DM Monitoring
SRINAGAR: Prominent international non-government organizations including, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) have called for immediate and unconditional withdrawal of charges against Kashmiri journalists Masarrat Zahra and Peerzada Ashiq.
CPJ’s senior Asia researcher, in New York, Aliya Iftikhar in a statement said that the police should drop their investigations into both journalists, and India should reform its laws to make such “capricious actions by police impossible.” “Masarrat Zahra and Peerzada Ashiq should be free to report on events in Jammu and Kashmir without facing harassment and intimidation from local authorities,” she added. In a statement issued to media, Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk said “In the absence of any substantiation by the police, we call on the Jammu and Kashmir authorities to immediately drop these outrageous charges against Masarrat Zahra,” “These proceedings clearly amount to intimidation and, as such, directly violate article 19 (1a) of India’s 1950 constitution. This photojournalist must be allowed to continue her work without fear of further harassment attempts,” he added.
Meanwhile, journalists from Kashmir as well as India have also reacted strongly to the charges against the two Kashmiri journalists.
Kashmiri journalist Gowhar Geelani told Al Jazeera that “invoking stringent provisions of a draconian law” against Zahra “speaks volumes about the gags against media to silence journalists, to control the narratives by use of force, and to contain the Kashmir story with lawlessness”.
Muzamil Jaleel, deputy editor of New Delhi-based The Indian Express newspaper, tweeted that Zahra has “honestly told stories of Kashmir in a four-year career”. “Invoking UAPA is outrageous. In solidarity with our colleague, we demand FIR withdrawn. Journalism isn’t crime. Intimidation/censorship won’t silence Kashmir’s journalists,” he posted. Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry also condemned the harassment of journalists in Kashmir and demanded withdrawal of case against Zahra. “The filing of a case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against 26 year-old photojournalist Masarrat Zahra for uploading posts regarding her previously published works is a direct interference in the independence of the media,” a KCCI spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said that earlier also, there have been several instances of journalists being summoned to Police Stations and questioned on “flimsy grounds”.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in its latest World Press Freedom Index report has noted that it has become “virtually impossible” for journalists to report from the Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK) and pushed India two spots down from last year to 142. The report noted India’s score in this year’s index was heavily affected by the situation in IoK as India has made it “virtually impossible” for reporting after New Delhi revoked the region’s autonomy on August 5 of last year.
While noting the difficulties for reporting from the region, the group called Kashmir a “vast open prison” due to shutting down of fixed line and mobile Internet connections by the Narendra Modi-led government. The RSF also stated that there were constant press freedom violations in the country, including police violence against journalists, ambushes by political activists, and reprisals instigated by criminal groups or corrupt local officials.
“Ever since the general elections in the spring of 2019, won overwhelmingly by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, pressure on the media to toe the Hindu nationalist government’s line has increased,” said the report.
The RSF stated that the coordinated hate campaigns launched on social media against journalists who speak or write about subjects that annoy Hindutva followers are alarming. It noted that the campaigns also call for the journalists concerned to be murdered.
“The campaigns are particularly virulent when the targets are women. Criminal prosecutions are meanwhile often used to gag journalists critical of the authorities, with some prosecutors invoking Section 124a of the penal code, under which “sedition” is punishable by life imprisonment,” said the report.
Meanwhile, Pakistan has been ranked at 145 on the index, two spots down from last year. While Norway has topped the index for the fourth year in a row and Finland has been ranked as the runner-up. On the other hand, North Korea has taken the last position from Turkmenistan, while Eritrea (178th) continues to be Africa’s worst-ranked country.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a New York-based watchdog body, has called on authorities in Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir to stop harassing journalists Masrat Zahra, a freelance photojournalist and Peerzada Ashiq, a correspondent with daily newspaper The Hindu, and let them report freely. Both journalists are under police investigation for their work as professionals that the Indian authorities find objectionable.
“Masrat Zahra and Peerzada Ashiq should be free to report on events in Jammu and Kashmir without facing harassment and intimidation from local authorities,” Aliya Iftikhar, CPJ’s senior Asia researcher, in New York, said in a statement on Monday.
“Police should drop their investigations into both journalists and India should reform its laws to make such capricious actions by police impossible,” she added.
CPJ said it messaged Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police Dilbag Singh for comment, but did not receive any reply.
