Kashmir Press - Before and after abrogation of Article 370
Kashmir Press - Before and after abrogation of Article 370
Authored By : Nisar Ahmed Thakur
“One who controls the media controls
the minds of public”
Noam Chomsky
JAMMU AND KASHMIR: A BRIEF HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The state of Jammu and Kashmir was the largest and the fourth most populous of the 565 princely states in British India comprising five distinct multilingual regions including;
- The valley of Kashmir.
- Jammu Province.
- The district of Poonch.
- Ladakh and Baltistan.
- The Gilgit Region.
These five ethnically diverse regions, with an overwhelming majority of Muslim population, together constituted the state of J&K most often referred to as KASHMIR. In 1947, approximately 77% of the population were Muslims, 20% Hindu, 1.5% Sikh, and 1% Buddhist1 . Historically all these communities have lived in relative harmony.
The erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir stretched over an area of 84471 square miles had been ruled by Buddhists, Mughal emperors, Sikhs and Dogras from time to time. The state is said to have lost its statehood in 1587 when Jalal-u-Dīn Muḥammad Akbar, the greatest of the Mughal emperors of India, took up the reins of government in Kashmir after defeating Yousuf Shah Chak, who ruled the state from 1579 to 1586 AD. The 166-year long Mughal rule on Kashmir came to a dramatic end in 1752 when Afghan ruler Ahmad Shah Abdali, defeated the Mughal army. In 1819 the state of Kashmir fell into the hands of powerful Sikh ruler of Punjab Maharaja Ranjit Singh who had made three attempts to conquer Kashmir in a row right from 1813 to 1819. In 1822, the Sikh Maharaj anointed Gulab Singh as Raja of Jammu whereas his brother Dhyan Singh was appointed as Prime Minister in 1928.
A worst deal in recent human history, condemned by historians as the Sale-Deed of Kashmir, was signed on 16-March-1846 2 . Under this shameful treaty the territory was transferred to Gulab Singh as his "independent" possession for only a sum of Rs. 7.5 million. When Gulab Singh dynasty failed to exercise actual control over Gilgit, the British being suspicious of Russian motives towards the Pamirs, created the Gilgit Agency in 1889 and placed it under direct control of a British Political agent.
In 1947 the British withdrew from India leaving behind a partitioned subcontinent. Two independent states, India and Pakistan had come into being. The state of Jammu Kashmir was at that time one of the approximately 565 "princely" states that had existed in India under the British. According to the partition plan the princely states had three choices; they could either accede to India, Pakistan or they could opt to be independent units. This was on paper, in practice there were only two choices either to accede to India or Pakistan.
What would Jammu Kashmir do?
The state was ruled by Hari Singh, a Hindu Maharaja, however, the decisive majority population of Jammu Kashmir consisted of Muslims at the time. Being a territory with solid Muslim majority state JK probably belonged to Pakistan.
What actually emerged was a complicated sequence of events; the despot of Jammu Kashmir, under duress, declared allegiance to India without respecting the wishes & aspirations of the people of Jammu & Kashmir. Indian under the pretext landed its troops in Kashmir and virtually occupied 2/3rd of the state. Falling from the frying pan into the fire, the unfinished agenda of the partition of the subcontinent has pushed the territory to its worst.
India's Claim on Kashmir
Indian claim on Kashmir is based on the so-called agreement of accession which, according to Indian's was signed by then despotic Maharaja Hari Singh. And thus, terms Kashmir as its “integral part”. The claim was neither accepted by the people of Jammu and Kashmir nor validated by the United Nations.
UN Resolutions on Kashmir
The UN has passed over a dozen resolutions on Kashmir. These resolutions, while acknowledging the right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people, call for holding a referendum in the state to allow the inhabitants of the state to choose their political destiny through a free, fair and impartial plebiscite to be held under the auspices of the United Nations.
KASHMIRIS STRUGGLE FOR RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION
Kashmiris’ struggle for right to self-determination has a substantive and well founded international, legal and historical context, without which it cannot be understood in its true sense. There are several resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council, by virtue of these resolutions the world community, Pakistan and India have pledged the people of Kashmir the right to decide their fate. Since 1947, the people of Kashmir have been demanding the implementation of the UN resolutions to pave a way for the final settlement of the dispute but the Indian state not only ignored the clarion calls emanating from Kashmir but also adopted an extremely callous attitude to suppress the Kashmiris’ legitimate demand for holding a referendum under the UN auspices. Unfortunately, the much-awaited referendum was never held despite an agreement that the future of the state would be decided through the plebiscite.
