While media is constitutionally the fourth pillar of democracy, Indian journalists in general, and particularly those from Jammu Kashmir (J&K) have been facing the wrath of direct and indirect attempts to curb the freedom of the press in the valley.
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The threats are not limited to random phone calls, hate mails or trolling on social media platforms. The freedom of the press in the valley is crushed by summoning, arresting and even killing the journalists.
Shujaat Bukhari, founding editor of the Rising Kashmir, was assassinated in broad day-light in June 2018. Qazi Shibli, editor of the Kashmiriyat, was detained for over nine months under the Public Safety Act (PSA). There have been several FIRs against reporters, authors and photojournalists under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), including Kashmiri photojournalist Masrat Zahra, The Hindu’s Peerzada Ashiq, and author Gowhar Geelani for “glorifying terrorism”.
In the most recent incident, Fahad Shah, who is the editor of the Kashmir Walla magazine has been summoned by the J&K police. This is the second time in the last two months that he has been summoned in connection with a story on gunfight in Srinagar in May 2020.
The Kashmiriyat, condemns the summoning of Fahad Shah, for the second time. “When he was let go, the last time, why did the Police need to call him the second time. The summoning of Fahad is to further the deteriorating Press Freedom in India, Fahad has committed no crime other than committing Journalism.”
Qazi Shibli, the editor of The Kashmiriyat has also received threat calls over a news story that featured on The Kashmiriyat, The caller threatened him with death and also said, “We will kill you in a Fake encounter, Do you know what happened to Shuja’at Bukhari?”
Added to the cases of attacks on Freedom of Press, the new media policy by the J&K Directorate of Information and Public Relations is another attempt to control and censor the reporting from Kashmir.
The 53-page document aims at “creating a sustained narrative on the functioning of the government in media”.
The policy can be the final nail in the coffin of freedom of the press in Kashmir for “any individual or group held to be circulating content deemed objectionable by the government shall be de-empanelled”, says the new policy.