Balti Service Gets Shut Down Amid Siachen Policy Review Talks

Amid apparent thaw in India-Pakistan relations, the government has shut down the Balti Service from All India Radio Srinagar, previously called Radio Kashmir Srinagar. 

The programme was mostly a “reach out project” to present the Indian view of the situation in the Muzaffarabad, Gilgit and Baltistan regions. The programme shut early this month.

Only last year, the government with much fanfare started news bulletins on state-owned broadcasters Doordarshan and All India Radio (AIR) featuring weather forecasts for Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).  For the past year weather reports of areas like Muzaffarabad, Mirpur and Gilgit-Baltistan have become a regular feature of news bulletins on the two broadcasters. 

According to officials, the government closed down Balti Service that was aired from shortwave radio transmission of All India Radio Srinagar.  The officials say following communication from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting All India Radio Srinagar’s shortwave services has been closed. 

They say the shortwave was airing only one programme, which was of Balti services.

 

On March 27, 1988, the Ministry of Home under a policy decision started the Balti service programme from shortwave Radio Kashmir Srinagar to counter Balti language programmes from Radio Pakistan and  Azad Kashmir Radio Trarkhal. The Balti language programme from Radio Kashmir Srinagar also catered to people living in the Kargil region of Ladakh and a small number of scattered Balti speaking people in different pockets of Kashmir.

After the Kargil war, on the advice of the Union Home Ministry and the Defence Ministry, the All India Radio Srinagar started a ten-minute news bulletin in the Balti language apart from regular twenty-minute commentary in the language. To counter it Radio Pakistan Islamabad started broadcasting news in the Balti language at 7:20 p.m in the evening. The Radio Pakistan Skardu also started broadcasting the news to counter All India Radio Srinagar’s Balti programme.

Senior officials at the All India Radio Srinagar say the programme doesn’t need to be aired from Srinagar at all. They say Balti speaking population is not much in Jammu and Kashmir and there is no fresh talent available in the Balti language. They say they have requested the government if at all, they want to restart the programme and Balti news, they should do it from Kargil station instead of Srinagar station.

Baltis are the original inhabitants of Baltistan. Skardu, now a part of Gilgit-Baltistan is considered to be its historical capital. In Jammu and Kashmir, Baltis are mainly settled in Kargil. A few Balti families can be found in Tral, Madar and Papchen villages of district Bandipora and Chanderkot area of Ramban.

The shutting of the services has come at a time when there is a thaw in India Pakistan relations even after the abrogation of Article 370 and downgrading of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories. There is also talk of the demilitarization of the Siachen glacier.

On Feb 25, last year the DGsMO of India and Pakistan renewed the ceasefire agreement and issued a joint statement that said, “In the interest of achieving mutually beneficial and sustainable peace along the borders, the two DGsMO agreed to address each other’s core issues and concerns which have the propensity to disturb the peace and lead to violence. Both sides agreed for strict observance of all agreements, understandings and cease firing along the Line of Control and all other sectors with effect from midnight February 24-25 Feb 2021.”

After the reaffirmation of the agreement, for the first time since the 2003 ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan, the LoC is calm and peaceful. According to the Army, not a single ceasefire violation has been reported along the LoC or the International Border after the reaffirmation of the ceasefire agreement.

At the same time, Indian Army chief, General MM Naravane’s statement on Siachen has recently attracted a lot of attention. “We are not averse to demilitarisation of the Siachen glacier, but a precondition to that is to accept the AGPL [Actual Ground Position Line]. Pakistan has to accept what are their positions and what are our positions, and both of us have to sign on the dotted line before any kind of disengagement takes place.”