Srinagar, October 31, 2020 (PPI-OT):In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, journalism has become especially risky since the Indian government revoked special status of the territory in August last year, says BBC. The BBC in a report says this seems evident this week when India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) searched the offices of the Greater Kashmir newspaper and the home of AFP journalist Parvaiz Bukhari. The NIA searched several locations including offices of NGOs and homes of leading human rights activists in Srinagar on Wednesday and Thursday.
The critics say what’s worrying is that the raids come amid a larger crackdown on free speech and dissent in the Kashmir Valley, it says. In the past year, at least 18 reporters have been questioned by police and more than a dozen were allegedly assaulted, the report says. It also includes the statements of five journalists, who narrated their stories to the BBC.
The report says that Auqib Javeed, 28, was summoned to Srinagar’s cyber police station in September and was asked to change the photo and headline in a recent story he had reported for the news website, Article 14. It says that the story was about how dozens of Kashmiri Twitter users had gone silent after being questioned by police for their posts on Article 370 – the constitutional provision guaranteeing Kashmir its special status that the Indian government revoked. Mr Javeed says he felt like he was a “hostage” and a masked policeman slapped him, it says.
“If it was just about the image, the police could have sent us a clarification and we would have changed it,” Mr Javeed says. “Whenever a journalist is harassed or beaten, nobody is held accountable. That’s why journalists are being questioned very often now,” he says.
The report says that in April, police in Srinagar registered a complaint against Peerzada Ashiq, a journalist at The Hindu. It says that at issue was a recent story in which Mr Ashiq had reported that the government had allowed the bodies of two alleged militants to be exhumed by their families. The men had died in a gunfight with Indian forces but they were buried in unmarked graves, it says. The report says that Peerzada Ashiq was summoned twice to police stations – one in Srinagar and one in Islamabad, 60km (37 miles) from his home.
“They asked me the same questions repeatedly. It was around 10:30pm when they let me go,” he said. He said that the authorities could have rung or emailed, asking for a correction. “But it seemed that they wanted to turn the process into a punishment.”
Peerzada Ashiq says the case against him is still open. “They say my name isn’t mentioned but they’re not closing the case, which means they can summon me whenever they want.” The report says that on 19 October, authorities sealed the Srinagar office of Kashmir Times, a local newspaper, where Anuradha Bhasin is executive editor. Ms Bhasin says she was given no reason for the eviction and that it was done with no prior notice.
Ms Bhasin says that it is an “intimidation” tactic for her petition in the Supreme Court in 2019 challenging the communication blockade and restrictions in the valley following the repeal of special status of IIOJK. “The day after I went to court, government advertisements in the newspaper were stopped by authorities,” she says. “They want to control the narrative.”
The report says that Fahad Shah, the founder and editor of The Kashmir Walla, a weekly magazine and website, was questioned by the police after he reported on a gunfight in Srinagar in May during which many homes were destroyed. A few weeks later, he was summoned to another police station and questioned again. Earlier this month, Fahad Shah was again detained for four hours. He says he does not know why.
The report also narrates the harassment of photojournalist Masrat Zahra. “Nobody dares to speak now. I personally know many people who have quit journalism because they [police] have created such an atmosphere among the fraternity,” says Masrat Zahra.
In April, police registered a complaint against her under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act or UAPA – for her social media post in 2018. The report says it’s unclear why the post led to a case against Ms Masrat years later. She has not been arrested yet but the case is still open. “I have this threat in my mind that they can detain me anytime,” she says. “I think, through me, they want to send a message to the journalist community – that we have not spared a girl, so it can be done to anyone.”
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