Resistance Movement
India’s perpetual denial to grant people of Jammu and Kashmir their birthright, its dilly-dallying policy to avoid implementation of the UN proposed road-map on Kashmir, the policy of belligerence and Machiavellian machinations to quell any sign of dissent in the region and above all its utter disregard to Kashmiris’ peaceful political struggle had ultimately given birth to a fullblown, state-wide anti-India resistance movement in Kashmir in late 80s, which was readily joined and spearheaded by the youth of Kashmir. 30 years down the line; the resistance movement against India has been going on; tens of thousands of Kashmiris have been killed by the Indian occupation army. The Indian government’s brute response on the other hand has led to massive human rights violations, widespread deaths and destruction. An unannounced war going on in the region has impacted almost every facet of life in Kashmir. However, the political and human rights situation in the region has further exacerbated after the Indian government revoked the last vestiges of the territory’s limited autonomy on August 5 2109.
KASHMIR PRESS
Kashmir, in one way or the other, has always remained in the glare of media spotlight. However, the region has been under intense media glare since the outset of the ongoing resistance movement in late 80s. During this tumults period of time the media industry had witnessed a boom and an unprecedented upsurge in the publication of newspapers was recorded in the state, which points to an increasingly important role the media had assumed in a place where there were few daily newspaper until 1989. Today, hundreds of newspapers (over 800) are published from the state and more than a dozen English newspapers are published from Srinagar the capital city of the occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
Over the years, the press in Kashmir has gone through many ups and downs. Caught in the crosshairs of the conflict the Kashmiri journalist community and media organizations have faced some of the most daunting existential challenges but despite that the media industry stood on its ground and persisted in its efforts to keep world abreast of the happenings taking place in the disputed territory.
Working under extremely unfavorable conditions, the journalist fraternity toiled hard to bring to limelight the brutalities being inflicted on the people of Jammu and Kashmir by the Indian armed forces. In addition to exposing the massive human rights violations taking place in the region, the pressmen associated with local media outlets risked their lives in the process of reporting from the ground, which belied the Indian government’s propaganda and misrepresentation of Kashmir by both the “hyper-nationalists” and “liberal press” of India.
Journalism Under Fire
Practicing journalism in Kashmir has never been an easy job. During the years of turmoil in the region at least 196 journalists including a senior journalist and editor of the Rising Kashmir Dr. Shujjat Bukhari lost their lives while performing their professional duties. A number of journalists including publishers/newspaper owners had to face detentions under black laws such as PSA and UAPA. Asif Sultan7 is one of the journalists who was detained under the UAPA and continues to be in jail since 2018. In another attempt to pressurize the media, on 24 June night, the Jammu Kashmir police raided the residence of a senior Urdu Daily editor Ghulam Jeelani Qadri in Srinagar and arrested him in a case registered against him in 19928 . India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) raided the office of Greater Kashmir newspaper and the residence of AFP news agency’s journalist, Parvaiz Bukhari on October 28 2020. This followed a week after the office of the oldest English Daily of the region, Kashmir Times, was sealed. Anuradha Bhasin, the Executive Editor of Kashmir Times, while talking to Aljazeera said, “This was simply done to punish us for speaking the truth”.
The arrest of senior journalists and raids on the newspaper offices speaks volumes about how the authorities in J&K enjoyed a free hand in intimidating and coercing the press to toe a particular line. But despite witnessing all this the media until August 2019 ‘to a certain extent’ was allowed to operate/function but within a given set of limitations.
Post 5 TH August scenario: Draconian blackout & communication Blockade
Along with a crackdown on pro-freedom leaders and activists, media-gag was perhaps the only thing visible on the ground in Kashmir before 5th August 2019. No one had even an inkling of the dreadful events that unfolded soon after the Indian government stripped the region of its autonomy by revoking the article 370 of the Indian constitution. What the BJP government did so brazenly on the day finds no precedent in Kashmir’s 70-year history.
