NEW YORK: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on authorities in the Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) to immediately end the harassing and intimidating journalists, following the summoning of several Kashmir-based reporters by Indian police over their professional reporting.
The CPJ Asia-Pacific Program Coordinator Kunal Majumder, in a statement published on the organization’s website, said that using police powers to summon journalists for their legitimate work reflects a broader pattern of intimidation against the media in the territory.
“Using police powers to summon journalists over their legitimate reporting is part of a pattern of intimidation against the media in Jammu and Kashmir,” Majumder said. “Authorities must cease their harassment and ensure that journalists are not subjected to arbitrary police action for doing their jobs.”
CPJ noted that on January 14, Bashaarat Masood, an assistant editor with The Indian Express, was called to the Cyber Police Station in the city of Srinagar for questioning about a report he wrote on reaction to a police exercise seeking information about Kashmir’s mosques and their management.
The organization said police later took Masood to a district magistrate and asked him to sign a bond stating he would not repeat his “mistake,” without specifying any legal violation. Masood refused to do so and was asked to report back to the police station daily over the next four days.
CPJ further said that on January 19, a Srinagar-based correspondent for the Hindustan Times, Ashiq Hussain, was also summoned by police in connection with his reporting. Hussain did not comply with the summons, citing a lack of clarity from police about the basis for the questioning.
Indian media bodies condemn police summoning of journalists in IIOJK
Strong reactions continue to emerge following the recent summoning of Srinagar-based journalists by Indian police in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). The Editors Guild of India (EGI) expressed concern over what it described as the “continued repression of legitimate journalistic activity,” while the Digipub News India Foundation condemned the actions as a grave assault on press freedom.
The reactions come amid reports that several journalists, including freelancers and staff of certain Indian dailies, were summoned to Srinagar’s Cyber Police Station, where they were harassed and questioned about their reporting. The inquiries reportedly are linked to the January 13 news report on the profiling of mosques and imams in IIOJK. The move has drawn criticism from across the political spectrum in the territory barring the BJP.
In its statement, the EGI said it “notes with grave concern the continued repression of legitimate journalistic activity by the authorities in Kashmir.”
“In the latest instance, several journalists, including many affiliated with leading national media organisations, were repeatedly summoned to Srinagar’s Cyber Crime Police Station, where they were questioned about routine news reports,” the statement, signed by the Guild’s president, general secretary, and treasurer, said. The statement said said that some journalists “were also pressured to sign bonds or affidavits stating that they would not undertake any activity that could disturb the peace,” without clarity on what such activity entailed.
The Guild emphasized that “arbitrary summons and police questioning of journalists, and attempts to obtain affidavits under duress, are tantamount to coercion and intimidation of the media in pursuit of its legitimate duties.” It further noted that such incidents represent “the latest instance of increasingly threatening, intimidatory, and coercive actions against professional journalists by the Kashmir police.”
“Numerous instances of journalists being summoned and questioned by the police have been reported in the past,” it added. Calling on the IIOJK authorities to desist from such practices, the Guild said these actions restrict free speech and prevent the media from performing its core functions.
