Journalists continue to work in most trying conditions in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir IIOJK as India is trampling basic principles of press freedom and the Modi regime is using different intimidating tactics to harass journalists in the territory.
A report released by Kashmir Media Service, today, said journalists are booked under draconian laws for speaking truth and the Indian probe agencies like National Investigation Agency, Enforcement Directorate and New Delhi-controlled State Investigation Agency frequently raid homes of journalists and freedom activists in IIOJK
The report lamented that Kashmiri journalists were routinely harassed with an aim to create fear and intimidation to fall in with the government line. Journalists have always worked under immense pressure, facing intimidation, assaults and arrests in the occupied territory, it added.
It deplored that a number of journalists have been killed and scores injured since 1989 in occupied Jammu and Kashmir. It said journalists have reported an intensified crackdown by occupation authorities Since 5 August 2019 in IIOJK when the Modi regime repealed its special status and imposed military siege.
The report maintained that the Modi regime had made independent journalism almost impossible in the occupied territory after introducing so-called media policy in 2020 which was a continuation of measures taken to curtail the free flow of information in the occupied territory. Media Policy 2020 has made it even easier for the IIOJK authorities to go after reporters and publications who do not toe the government’s line, it said.
The report said many journalists have been arrested, harassed and even investigated under draconian laws since Article 370 revocation in occupied Jammu and Kashmir. In its latest clampdown on media in IIOJK, the Modi regime blocked Srinagar-based news outlet ‘The Kashmir Walla’, which is yet another act of criminalization of journalism in IIOJK, it added.—KMS