Media was yet again at the hit-list of New Delhi’s constitutional warfare against Kashmiris. Before embarking on its ambitious mission of nullifying the semi-autonomous status of the disputed region, the BJP government, in a bid to arm-twist the local press, had stopped advertisements to leading valley-based newspapers (Greater Kashmir and Kashmir Reader) 10 forcing them (publishers) to gag their leading opinion writers, political analysts and columnists and journalists in particular the ones who have been critical to India’s policy on Kashmir. The move was widely seen as yet another attempt by the Indian government to coerce the already strained media into submission.
However, India’s post 5th August 2019 draconian blackout and communication blockade had rendered local media in Kashmir totally dysfunctional as the news gathering became a major casualty in the communication blockade. Unprecedented restrictions were imposed and the entire territory of the Jammu & Kashmir was turned into an information black-whole for the rest of the world. The communication blockade, affecting mobile telephony, internet and telephone landlines, overwhelmingly disabled media-men associated with local and international media outlets from reporting the ground situation and filling news stories.
A report “News Behind the Barbed Wire” on Kashmir information blockade released by the Network of Women in Media, India and the Free Speech Collective, while highlighting the troubles faced by the media in Kashmir said, “Journalists continue to face severe restrictions in all the processes of news-gathering, verification and dissemination, the free flow of information has been blocked, leaving in its wake a troubled silence that bodes ill for freedom of expression and media freedom”.
In the aftermath of the abrogation of Article 370;
- Newspaper publication was halted for many months.
- The journalists even faced reprisals for filling stories on Kashmir’s post August 5 clampdown and mass arrests.
Publishers Forced to Halt Publications
In a sweeping information blackout, the occupation authorities in the valley had shut down printing presses and banned newspapers from printing or uploading news on the internet. Even after the passage of 5 months major newspapers in the valley were unable to operate freely due to the continued communication blockade.
Curbs and Restrictions on Free Media
In addition to Indian government’s control of communication process the unwanted and uncalled for curbs on media such as surveillance, formal/informal investigations, harassment, intimidation, restrictions on movement/mobility of journalists, restrictions in all the process of news-gathering have hugely hampered the journalistic activities in the region besides undermining the role of free media.
And the worst of all that had happened is that the local press in Kashmir was practically prevented from performing its duties; Writers/columnists were strictly prohibited from writing opinion pieces on the current unrest in the region. Even the newspapers were not allowed to publish editorials.
Rather than debating the most pressing issues major newspapers were deprived of the editorial voice, forcing them to write on soft subjects such as ‘benefits of vitamin C’, a passage from Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis, etc. Prominent writers and regular columnists who have written consistently on the Kashmir issue were completely silenced.
Reporters’ movements were curtailed—and their abilities to take photos and videos—was restricted. Photojournalists were thrashed by police officers while taking a picture of a barricade; Photographers/journalists’ ID cards and license plates, cameras and phones were confiscated. Journalists were denied access to the news wires or social media. They could not fact check anything online or make phone calls. Indian officials have consistently denied reporters to report unrest in Kashmir. Newspapers were forced to publish reduced pages due to inaccessibility of the internet and journalists on the other hand were forced to rely on only state issued press briefs once or twice in a week without means to verify stories.
Journalists Who Faced Reprisals on Filing Stories
While the media was gasping for breath the occupation authorities in J&K had sealed the offices of two media outlets including Kashmir Times, Kashmir’s oldest English newspaper soon after the abrogation of Article 370, whereas, 18 journalists were summoned or questioned by the J&K Police16 . Besides physical assaults, journalists in 2019 faced reprisals for filling stories on state sponsored violence, human rights violations, mass arrests of Kashmiri youth, political and human rights activists.
On 11 April, Haziq Qadri, a journalist working with digital video publisher Brut India, was detained for nine hours at Safa Kadal Police station and his phone was confiscated for recording videos of the lockdown.
On 14 August, police detained Irfan Malik, a journalist working with English Newspaper Greater Kashmir in Tral. He was released after spending one night in detention. The government did not disclose the charges against him.
During the night between 31 August and 1 September, Kashmiri journalist and author Gowhar Geelani was stopped by Immigration officials at New Delhi International Airport and did not allow him to travel to Germany to attend an editors’ conference of the Deutsche Welle18 . Similarly, another journalist Bilal Bashir Bhat was also prevented from travelling.
