The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has informed the Information & Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry that no curbs have been imposed on any news media in Jammu and Kashmir.
In a written reply to the queries from Rajya Sabha Member Abir Ranjan Biswas about a report on news media in J&K by a fact-finding committee constituted by the Press Council of India (PCI), I&B Minister Anurag Singh Thakur said it was submitted to the Press Council of India Secretariat on March 8.
The Press Council of India had set up the committee on September 29, 2021, following a complaint from Mehbooba Mufti, chief of the Jammu & Kashmir People’s Democratic Party.
“Ministry of Home Affairs has informed that no curbs have been imposed on any news media in Jammu and Kashmir,” said Mr. Thakur. On a question about the number of journalists from J&K who had reported harassment by the authorities since 2017, he said the MHA informed that there was no instance of any such harassment of media persons during the period.
“However, law enforcing agencies take action under law against any person (without any discrimination of profession or otherwise) who is found involved in any activity which is prejudicial to the security and sovereignty of the country,” he said.
In its report, the committee had concluded that “news media in the Jammu & Kashmir region, and especially in the valley, is slowly being choked mainly because of the extensive curbs imposed by the local administration”. It observed that “in the guise of information gathering, threats and various forms of intimidation by the police have become part of the new ‘normal’ in the Kashmir valley, particularly after the imposition of central rule since August 2019”.
“Officially, the police have conceded to the FFC [fact-finding committee] that as many as 49 journalists have been arrested and charged since 2016, not a small number considering that J&K has a very small press corps. Of these 8 have been arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act..., which makes bail almost impossible. The police case is many journalists indulge in ‘anti-national’ activities,” it noted.
“Those indulging in any criminal acts, are not journalists pursuing their profession...however, 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 report said.
