Kashmir Working Journalist Association (KWJA) strongly condemns and protests the continued harassment of journalists in Kashmir at the hands of police which is being taken to new levels with each passing day.
In the latest instance, Police has invoked provisions of the stringent Unlawful Activities Act against a young woman photojournalist Masrat Zehra for merely uploading photographs on social media.
KWJA is aghast at the new low, police have stooped to, in its campaign against journalists and free speech in Kashmir, in its bid to be the final arbiter of what goes into the press.
KWJA condemns the police highhandedness and calls upon the government to stop muzzling the press, free speech and voices of dissent in Kashmir, and promote a culture of accountability rather than one of submission.
It is the duty of journalists to report on all aspects of the society including conflict and dissent. By harassing journalists through intimidation, police beatings, cooked up cases, and other forms of harassment, the government is only exposing its failures in its duties towards people.
Government overzealousness in acting against journalists is a poor reflection on its performance.
Therefore we call upon the government and police to let the better sense prevail and withdraw the charges against Masrat and let her continue her work in a professional manner.
KWJA has also taken note of the harassment meted out to senior journalist Peerzada Ashiq, who was summoned by police first at Srinagar and then to Anantnag for a report which the government did not like.
If the government had any objections to the report or wanted to clarify its stance, it could have done through a statement or a rebuttal, which would have been carried out by the paper. But, as usual, the government chose a route of undue harassment.
At a time when the world is fighting COVID-19 pandemic, it is unfortunate that government in Jammu and Kashmir is busy subjecting journalists to harassment and mental torture.
The two instances come on top of other harassments journalists have faced in recent days at the hands of police.
The ugly pattern of summoning journalists to police stations, intimidating them with the first information reports (FIRs) and stopping them from travel has only intensified since August last year. Senior journalist and author Gowhar Geelani was stopped from travelling to Germany to join work at Deutsche Welle. Peerzada Ashiq, Naseer Ganai, Basharat Masood, Hakeem Irfan and many others have been summoned by the police’s counter-insurgency grid to explain their news reportage.
KWJA can only hope that the muzzling of press and harassment of journalists in Kashmir, which took a new zeal since August 4 last year, is put to a stop somewhere, at least for the sake of government’s reputation.
