NEW YORK, Apr 23, 2020 :The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) urged Indian authorities to drop police investigation against Kashmiri journalists including, Gowhar Geelani. CPJ, a New York-based watchdog body in a statement while, reiterating its call to stop harassing Kashmiri journalists and allow them to report freely.
Since April 19, police have also opened investigations into the work of freelance photojournalist Masrat Zahra and The Hindu reporter, Peerzada Ashiq.
“Journalists are not terrorists, and police in Jammu and Kashmir must stop treating them as such,” Aliya Iftikhar, CPJ’s senior Asia correspondent, in New York, said in a statement.
“Authorities should immediately drop their investigations into Gowhar Geelani, Masrat Zahra, and Peerzada Ashiq, and allow them all to report freely and without harassment,” she said.
CPJ said it sent a text message to Jammu and Kashmir Inspector-General of Police Vijay Kumar seeking his comments, but he did not respond.
In September 2019, according to CPJ, the Indian government stopped Geelani from traveling to Germany for a journalist training programme. source APP