Local journalist Peerzada Ashiq working with Indian Newspaper ‘The Hindu’ was summoned by police and asked to reveal his source regarding his news story he had filed on the number of arrests recorded in Kashmir valley post 5th August.
On December 19, two local journalists Azaan Javed of the Print, and Anees Zargar of News Click were thrashed by police personnel in Srinagar while they were recording the police’s action against passers-by.
Journalist Qazi Shibli, editor of Kashmiriyat, was detained by the police in Srinagar under the 107 of the CRPC and moved to Srinagar Central Jail. Shibli had been released from UP’s Bareilly jail after he was detained in July 2019 under the Public Safety Act.
In April, journalists Masrat Zahra and Gowhar Geelani were booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for posts on their social media pages.
An FIR was filed by the Jammu and Kashmir police against The Hindu’s Peerzada Ashiq for the news story ‘Kin allowed to exhume bodies of militants in Baramulla’, published in April.
FOREIGN JOURNALISTS ASKED TO VACATE KASHMIR
It’s not just local media outlets that have been affected—the communication blackout and restrictions on the press have also hampered activities of the media representatives associated with international media organisations.
Kashmir, in one way or the other, has always remained in the glare of media spotlight. However, the region has been under intense media glare since the outset of the ongoing resistance movement in late 80s. During this tumults period of time the media industry had witnessed a boom and an unprecedented upsurge in the publication of newspapers was recorded in the state, which points to an increasingly important role the media had assumed in a place where there were few daily newspaper until 1989. Today, hundreds of newspapers (over 800) are published from the state and more than a dozen English newspapers are published from Srinagar5 the capital city of the occupied Jammu and Kashmir
Over the years, the press in Kashmir has gone through many ups and downs. Caught in the crosshairs of the conflict the Kashmiri journalist community and media organizations have faced some of the most daunting existential challenges but despite that the media industry stood on its ground and persisted in its efforts to keep world abreast of the happenings taking place in the disputed territory.
Working under extremely unfavorable conditions, the journalist fraternity toiled hard to bring to limelight the brutalities being inflicted on the people of Jammu and Kashmir by the Indian armed forces. In addition to exposing the massive human rights violations taking place in the region, the pressmen associated with local media outlets risked their lives in the process of reporting from the ground, which belied the Indian government’s propaganda and misrepresentation of Kashmir by both the “hyper-nationalists” and “liberal press” of India.
Journalism Under Fire
Journalism Under Fir ePracticing journalism in Kashmir has never been an easy job. During the years of turmoil in the region at least 196 journalists including a senior journalist and editor of the Rising Kashmir Dr. Shujjat Bukhari lost their lives while performing their professional duties. A number of journalists including publishers/newspaper owners had to face detentions under black laws such as PSA and UAPA. Asif Sultan7 is one of the journalists who was detained under the UAPA and continues to be in jail since 2018. In another attempt to pressurize the media, on 24 June night, the Jammu Kashmir police raided the residence of a senior Urdu Daily editor Ghulam Jeelani Qadri in Srinagar and arrested him in a case registered against him in 19928 . India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) raided the office of Greater Kashmir newspaper and the residence of AFP news agency’s journalist, Parvaiz Bukhari on October 28 2020. This followed a week after the office of the oldest English Daily of the region, Kashmir Times, was sealed. Anuradha Bhasin, the Executive Editor of Kashmir Times, while talking to Aljazeera said, “This was simply done to punish us for speaking the truth.
The arrest of senior journalists and raids on the newspaper offices speaks volumes about how the authorities in J&K enjoyed a free hand in intimidating and coercing the press to toe a particular line. But despite witnessing all this the media until August 2019 ‘to a certain extent’ was allowed to operate/function but within a given set of limitations.
Post 5 TH August scenario: Draconian blackout & communication Blockade
Along with a crackdown on pro-freedom leaders and activists, media-gag was perhaps the only thing visible on the ground in Kashmir before 5th August 2019. No one had even an inkling of the dreadful events that unfolded soon after the Indian government stripped the region of its autonomy by revoking the article 370 of the Indian constitution. What the BJP government did so brazenly on the day finds no precedent in Kashmir’s 70-year history.
