SRINAGAR: India’s State Investigation Agency on Thursday raided the Srinagar office of the Kashmir Times in what journalists and press rights groups said was the latest action aimed at silencing independent reporting in India occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
The operation began at dawn when investigators summoned the newspaper’s manager to unlock the building. Local media said officials inspected documents, computers and other material as part of an inquiry linked to a new FIR that accuses the publication of activities deemed “prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity” of India.
The charge has become a regular feature of cases launched against Kashmiri journalists and activists in recent years.
Editors Prabodh Jamwal and Anuradha Bhasin condemned the raid in a joint statement, describing it as another step in a coordinated campaign to cripple the newspaper.
They said the allegations lacked evidence and were being used to intimidate a newsroom that has increasingly found itself isolated for challenging official narratives on rights abuses, censorship and political repression in the region. They added that criticism of the government cannot be equated with hostility to the state and warned that the raid signalled growing intolerance for independent scrutiny.
The Kashmir Times, founded in 1954, has reported sustained pressure since 2020, when authorities abruptly sealed its Srinagar premises without formal notice. The move forced the suspension of its print edition, which has not resumed, leaving the publication to operate digitally amid what its editors describe as financial and administrative obstruction designed to weaken its reach.
The raid drew sharp condemnation from press bodies in Pakistan administered Kashmir, which said the action formed part of a systematic effort to suppress dissent after New Delhi revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s limited autonomy in 2019.
They said journalists in the occupied territory are being pushed into silence through repeated raids, criminal cases and allegations of “separatist” sympathies, all of which have created an atmosphere of uncertainty and fear inside newsrooms.
Rights groups abroad expressed similar alarm. The Committee to Protect Journalists called the operation a deeply troubling escalation and urged authorities to return any seized material, clarify the legal basis of the inquiry and ensure the staff are not threatened with criminal charges for their work.
Bhasin told CPJ she had not been informed of any FIR naming her and that the office, which contains years of archive material, had already been largely dormant because of financial pressures.
Press organisations in Muzaffarabad noted that the 2020 sealing of the Kashmir Times office marked a turning point for independent journalism in the region, leading to the closure of the print edition the following year and accelerating a decline in media freedom.
They said the raid underscored a broader pattern in which reporters, editors and human rights defenders are facing increasing legal and security pressure under the current government.
The political response was equally pointed. Azad Jammu and Kashmir Prime Minister Faisal Mumtaz Rathore said India was attempting to extinguish any voice that documents rights violations or supports Kashmiris’ internationally recognised right to self determination. He noted that prominent activists, including Khurram Parvez, remain in prolonged detention and argued that the crackdown reflects a deepening effort to criminalise dissent.
New Delhi has dismissed accusations of suppressing journalism, insisting that investigations are aimed at curbing unlawful activity. Press freedom monitors, however, point to a clear deterioration since 2014, marked by arrests, raids, travel restrictions and charges under anti terror and sedition related laws.
India’s ranking in global press freedom indices has continued to slide, with the environment for journalists in Kashmir described as one of the most restricted in the region.
For many in the local media, Thursday’s raid confirmed that independent reporting in the occupied territory now faces structural and escalating pressure.
They argue that shrinking space for critical journalism has narrowed public understanding of events on the ground, with the Kashmir Times becoming the latest example of how newsrooms are being pushed into a climate of coercion and uncertainty that is reshaping the region’s media landscape.
