The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an organisation promoting Press freedom across the world, on Monday called on J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to withdraw his remarks where he described a reporter “as part of the separatist ecosystem” following his report on alleged corruption in the Union Territory (UT).
“The CPJ calls on J&K LG Manoj Sinha to immediately withdraw his October 13 remarks that the “writer” of an article on the local administration’s alleged corruption is part of the “separatist ecosystem,” compromising the safety of The Wire correspondent Jehangir Ali,” a CPJ spokesman said.
The CPJ statement came hours after a news portal, The Wire, wrote a letter to L-G Sinha to withdraw his remarks made against the reporter.
“A baseless accusation coming from the high office that you hold has perilous consequences for the journalist you are targeting and also for the media more broadly. Among other things, it suggests a willingness on the part of your administration to interfere with freedom of expression and freedom of the press.
Constitutional principle
“A journalist has and exercises these rights not only in his or her personal capacity, but also because citizens at large have the right to information and a range of news and views. As you might be aware, this position has been recognised as a basic constitutional principle,” reads the letter written by Siddharth Varadarajan, Founding Editor of The Wire to L-G Sinha.
He said criticism of government policy is a far cry from separatism. “Equally, publicly branding a journalist whose news report the government disapproves of as ‘separatist’ is a far cry from your right to issue a formal rejoinder,” he added. He asked that the accusation against the reporter be withdrawn.
Mr. Ali had reported IAS officer Ashok Kumar Parmar’s allegations that the J&K administration under L-G Sinha rejected the advice of the finance and law departments on the Pradhan Mantri-Jan Arogya Yojna insurance scheme to amend a multi-crore contract midway to favour a private insurance company.
