Category: Business News

Brussels, October 21, 2020 (PPI-OT):The Chairman of Kashmir Council Europe (KCEU), Ali Raza Syed, has strongly condemned the sealing of the office of Kashmir Times, a leading daily of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, by the Indian authorities.

Kashmir Times owner, Anuradha Bhasin, in statement on social media said that without any reason and advance notice, the authorities on Monday sealed the office of the newspaper at Press Enclave in Srinagar.

Ali Raza Syed in a statement issued in Brussels while reacting over the anti-press move said, this shameful act is a severe violation of freedom of press and freedom of expression. He praised the owners of the IIOJK-based newspapers and their journalists who are engaged in revealing the facts about prevailing grim situation specially exposing the gross human right violations being perpetrated by Indian troops in the occupied territory.

He said, we really admire the struggle of Kashmiri media people who highlight the truth despite of risk to their life.

The KCEU Chairman expressed serious concern over lack of freedom of expression specially freedom of press and violations of rights of press and expression by Indian state agencies and forces’ personnel in the occupied territory. Media censorship by the Indian authorities in IIOJK is a routine matter as media persons are being attacked and harassed in the occupied territory, he said.

Ali Raza Syed urged the world influential governments and international human rights organizations to pressurize India to allow the newspapers and local and foreign journalists to report freely from IIOJK.

He also expressed solidarity with owners and journalists of the occupied territory specially Kashmir Times and asked the intentional community as well as world media watchdogs such as Reporters Sans Frontiers to insure safety and security of the media persons in IIOJK.

For more information, contact:
Kashmir Media Service
Phone: +92-51-4435548, +92-51-4435549
Fax: +92-51-4861736
Email: info@kmsnews.org
Website: www.kmsnews.org

Srinagar, October 21, 2020 (PPI-OT):In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, journalists bodies have strongly denounced the sealing of the office of leading English daily, Kashmir Times, by the authorities.

The Delhi-run Estates Department sealed the office of Kashmir Times at Press Enclave in the city on Monday without giving any reason for the action. Earlier, the authorities sealed the office of a local news gathering agency, Kashmir News Service (KNS), in Srinagar.

The Kashmir Editors Guild (KEG) in a statement in Srinagar said, it sees the sealing as the continuation of an abnormality being enforced on Kashmir media for a long time especially since 2010.

It said that in the last 10 years, the successive Indian regimes had created a very unpleasant history as for as operations of the media in IIOJK was concerned. “Preventing circulation of newspapers, blacklisting the newspapers from getting government advertisements in Srinagar and Delhi, and interrupting negatively in the routine operations have adversely impacted the media. These are in addition to the issues that reporters face on a daily basis while gathering information,” it said.

The Guild called upon the administration to unseal the premises from which Kashmir Times and KNS offices were operating from.

General Secretary of the Kashmir Press Club, Ishfaq Tantry, in an interview said, “The move is highly condemnable. The government should reverse it and ensure an enabling atmosphere for the press in Jammu and Kashmir free from fear and coercion.”

New York-based media watchdog, the Committee to Protect Journalists, in a statement said, “We condemn the ongoing targeting and harassment of Anuradha Bhasin and Kashmir Times. Authorities must stop trying to silence independent and critical voices and should respect press freedom.”

Reporters without Borders (RSF) in a statement in Paris termed the action against the Kashmir Times as an attack on press freedom in IIOJK.

On the other hand, several noted Kashmiri journalists have come forward to do their bit for the Kashmir Times newspaper, which is under attack from the Indian government for moving the Indian Supreme Court against media restrictions in IIOJK after the Modi government abrogated special status of the territory in August last year. The journalists have offered their professional services for free as their small contribution to the embattled newspaper.

“In solidarity with Anuradha Bhasin, journalists offer their professional service free,” wrote senior journalist, Hilal Mir, on Facebook to announce the collective support for Kashmir Times editor Anuradha Bhasin.

Along with Hilal Mir, there are at least eleven other journalists who have volunteered for the work. They include Najeeb Mubaraki, Gowhar Geelani, Tariq Mir, Majid Maqbool, Samaan Lateef, Athar Parvaiz, Nayeem Rathar, Shams Irfan, Riyaz Wani and Naseer A Ganai.

