Srinagar, August 08 , 2020:Renowned Kashmiri journalist, Yousuf Jameel, in an article wrote that while people from all walks of life have been facing severe difficulties after the repeal of Kashmir’s special status by Narendra Modi government on August 5, last year, the journalists are also facing hurdles in performing their professional duties. He maintained that several journalists, who opposed the Indian government's measures, were charged with sedition and some are still imprisoned. The people from all walks of life in Indian illegally occupied Kashmir have been facing severe difficulties after the Narendra Modi-led fascist Indian government of Bharatiya Janata Party illegally repealed Kashmir’s special status on August 5, last year and imposed a military siege, the journalists are also facing hurdles in performing their professional duties.
Yousuf Jameel, a Srinagar-based prominent journalist, wrote in an article published on Voice of America-Urdu.com that when the Indian government abolished Article 370 on August 5, 2019, it was not only regional but also big news globally. He wrote that complaints about detention of journalists, who were critical of the Indian government, had been common over the past one year, while communication restrictions and the closure of the Internet had made it difficult for them to continue their journalistic duties.
He wrote that several journalists, who opposed the Indian government’s measures, were charged with sedition and many are still imprisoned, while, the Indian government has claimed that there are no restrictions on expression in the Valley and that journalists are not being harassed.
On the other hand, the international human rights organization, Amnesty International, called for the immediate release of journalists, the lifting of restrictions on the media and the necessary steps to ensure the protection of freedom of expression in the occupied territory. Amnesty has also said that the authorities’ measures are tantamount to media censorship which are undemocratic.
The article said that Amnesty International had also released a documentary on “Freedom of the Press and Media in Jammu and Kashmir” highlighting the plight of Kashmiri journalists and the steps taken by the Indian government after August 5, 2019. Journalists have mentioned the steps taken by the Indian agencies, especially the police, against journalists.
Earlier in April, New York-based Human Rights Watch had expressed concern over registration of criminal cases against three local journalists and described such measures as a violation of press freedom.
One year of the Indian move, the Asia Federation Solidarity Network, along with the International Federation of Journalists and the Alliance of Journalists’ Associations in South Asia, issued a joint statement calling for the restoration of high-speed internet. The statement also expressed concern over the difficulties faced by journalists and media outlets due to the continued ban on high-speed internet and called for the immediate restoration of the facility.
Yousuf Jamil wrote that according to statistics, 18 journalists have been killed, so far, in the last three decades and many have been tortured over the past year. He wrote that after August 5, 2019, although phone and low speed 2G internet services were restored but high speed 4G internet services still remained suspended. He wrote that over the past year, journalists had been harassed and summoned to appear before police stations or police officers to present their reports and news.
Journalists were also pressured to reveal their sources of news, which led to complaints of torture. In April this year, police arrested three Kashmiri journalists, Gohar Geelani, Pirzada Ashiq and photojournalist, Musarat Zuhra.
He wrote that in June this year, Indian authorities introduced a new media policy that gave them the power to take action against a journalist or news organization that published news that does not go well with the authorities.
Mutilation of J&K: Kashmir's journalists refuse to be stenographers
https://www.asianage.com/l
THE ASIAN AGE. | YUSUF JAMEEL : Aug 3, 2020,
Journalists in J&K are resisting a media policy that seeks to empower officials to certify what is 'fake news'
Srinagar: Every day has been a struggle for journalists in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) ever since the separatist campaign erupted in violence in 1989. But since August 5, 2019, media professionals in Kashmir have been caught up in a more complex situation.
It began the night before J&K was stripped of its special status and split up into two Union Territories. A total communication blockade had been imposed before the abrogation of Article 370 was declared to the people of the state. It created utter chaos in both the Kashmir Valley and Jammu division. Most scribes couldn’t file stories to their newspapers for a week, and news gathering became impossible.
Due to the withdrawal of all means of communication and curbs on their movement, media persons were rendered ineffective. All the avenues through which a journalist reaches out to his/her readers, listeners or viewers were blocked. Though phone and internet services were restored gradually later, and prior to that a media facilitation centre was set up in Srinagar, high speed 4 G internet continues to be denied to subscribers in the UT.
In this year of abrogation, much has changed in the life of a journalist. Apart from being subjected to harassment, humiliation, beatings and imprisonment, reporters are routinely called to police stations to explain their stories and reveal their sources. A couple of journalists including Asif Sultan, a reporter with a local news magazine, remain incarcerated after they were booked by the police under varied laws. In April FIRs were registered against three Kashmiri journalists. Two of them including photojournalist Masrat Zahra were booked under the harsh Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, which entails imprisonment up to seven years if proved guilty.
Zahra and another journalist Gowhar Geelani were accused of posting on social media posts and photographs “tantamount to glorifying the anti-national activities of terrorists and denting the image of law enforcing agencies besides causing disaffection against the country”. A third journalist Peerzada Ashiq faced police action over his report in The Hindu and was called to two police stations in Srinagar and Anantnag to explain his position.
Though such police actions have evoked widespread condemnation in media quarters in Kashmir, the rest of the country and abroad, several journalists interviewed by this correspondent said the reality for journalists in Kashmir is a ceaseless struggle.
