New Delhi, July 11, 2019 (PPI-OT): The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has urged the Indian authorities to stop harassing journalists and employees of the Srinagar-based English daily, Greater Kashmir. The CPJ in a statement issued in New Delhi said India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) questioned Fayaz Kaloo, the Chief Editor of the one of the leading newspapers in Jammu and Kashmir, for nearly one week.
Fayaz Kaloo was first summoned for questioning to the NIA’s New Delhi office on June 28, daily newspaper The Telegraph reported. When he did not appear, the NIA called him directly and he presented himself to the agency on July 1, according to The Telegraph. Under Indian law, the NIA can summon anyone without a warrant or charge for questioning in an ongoing investigation, the CPJ statement said.
Fayaz Kaloo was interrogated for six days at the NIA’s headquarters about articles published in Greater Kashmir during 2016 uprising that erupted after Indian forces martyred Burhan Wani. “Extensively questioning an editor about the content of published news stories goes way beyond any legitimate role for law enforcement and will only put a further chill on press freedom in Kashmir,” said Steven Butler, CPJ Asia programme coordinator. India’s National Investigation Agency should halt the investigation of Fayaz Kaloo and Greater Kashmir immediately, he added.
The Telegraph reported that the NIA also summoned and questioned the General Manager of the newspaper, Rashid Makhdoomi. In July 2018, the NIA summoned and questioned journalist Auqib Javed for his interview of a Hurriyat leader in a Sunday insert of Greater Kashmir. Kashmiri journalist, Aasif Sultan, has been imprisoned in Kashmir since August 2016, after he wrote a cover story about the martyred youth leader, Burhan Wani.
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