Islamabad, April 22, 2020 (PPI-OT): The Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Freedom League, Muhammad Farooq Rehmani, has strongly condemned the booking and questioning of a photojournalist Masarrat Zahra and registration of FIRs against two other journalists, Ashiq Peerzada and Gowhar Geelani under the stringent and draconian laws by Indian police.
Muhammad Farooq Rehmani in a statement issued in Islamabad said, the move is aimed at further muzzling the press and bring the media men to knees in the strangulated disputed territory. He said that press and publications in occupied Kashmir were never free from the police intervention but in the post 5 August situation, the Delhi regime had assumed worst shape in terms of the repressive governance and the authorities had magnified their role to muzzle the press and curb human rights and political voice in the territory.
“Already there were examples of the forced disappearances or even the killings of some reporters in the past few decades. Therefore, the concern about the three booked correspondents among the press community was very real and the regime’s unbridled police authorities could harm the targeted media men in any way,” he said.
He said the press men in Srinagar were alarmed about the life and honour of a female photojournalist and other two correspondents. He appealed to the world press organisations as well as Amnesty International, the Human Rights Watch and the UN Human Rights Council to keep watch on the latest conditions in occupied Kashmir and stop the authorities from taking any action against the booked journalists.
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