Need to end intimidation, detention of scribes in Kashmir Valley: Panel

New Delhi, 14 Mar 2022 [Fik/News Sources]: News media in J&K, especially in the Kashmir Valley, is slowly being choked mainly because of the extensive curbs imposed by the administration, according to a Fact Finding Committee (FFC) of Press Council of India which visited the Union Territory in September to look into the charges of harassment of journalists.

The three-member panel also recommended ending intimidation and detention of journalists and setting up of a three-way Media Advisory Committee to encourage dialogue among stakeholders.

“At a broader level, because of the continuing conflict, the business of news media has been severely disrupted in the region and sources of advertising are slowly withering away. Journalists function with a high level of stress, and are constantly facing pressure both from the government agencies and police as well as militants. That they still manage to do their job in such a hostile environment, itself is commendable,” observed the FFC report prepared by Prakash Dubey (convener and group editor, Dainik Bhaskar), Gurbir Singh (The New Indian Express) and Dr Suman Gupta (Editor, Jan Morcha).

It stated that a common thread in many of the depositions and evidence was the constant harassment faced by journalists in the line of duty from security forces.

“As per IG (Kashmir) Vijay Kumar, since 2016 till mid-October 2021, 49 cases have been registered against journalists. Among these, 8 journalists have been charged under UAPA, 17 have been registered as criminal intimidation, and 24 journalists have been booked for extortion and other crimes,” states the report. 

According to the report, normal lines of communication between administration and journalists were disrupted because of the former’s suspicion that a large number of local scribes were sympathisers of militants’ cause. 

“This was admitted by Lt Governor Manoj Sinha, who told the FFC that many journalists were of ‘anti-national’ persuasion. He conceded that when he was first appointed, he used to encourage open press conferences, but now had gone back to a ‘selective engagement’ with preferred journalists,” said the report. 

The FFC recommended that the administration should establish some platforms for discussion so that there can be a dialogue between stakeholders, and that the mutual suspicion was slowly eased.

“The security establishment cannot label writing against government policies, or quoting a family or civilian sources in a story about excesses of the armed forces, or tweeting a point of view as ‘fake news’ or ‘anti-national activity’ and then arresting the journalist for sedition,’’ the panel said, adding that the tendency to see all critical reporting and opinions as ‘‘anti-national’’ must stop’.