Journalists are working in the most trying conditions in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir and are being booked under draconian laws for speaking truth.
A report released by Kashmir Media Service on the occasion of International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, today, said the Narendra Modi-led Indian government is using strong-arm-tactics to strangulate media in the occupied territory.
It said that noted journalist, Aasif Sultan, was arrested in August 2018 under draconian law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), for doing his journalistic work. It said that he granted bail in April 2022 but was immediately booked under another black law, Public Safety Act (PSA).
The report lamented that prominent journalists like Fahad Shah, lrfan Meraaj, Majid Hyderi and Sajjad Gul are facing detentions under draconian laws. It pointed out that the victimization of journalists in occupied Kashmir has increased manifold since August 05, 2019 when the Modi regime repealed special status of the territory.
The report said journalists in the occupied territory face killings, murder attempts, arrests and threats at the hands of Indian forces’ personnel on a regular basis and a number of media persons have been killed and scores injured since 1989 in IIOJK. It said India has made independent journalism almost impossible in IIOJK after introducing the so-called media policy in 2020. Journalists are harassed, abducted, threatened and tortured just for doing their job in IIOJK, it deplored.
The report said India wants to hide the ground realities from the world by criminalizing journalism in occupied Kashmir and the International community must come forward to rescue independent media in the territory. It added that the Modi regime must be pressured to allow the media to operate freely in occupied Kashmir.
The report said that the Modi government since coming into power in 2014 has arrested over 20 journalists in IIOJK and India. It said that these journalists include Aasif Sultan, Fahad Shah, lrfan Meraaj, Majid Hyderi, Sajjad Gul, Manan Dar, Qazi Shibli, Kamran Yousuf, Baltej Pannu, Santosh Yadav, Somaru Nag, Surinder Singh, Vinod Verma, Anand Teltumbde, Gautam Navlakha, Siddique Kappan, Tanveer Warsi and Rajeev Sharma.—KMS
