Monday, May 20News and updates from Kashmir

Police Officials Snatch ID Cards of 3 Journalists Covering 8th Day of the Muharram Procession

Umar Farooq

It has come to the fore that as events unfolded on the 8th day of Muharram processions in Kashmir Valley’s Srinagar, the Jammu Kashmir Police assaulted journalists who were covering the processions in the city.

As reported by The Kashmiriyat earlier, on Tuesday morning, the photojournalists who were covering the Muharram procession around Jehangir Chowk were assaulted. These included Waseem Andrabi, Sajad Hameed, Mehran Bhat and Burhan Bhat. It was reported that Sajad Hameed’s equipment was damaged, too.

Later, in the afternoon, three Kashmir based journalists – Abdul Hamid Khan, Irshad Hussain and Basit Ali Rajput, alleged that their IDs were snatched by the police officials at around 3:15 p.m., while they were covering the Muharram procession.

The Kashmiriyat got in touch with two of these journalists, who shared their ordeals with us.

Abdul Hamid Khan (25), who hails from Ganderbal, is an independent journalist, who currently works with The Voice of Kashmir as a photojournalist. Hamid told The Kashmiriyat that he was covering the procession near JK-SRTC, Srinagar, when some police officials grabbed his ID card.

“I asked them how will I be able to cover the event, further without the ID card and in response, they told me to report to Kothi Bagh police station and collect it,” Hamid said.

He also added that there were two more journalists along with him – Irshad Hussain and Basit, whose IDs were snatched by the police.

Meanwhile, Irshad Hussain (25) from Srinagar, who works as a reporter with The Kashmiriyat, said that he was covering the Muharram procession at Lal Chowk, when a few police officials approached him and asked for his ID card.

He said that he showed them his ID, but the police officials instead snatched the ID card and asked him to report to the Kothi Bagh police station in order to collect it.

“It is a journalist’s job to bring people’s issues and their stories to the surface.
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But I see these incessant attacks on the journalistic fraternity in Kashmir as a threat on journalistic freedom,” said Irshad.
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“We have a life too. We should not be humiliated. Such incidents discourage other budding journalists, as well,” he added.

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