For more information, contact:
Kashmir Media Service
Phone: +92-51-4435548, +92-51-4435549
Fax: +92-51-4861736
Email: info@kmsnews.org
Website: www.kmsnews.org

Islamabad, October 21, 2020 (PPI-OT):Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi voiced concerns over grave human rights violations and other repressive actions being perpetrated by the Indian occupation forces in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

He said this during a telephonic conversation with Azerbaijan Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov. He briefed his Azeri counterpart of the latest situation in IIOJK.

Foreign Minister Qureshi also recognized Azerbaijan’s valuable support to Pakistan on Jammu and Kashmir dispute at various international fora, including the OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir.

The Foreign Minister expressed deep concern on the deteriorating security situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and expressed full solidarity with the brotherly nation of Azerbaijan and its people at this difficult time.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi also said that Pakistan believes in restoration of territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi voiced concerns over the reprehensible targeting and killing of civilians by the Armenian forces and hoped for a peaceful resolution of the crisis, in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions.

Azeri Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov appreciated Pakistan’s support to Azerbaijan and briefed on the latest situation.

For more information, contact:
Kashmir Media Service
Phone: +92-51-4435548, +92-51-4435549
Fax: +92-51-4861736
Email: info@kmsnews.org
Website: www.kmsnews.org

Muzaffarabad, October 21, 2020 (PPI-OT):Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Raja Farooq Haider Khan has said that Kashmiri people are facing the miseries due to historically wrong decision of Shaikh Abdullah dynasty as they acceded with India and became the Indian puppets and enslaved the Kashmiri nation.

He said the Ex IHK Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and other Indian puppets always served Indian interests which caused plenty of Kashmiri people in shape of worst oppression and subjugation of Kashmiri people, he added.

He said this in a statement issued here. AJK PM said that these Indian puppets were responsible for Indian tyranny and massacre of Kashmiri people for the last seven decades.

He asserted that Ex CMs of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti let loose their authority in Indian favour which allowed Indian forces to use brute forces against Kashmiri people and unleashed every kind of gross violations in IIOJK.

For more information, contact:
Kashmir Media Service
Phone: +92-51-4435548, +92-51-4435549
Fax: +92-51-4861736
Email: info@kmsnews.org
Website: www.kmsnews.org

Toronto, October 20, 2020 (PPI-OT):A stellar lineup of academics, authors and activists will reflect on “Canada’s Silence on Indian Colonization of Kashmir”.

The webinar, scheduled for Thursday (October 22), will offer an overview of the long-standing conflict, which India’s current Hindu nationalist government has escalated.

Hosted by Canada Foreign Policy Institute, guest speakers include Haley Duschinski, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Graduate Director of the Center for Law, Justice and Culture at Ohio University. She will discuss human rights, militarization, impunity and the ongoing siege of IIOJK.

Other panelists include Attorney Imraan Mir, co-founder of the Kashmir Law and Justice Project, Malavika Kasturi, Associate Professor of South Asian History at the University of Toronto, Siddiq Wahid, Scholar-in-Residence at the Centre for Public Affairs and Critical Theory at Shiv Nadar University, and Dr Azeezah Kanji, a legal and academic writer.

The panel of experts will explore the history of the conflict in light of international law; human rights situation and issues of impunity; Hindu nationalism project and the colonization of Kashmir; geopolitical perspectives in light of China’s involvement; and accountability and India foreign policy.

Canada Foreign Policy Institute is a leading think-tank that addresses burning issues bringing Canadian academics onto a common platform to offer perspectives that are often overlooked by policymakers and the mainstream media.

The webinar is co-sponsored by a large number of Canadian NGOs as well as the popular media platform, rabble.ca. Sponsoring NGOs include Canadians for Peace and Justice in Kashmir, Just Peace Advocates, Friends of Kashmir Canada, World Beyond War, Canadians Against Oppression and Persecution, Kashmir Scholars Consultative Action Network, Academics Against Hate, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, Critical Kashmir Studies, Canadian Palestine Association and several others.

Since August 5, 2019, India has illegally annexed the territory, downgraded its status, and put the Valley of Kashmir under siege. The world’s most militarized zone is under a serious threat of demographic change that is aimed at altering the final resolution of the disputed territory.

For more information, contact:
Kashmir Media Service
Phone: +92-51-4435548, +92-51-4435549
Fax: +92-51-4861736
Email: info@kmsnews.org
Website: www.kmsnews.org