Summoning of journalists in Kashmir: Mehbooba asks CM Omar Abdullah to intervene, police to desist
People’s Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday urged police to desist from summoning journalists to police stations in Kashmir and asked chief minister Omar Abdullah to intervene into the issue.
Mufti addressed a press conference against the recent summoning of Srinagar-based journalists by the police in Kashmir over routine news reporting.
“I fully realise how you (media) work under very difficult circumstances. There was hope that after the formation of an elected government, this pressure would be mitigated. But this pressure has now reached a level where even respectable names in journalism are being called to police stations,” she said.
“Very respectable journalists have been called to police stations in the past few days from reputed organisations…It is unfortunate that those are being harassed who inform the government about people’s issues,” she stated.
For the past few days, journalists of national dailies have been verbally summoned to the Cyber Police station over news reports on the administration’s move to profile mosques and imams in the Kashmir Valley in the wake of the November 10 Red Fort blast.
Reflecting on the state of media freedom in Kashmir, Mufti said as many as 213 journalists had been called to police stations in the valley since 2019.
“I had given a place for the Press Club here, which is now a police station. Accreditation to journalists and advertisements to newspapers is also being given on a selective basis, mostly to those who run the narrative of the government and hide truth,” she alleged.
Mufti castigated the government for its silence over the issue. “They say nothing on this. Anybody who talks on social media is immediately put behind the bars. Now, the very few people, who at the cost of their lives and dignity would report about the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, are called to police stations, threatened there and asked to sign bonds. This is beyond the limit and beyond toleration,” she said.
“Although Omar Abdullah recently met home minister Amit Shah, neither did he talk about this mosque profiling nor the journalist summoning issue, as we read in the media,” she said.
“I want to request the government and the chief minister here to intervene in this and this summoning of journalists should end. Journalists are pillars of a society and if a journalist is called by an SHO to a police station and then threatened, it sets a very wrong precedent,” she said.
Mufti also urged the police to stop such actions. “Police should also think at what cost they are following such orders…They should also desist from such activities,” she said.
State govt already taking up issue: NC
National Conference spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar said the elected government in J&K was already taking up the issue of summons to journalists with the relevant authorities.
“NC is alive to the issue of journalists. The intimidation of journalists is unacceptable in a democratic set up. CM Omar Abdullah will talk on this and those who need to be asked, we are seeking answers from them,” he said.
Dar also requested police and intelligence agencies to let journalists do their work. “The press is the eyes and ears of society and they have to report it. They should not be intimidated,” he said.
Dar, while responding to Mehbooba’s remarks, said she should question lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha over the journalists’ issue.
“Police and intelligence agencies come under the purview of LG. Rather than questioning the LG, she is, knowingly or unknowingly, questioning Omar Abdullah,” he said.
