Bhat Yasir/Nadeem Hassan
Last week, the government informed the Parliament that the Jammu Kashmir administration has not issued any order under which journalists can be stopped from reporting if their work threatens peace and public tranquility. Nityanand Rai, Minister of State for Home Affairs informed the above in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
Mr. Rai was asked if the Jammu Kashmir administration had issued orders under which journalists can be stopped from reporting if their work threatens peace and public tranquility, and which directs unauthorized/unregistered journalists to complete their registration or obtain approval of the administration before they can be allowed to perform their duties.
It is pertinent to mention that the Jammu Kashmir administration, last year, introduced a “Media Policy,” in which it announced that its Department of Information and Public Relations would conduct a ‘background check’ of every publisher, editor, and reporter before their media outlet was granted ’empanelment,’ meaning official approval that makes a publication eligible for government advertisements.
“Any individual or group indulging in fake news, unethical or anti-national activities or in plagiarism shall be de-empaneled besides being proceeded against under law,” the policy said.
We talked to a few Kashmir-based journalists about the government’s response to the question. Here’s what they had to say:
Senior Journalist Shahana Butt while talking to The Kashmiriyat said that there were two ways, whether one calls it intimidation or interference. “But yes, there’s never been a direct order where journalists were stopped. A different kind of policing happens, however,” she said.
Many journalists were booked under various cases, Ms. Shahana Butt said, adding, “which affected the consciousness of other journalists. Now, they have to think whether they should do a story or not.”
Incidents of direct intimidation didn’t occur except in one matter, she said, where the Security Forces warned that the life of journalists was at risk if they visited the encounter sites.
“They give a justified reason, but as per the ethics of journalism, the journalists must be allowed to visit the encounter sites,” Ms. Butt said.
But then again, a Journalist’s life is in danger. The Security Forces will not be blamed because they gave a kind of warning saying ‘Please Don’t Go’ to the encounter sites, Shahana told The Kashmiriyat while reacting on the government’s reply.
“Whether you intimidate or not, whether you issue orders or not, there’s an atmosphere of fear, in Kashmir, for journalists to report the truth. The journalists don’t want to report now, because obviously there’s a lot at stake when you report the truth,” Ms. Shahana Butt said.
The Kashmir Walla’s editor, Fahad Shah, said that “The government hasn’t issued an order as such but the conditions for journalists are not so good in Kashmir.”
“There are continuous inquiries, some cases and often summons that lead to a threat perception among journalists. Such a policy affects freedom of the press in Kashmir,” Fahad told The Kashmiriyat.
In January, this year, the Jammu Kashmir Police filed a case against two news websites in Shopian when the Security Forces alleged that a story reported by Mir Junaid for The Kashmiriyat and Yashraj Sharma for The Kashmir Walla was fake. However, editors of both the publications said that they stood with their reports and that they had ample proof to prove that they had carried out the report with utmost honesty in any court of law.
The cases filed against The Kashmiriyat and The Kashmir Walla on 31 January evoked widespread condemnation from journalistic bodies, prominent Journalists, and Human Rights Activists across the globe.
A senior Journalist while reacting to the government’s answer to a question in Parliament, on condition of anonymity told The Kashmiriyat, “Jammu-based English dailies have already questioned claims of govt. So even Jammu doesn’t agree with the remarks.”
Qurat-Ul-Ain Rehbar, a freelance journalist, reacting to the of government’s response in the Rajya Sabha told The Kashmiriyat that there is a Media Policy 2020. “I don’t think they need orders to stop the journalists. Whenever the situation is bad here, at that time if they want they can stop us and I don’t think they need written formal order for that,” she expressed.
Since abrogation, journalists have had to work under extremely tough conditions in Jammu Kashmir. After advertisements were stopped to Greater Kashmir- the largest circulated English newspaper, their office was raided by the National Investigating Agency. Last month, they were asked to vacate their office in Srinagar.
In June, Reporters Without Borders, an international press advocacy group, urged India to immediately withdraw its ‘New Media Policy,’ saying it handed unimpeded powers to authorities.
About a month later, on July 06, 2020, a group of journalists assembled at the Press Colony in Lal Chowk and staged a protest against the policy, which is valid for the next five years.
Around a week ago, Mary Lawlor, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, made public a “communication to India on multiple alleged acts of intimidation of journalists.” The communication was in context to the harassment of 2 Kashmir-based journalists Qazi Shibli and Aakash Hassan and an Indian province Bihar’s journalist Chandrabhushan Tiwari.
“On 1 October 2021, I wrote a joint communication to the Government of India about unnecessary and excessive use of force employed by police on public roads against journalists and human rights defenders Chandrabhushan Tiwari and Aakash Hassan, and raids by police of the homes of a journalist Qazi Shibli and his family,” Ms. Lawlor said in the communication.