In Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), a region mostly off-limits to foreign reporters that is rife with communications blackouts and curfews, local journalists remained one of the few reliable sources of information, even as they operated under difficult conditions. The Indian-run administration shut down the Kashmir Press Club in Srinagar, which had emerged in recent years both as a space for journalists to work and for them to express solidarity with colleagues facing pressure from the government. The closure signals the dismal state of press freedom in Kashmir.
It amounts to stifling the voice of journalists in the region and government’s action is illegal. The shutdown is the worst kind of state heavy-handedness against independent media. A spokesman for the local administration did not respond to requests for comment. The crackdown on local media is the latest restriction in the conflict-torn region, which has been roiled by increasing tensions since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government revoked its autonomy and statehood in August 2019. Elections to the legislative assembly have not been held since, and top political leaders are frequently detained. Groups working on human rights issues have been raided and activists jailed under stringent anti-terrorism laws.
According to an article of the Washington Post many news outlets in India considered critical of the government face pressure from authorities, media watchdog bodies say, but journalists in Kashmir work in a far-more restrictive environment and face intimidation and harassment by police and security forces. In the heart of Srinagar, the largest city in the region, a silver lock hung on the large black gate of the club this week. Journalists in city expressed dismay at the sudden move. As a female journalist, [the club] was one of the few secure places where I could work and file stories without fear.
India has a tense relationship with majority-Muslim Kashmir, where it has faced an armed insurgency for more than three decades. The region has been a flash point between archrivals India and Pakistan since the partition of the subcontinent in 1947 that created the two countries. They have previously gone to war over the region. The pressure and scrutiny of the media in Kashmir mounted in the aftermath of the 2019 decision to revoke the region’s special status, which had given it certain autonomous powers, such as the right to make its own laws. Thousands of troops were flown in and mobile and Internet services were cut off. Foreign correspondents are not allowed to visit Kashmir without permission from the Ministry of Home Affairs in Delhi, and permission is rarely granted. Ashiq and Rehbar are among those who have been questioned by the police over their news reporting, and some others face investigation under anti-terrorism laws.
In 2020, the government issued new guidelines for the media, giving itself broad powers to determine whether news is false or prejudiced against India’s national interest. India’s Internet shutdown in Kashmir is the longest ever in a democracy. Although critics say successive governments have tried to control the media in Kashmir, this moment is different. There is an attempt to wipe out any trace of independent press and turn whatever exists into a PR vehicle.