New media policy
On June 2, the government came up with a new media policy that authorizes it to decide what is “fake”, “unethical” or “anti-national” news, and initiate legal action against the journalist or media organization concerned, including withdrawal of government advertisement support and sharing their information with security agencies.
Justifying what the local media organizations perceive as an onslaught on freedom of the press, the 50-page policy document reads “Jammu and Kashmir has significant law and order and security considerations. It has been fighting a proxy war supported and abetted from across the border and in such a situation, it is extremely important that the efforts of anti-social and anti-national elements to disturb peace are thwarted.”
Media persons have rejected the media policy and said the government does not want them to report the truth about Kashmir and the events and incidents unfolding on their beat “objectively” and “candidly”. Senior journalist and editor of Kashmir Images Bashir Manzar says, “Who will sit in judgement on what is fake, unethical or anti national news?”
Another journalist said, “We should not be expected to act as obedient stenographers to advance the government narrative. This media policy is unacceptable to us.”
Mutilation of J&K: A year of legal upheaval
https://www.asianage.com/
THE ASIAN AGE. | YUSUF JAMEELAug 2, 2020,
In both Jammu and Kashmir people sense a threat to their land and identity due to the new domicile laws
Srinagar: Apart from the political vacuum created by the denaturing of Article 370 and the stifling of dissenting voices, and the devastation of the economy, the Year of Abrogation of Kashmir’s special status within the Indian Union has brought a legal upheaval in the Valley. New Delhi has in unseemly haste introduced several new laws and altered many existing ones in the sundered entity called Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), much to the dismay of vast sections of the population.
The authorities insist the enactments are legally sanctioned and follow the pattern set by the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A of the Constitution. But people in the Kashmir Valley as well as in Jammu ask why not a single such law has been introduced in Ladakh, which was hived off the state.
With no one in the government even attempting to answer this justifiable question, people tend to believe that the changes wrought to J&K’s statute are ill-intentioned. Especially, the new domicile law introduced earlier this year has triggered fears that this is the beginning of demographic changes sought to be brought about in the predominantly Muslim J&K.
Reports pouring in from the plains of Jammu say thousands of non-local people have been granted domicile certificates during the past couple of months. The beneficiaries include IAS officers, their family members, refugees from erstwhile West Pakistan and members of the Balmiki Samaj and the Gorkha community.
Domicile rules
Under the new domicile law, all those persons and their children who have resided in J&K for 15 years or studied here for seven years and took the class 10 or 12 examination in an educational institution in the UT are eligible for domicile.
Children of central government officials, All India service officers, officials of PSUs and autonomous bodies of Central government, public sector banks, officials of statutory bodies, central universities and recognized research institutes of the central government, who have served in J&K for a total period of ten years can also be issued domicile certificates.
Besides, migrants and their children who are registered with the Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner are being granted domicile certificates. Children of those residents of J&K who reside outside the UT in connection with their employment or other professional or vocational reasons have also become eligible for grant of domicile status.
While various political and social groups in Jammu have publicly expressed apprehensions that they might lose their land and identity as a consequence of the new domicile law, the dominant public view in the Valley is that India is transforming Kashmir into another Palestine.
“There are instances which clearly indicate that the government of India is following in the footsteps of Israel to change the demography of J&K and assimilate it socially and culturally after altering its Muslim majority character. People are worried,” said Noor Ahmed Baba, political analyst and former professor in the University of Kashmir’s political science department.
Jammu & Kashmir’s mainstream parties including the National Conference (NC), People’s Democratic Party (PDP), People’s Conference besides the CPM and separatist organizations too have termed the issuance of domicile certificates to non-locals as the first major step towards changing the demography of the state and as a move “planned by the government at the behest of the RSS”. The J&K National Panthers’ Party which enjoys public support mainly in Jammu too has strongly opposed the new domicile law.
They say the issuing of domicile certificates to non-locals is “ill-advised, arbitrary and dishonest” as the Supreme Court has yet to decide on a series of petitions challenging the abrogation of Articles 35A and 370. They caution the government that its “misadventure” is fraught with grave consequences for the state and the country as a whole.
However, some political groups including the Panun Kashmir which claims to represent displaced Kashmiri Pandits have welcomed the new domicile law on the premise that this would end decades of discrimination meted out to sections of people living and working in J&K including those in the armed forces and the progeny of permanent female residents of the erstwhile state married to non-locals.
Political reaction
Endorsing this view, Jammu’s divisional commissioner Sanjeev Verma said, “Many, many people who have been residing in J&K for more than 70 years but were deprived of their legitimate citizenship rights will be benefited which is something all should welcome.”
However, CPM leader Muhammad Yusuf Tarigami warned, “Changing the demography of J&K, plundering its people of their identity and going back on constitutional guarantees and commitments of the country’s leadership which provided the basis for the state’s accession will only invigorate alienation”.
The PDP spokesman alleged, “As the agenda unfolds, it becomes clear that along with the intended demographic change, the target is also jobs, natural resources, cultural identity and everything that the people of J&K tried to save by acceding to India with firm constitutional guarantees.”
His counterpart in the BJP, Anil Gupta, however, rejected the criticism as “unfounded, motivated and part of a misinformation campaign aimed at misleading people for political reasons.” He said, “The new domicile law will neither change the demography nor snatch the jobs of the local youth. It will, however, end certain discriminations and injustices which were there but went against the constitutional guarantees.”