Media was yet again at the hit-list of New Delhi’s constitutional warfare against Kashmiris. Before embarking on its ambitious mission of nullifying the semi-autonomous status of the disputed region, the BJP government, in a bid to arm-twist the local press, had stopped advertisements to leading valley-based newspapers (Greater Kashmir and Kashmir Reader) 10 forcing them (publishers) to gag their leading opinion writers, political analysts and columnists and journalists in particular the ones who have been critical to India’s policy on Kashmir. The move was widely seen as yet another attempt by the Indian government to coerce the already strained media into submission.
However, India’s post 5th August 2019 draconian blackout and communication blockade had rendered local media in Kashmir totally dysfunctional as the news gathering became a major casualty in the communication blockade. Unprecedented restrictions were imposed and the entire territory of the Jammu & Kashmir was turned into an information black-whole for the rest of the world. The communication blockade, affecting mobile telephony, internet and telephone landlines, overwhelmingly disabled media-men associated with local and international media outlets from reporting the ground situation and filling news stories. A report “News Behind the Barbed Wire” on Kashmir information blockade released by the Network of Women in Media, India and the Free Speech Collective, while highlighting the troubles faced by the media in Kashmir said, “Journalists continue to face severe restrictions in all the processes of news-gathering, verification and dissemination, the free flow of information has been blocked, leaving in its wake a troubled silence that bodes ill for freedom of expression and media freedom”.
In the aftermath of the abrogation of Article 370;
- Newspaper publication was halted for many months.
- The journalists even faced reprisals for filling stories on Kashmir’s post August 5 clampdown and mass arrests.
Publishers Forced to Halt Publications
In a sweeping information blackout, the occupation authorities in the valley had shut down printing presses and banned newspapers from printing or uploading news on the internet. Even after the passage of 5 months major newspapers in the valley were unable to operate freely due to the continued communication blockade.
Curbs and Restrictions on Free Media
In addition to Indian government’s control of communication process the unwanted and uncalled for curbs on media such as surveillance, formal/informal investigations, harassment, intimidation, restrictions on movement/mobility of journalists, restrictions in all the process of news-gathering have hugely hampered the journalistic activities in the region besides undermining the role of free media.
And the worst of all that had happened is that the local press in Kashmir was practically prevented from performing its duties; Writers/columnists were strictly prohibited from writing opinion pieces on the current unrest in the region. Even the newspapers were not allowed to publish editorials.
Rather than debating the most pressing issues major newspapers were deprived of the editorial voice, forcing them to write on soft subjects such as ‘benefits of vitamin C’, a passage from Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis, etc. Prominent writers and regular columnists who have written consistently on the Kashmir issue were completely silenced.
Reporters’ movements were curtailed—and their abilities to take photos and videos—was restricted. Photojournalists were thrashed by police officers while taking a picture of a barricade; Photographers/journalists’ ID cards and license plates, cameras and phones were confiscated. Journalists were denied access to the news wires or social media. They could not fact check anything online or make phone calls. Indian officials have consistently denied reporters to report unrest in Kashmir. Newspapers were forced to publish reduced pages due to inaccessibility of the internet and journalists on the other hand were forced to rely on only state issued press briefs once or twice in a week without means to verify stories.
Journalists Who Faced Reprisals on Filing Stories
While the media was gasping for breath the occupation authorities in J&K had sealed the offices of two media outlets including Kashmir Times, Kashmir’s oldest English newspaper soon after the abrogation of Article 370, whereas, 18 journalists were summoned or questioned by the J&K Police16 . Besides physical assaults, journalists in 2019 faced reprisals for filling stories on state sponsored violence, human rights violations, mass arrests of Kashmiri youth, political and human rights activists.
On 11 April, Haziq Qadri, a journalist working with digital video publisher Brut India, was detained for nine hours at Safa Kadal Police station and his phone was confiscated for recording videos of the lockdown.
On 14 August, police detained Irfan Malik, a journalist working with English Newspaper Greater Kashmir in Tral. He was released after spending one night in detention. The government did not disclose the charges against him.
During the night between 31 August and 1 September, Kashmiri journalist and author Gowhar Geelani was stopped by Immigration officials at New Delhi International Airport and did not allow him to travel to Germany to attend an editors’ conference of the Deutsche Welle. Similarly, another journalist Bilal Bashir Bhat was also prevented from travelling.
