ISLAMABAD: Experts at a launch of dossier titled ‘India Silencing Journalism and Human Rights in Kashmir’ asserted that whatever is happening in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) is the Indian version of 21st century Gestapo.
The comprehensive dossier was launched by Legal Forum for Kashmir (LFK) in collaboration with StokeWhite investigations unit, UK here Wednesday on the treatment meted out by India against Kashmiri Journalists and Human Rights Defenders.
The investigative report draws attention to India’s counterinsurgency strategy in silencing journalism and human rights in IIOJK, where the human rights defenders and journalists are concerned as the last line of ‘defense’ for basic human rights protections.
Investigations by SWI unit and LFK have uncovered the names of officers responsible for the disruption and detention of journalists and human rights defenders, which will be subject to a broader legal submission. The Indian military and police, in sum, have been instructed by the government with the responsibility of commanding and directing the profiling of journalists and human rights defenders.
LFK and SWI-unit has documented cases of human rights lawyers and practitioners being subject to home/office raids, disruption of normal work flow, and arrest while on fieldwork or malicious confiscation of travel documents to prevent legitimate journalism or human rights work.
We saw, only, in 2019, J&K experienced heightened disconnection of high-speed internet, including of mobile phone signal infrastructure for 18 months. In 2020, India restricted the internet some 109 times.
According to LFK’s findings, Tahir Ashraf Bhatti is the head of the Counter Insurgent unit, where he summoned many journalists and harassed them for purely reporting on events in Kashmir. The current head of the cyber cell is Syed Sleet Shah, who recently was recruiting “serious candidates” for a special cyber project via her personal twitter account. This has become a norm and many social media users in Kashmir has stopped using their social media and even if they are using, they are absolutely silent in matters of politics and political changes happening in the valley.
The speakers in the press conference included Advocate Nasir Qadri, Executive Director LFK, Mushahid Hussain Syed, Member of Senate of Pakistan, Mehmood Ahmed Saghar, Convenor APHC, Ms Mushal Mullick, Altaf Hussain Wani, Director KIIR; Dr Waleed Rasool, Director IDDS. –Agencies
