Islamabad
Speakers at a webinar lambasted the Modi led fascist regime in India for using colonial tactics to gag the press and silence the critical voices that have played crucial role in bringing the Indian atrocities into the international limelight
The event titled “Kashmir siege knocking at the doors of world conscience” was hosted by Kashmir Institute of International Relations (KIIR).It was joined by Qazi Shibli, editor in chief of digital magazine Kashmiyat from Srinagar; Mark McDonald, international criminal lawyer from UK; British parliamentarians, Barrister Imran Hussain, Muhammad Yasin, Jonathan Gullis, Anthony Joseph Lloyd; Catherine Constantinides from South Africa and Ana Lundrinda from Geneva. The webinar was moderated by KIIR chief, Altaf Hussain Wani.
In his initial remarks, Altaf Hussain Wani gave a detailed account of how cunningly the Indian state is busy in silencing the critical voices who have time and again exposed the Indian state terrorism in Kashmir. He said that since 5 August, 2019, attempts to muzzle the freedom of the press by the Indian authorities had been on the rise.
Referring to new media policy enforced in the occupied territory, Altaf Wani said, “It is actually part of the pattern that mediamen have been witnessing since August last year”. The new media policy, he said was put in place to silence the IIOJK’s journalist fraternity, which has played a crucial role in bringing the Indian atrocities to international limelight during the year-long siege.
Speaking on the occasion, Qazi Shibli, who was released after 9-month long illegal detention recently, said that the Indian authorities used a mix of harassment, intimidation, surveillance and online information control to silence critical voices to conceal the crimes committed against the Kashmiris by the Indian state and its forces in IIOJK.—KMS