Local journalist Peerzada Ashiq working with Indian Newspaper ‘The Hindu’ was summoned by police and asked to reveal his source regarding his news story he had filed on the number of arrests recorded in Kashmir valley post 5th August.
On December 19, two local journalists Azaan Javed of the Print, and Anees Zargar of News Click were thrashed by police personnel in Srinagar while they were recording the police’s action against passers-by.
Journalist Qazi Shibli, editor of Kashmiriyat, was detained by the police in Srinagar under the 107 of the CRPC and moved to Srinagar Central Jail. Shibli had been released from UP’s Bareilly jail after he was detained in July 2019 under the Public Safety Act21 . In April, journalists Masrat Zahra and Gowhar Geelani were booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for posts on their social media pages. An FIR was filed by the Jammu and Kashmir police against The Hindu’s Peerzada Ashiq for the news story ‘Kin allowed to exhume bodies of militants in Baramulla’, published in April.
FOREIGN JOURNALISTS ASKED TO VACATE KASHMIR
It’s not just local media outlets that have been affected—the communication blackout and restrictions on the press have also hampered activities of the media representatives associated with international media organisations.
Foreign correspondents working with Al Jazeera, BBC, CNN and other news networks were forced to leave Kashmir ahead of the clampdown.
Major outlets have run dispatches from inside Kashmir, but with difficulty; According to CPJ, some reporters resorted to putting photos, including screenshots of their articles, on flash drives, then handing them to people who were leaving the region.
INDIAN MAINSTREAM MEDIA’S DESTRUCTIVE ROLE
Ideally, the media’s role is to provide coverage to particular issue or conflict, which could attract serious concern from the international community. But in case of Kashmir the world seems to be heavily dominated and influenced by corporate media that instead of reporting the truth is usually seen toeing the government line to seek benefits. Indian Media is among the oldest and largest media of the world. India has over 1,600 satellite channels with largest newspaper market in the world. The Indian government is spending a huge chunk of its budget on media to seek favorable coverage and editorial influence to create a cobweb of confusion around Kashmir. Over the years we have seen how the media in India was transformed and turned into a propaganda machine that continued to feed fake news to its readers 24/7 and spread lies in sharp contrast to reality. The dangerous role assumed by the media in cahoots with Indian establishment was meant to deconstruct and demolish the dominant Azadi narrative within the precincts of Kashmir valley and beyond.
MOTIVES BEHIND THE MEDIA-GAG IN IOK
Following the abrogation of article 370 the Indian government led by Narendar Modi had put in place several restrictions in Kashmir on the pretext of maintaining law and order situation and in the name of so-called “national security”. But the undue restrictions on the media were purposefully sought to;
- Silence the Kashmiri independent media and render it toothless.
- Give a free hand to the Indian mainstream media to shape and project the government narrative on Kashmir.
- To stop local reporters from reporting the incidents of violence and human rights violations.
- Avoid any backlash from the international community against the illegal annexation of the disputed territory of J&K.
- Ensure that human rights violations in the form of siege, communication blockade, illegal arrests, detentions under black laws, harassment, vandalization and destruction of private property at the hands of armed forces remain unreported and therefore uncounted for.
- Suppress the dissent in the region and render it politically irrelevant.
MEDIA POLICY 2020
While the media in Kashmir was struggling hard for its survival the Indian government on June 02 2020 came up with a new media policy that was largely seen and censored as an attempt to strangulate free press in Kashmir. The policy, which authorises government officers to decide on what is “fake news” and take action against journalists and media organisations, was introduced to gain full control over the media, kill the local media and build only the government narrative23 . The new media policy has taken away the basic principle of a free press and systematically stifled all forms of dissent.
MECHANICS OF SILENCING DISSENT
A careful comparison of media’s coverage of Kashmir issue before and after 5th august 2019 speaks volumes about the level of pressure and censorship the local press has undergone during the past couple of years.
The censorship on one hand brought the media on its knees25 while on the other it has led to total absence of media coverage of activities and statements of Hurriyat and civil society groups as well as the incidents of violence and human rights violations taking place in the region.
