploaded on 24 July.

In the post, the campaigners said: ‘You know these faces. Does that make the tragedies more important? The stories in the letters are real.

The names signed under the letter are real. Just the victim you see in the picture is not real.

‘But do you care what is the profile of the victim for you to sympathise and empathise with them? For you to speak for them? Why do we need to glamourize a tragedy in order for people to pay attention. Have we all become that numb.’

The recent wave of incidents in Kashmir has resulted in scores of innocent Kashmiris ending up injured whereas around 40 have been reported dead, reported a number of Indian and Pakistani news outlets.

The use of the pellet gun by the law enforcement agencies in the occupied valley has resulted in a number of children losing their eyesight.