The promulgation of the media policy 2020 was yet another attempt by the government of Indian to bring down free media and undermine its freedom26 . This institutional censorship in the form of the Media Policy has overwhelmingly incapacitated the media from giving objective coverage to Kashmir issue. Under the pretext of this policy the leading and widely circulated newspapers were prevented from publishing opinion pieces and op-editorials on the simmering situation in the region. The ban on discussing the most pressing issues of the day has led to a sharp decline in the ratio of the news highlighting the abysmal HR situation in the region in the past two years.
Practically, in today’s press in Kashmir, there is no space for the Hurriyat and other like-minded groups that represent the political aspirations of a vast majority of Kashmiri population. Earlier, the local media would hardly miss any stories, which would give perspective to people as well as journalists in national and international publications. But now this kind of inclusive reporting of the events/incidents is no longer seen in the local press, says Shafat Farooq who works with the BBC in J&K.
For instance, dozens of mourners were injured by pellet guns in Bemina areas of Srinagar where police showered pellets of the participants of Muharram procession on 29 August 202028 . The local media blacked out the incident completely even though Indian and international media covered it. “I have been reporting in Kashmir since 2002 and we have done some bold stories that were critical of authorities. Obviously, harassment of journalists has always been there, but what we are facing since 5 August last year is unprecedented,” says senior journalist Ishfaq Tantray who is also the general secretary of the Kashmir Press Club (KPC).
Naseer Ganai, who works for Outlook magazine, was questioned by the Indian authorities for writing a story about a call for strike given by the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF). Similarly, the media-persons from various newspapers and television channels besides the photographers, were barred from attending a press conference of senior Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Geelani at his residence in Hyderpora area of Srinagar on 18 September 2019.
On November 29, The Kashmir Walla website carried a story on mass-beatings of civilians by the Indian army in a suburb of Srinagar following an armed attack. The editor of the weekly magazine, Fahad Shah, said that he was under pressure to take down the story.
In April this year (2021) a media advisory issued by the Kashmir police has barred the journalists from reporting any content which according to the police was likely to incite violence or contained anything against maintenance of “law and order” or which promotes “anti-national” sentiment. But the order has been criticized as part of the official policy to coerce journalists from reporting facts on the ground.
Restrictions On Internet And Social Media
The right to information continues to be severely restricted in the occupied Kashmir as part of the so-called normalcy narrative by the government of India. In the year 2019, 55 instances of Internet blockade were recorded. However, the longest internet shutdown of the year was enforced on 5th August 2019 when Indian government revoked Kashmir’s autonomy33. The frequency of internet shutdowns in Kashmir particularly increased after the killing of prominent Kashmiri freedom fighter Bruhan Muzaffar Wani by the Indian occupation forces in 2016. In the last three years (2017 to 2019) Kashmir valley witnessed at least 205 internet shutdowns from time to time.
IMPACT ON THE GROUND
The communication and information blockade that continued for many months has not only affected the media and the effective reporting of human rights violations but also caused massive losses to business, economic activities, healthcare and education of the people in Kashmir. The restrictions on expression and movement of independent journalists in the region on the other hand have prevented the voices of Kashmiris reaching the international community.
INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
The communication blockade and restrictions of social and mainstream media in Kashmir by the Indian government have drawn severe criticism from the international community. Besides the influential world governments, the eminent rights activists from across the globe criticized India's digital authoritarianism to suppress the media and voices of dissent in the restive region. The UN Commissioner for Human Rights Ms Michael Bachelet, US lawmakers and several other countries including Pakistan, China, Turkey, Malaysia called for an end to the communications blockade. Amnesty International – The NGO for human rights started an online petition titled Let Kashmir Speak34, which demanded a lifting of "the blackout of communications in Jammu and Kashmir" while "letting the voices of the people of Kashmir be heard" and allowing "unconditional and unconstrained access to news and information from the valley". The United Nations' special rapporteur on freedom of expression, David Kaye, said in a statement that "there's something about this shutdown that is draconian in a way other shutdown usually are not".
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres raised concern over the new limitations placed on Kashmir, adding that the latest events "could exacerbate the human rights situation in the region.
Nine UN Special Rapporteur in various communications to the government of India expressed concerns regarding the internet shutdowns, restriction against 4G access and restrictions on the right to freedom of assembly and the right to freedom of expression, as well as the reported pattern of detentions and harassment of journalists and human rights defenders.
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