Journalists in Srinagar to hold protest against blatant attack on Press Freedom
Local press boycotted the function and have called the incident shameful
Srinagar: Journalists in Kashmir on Saturday were stopped by the armed forces to cover the Republic Day of India function at Sher-i-Kashmir stadium.
Armed forces men outside the stadium told some senior journalists that they cannot cover the function.
Many video and photo journalists were denied passes, and many others were reportedly ‘black-listed’.
Those who were stopped from entering the stadium despite issuing passes include senior photojournalist Tausseef Mustafa of Agence France Press, Danish Ismail of Reuters, Aman Farooq of Greater Kashmir; video-journalists Umer Mehraj and Mehrajuddin of Associated Press.
“The official said that there are adverse reports about some journalists who cannot be allowed to enter the premises.”
The local press boycotted the function in solidarity with the senior Journalists woking with reputed media houses, who were barred. The Journalists have issued a call for protest in Srinagar at 1:00 PM.
Speaking on the issue, one of the local journalists said, “If they did not plan to allow the journalists to cover the event, why did the state information department issue passes? These are senior accredited journalists. If the department has issued passes, why aren’t the security men respecting it?”
Condemning the incident, Peoples Conference chairperson Sajjad Lone said that the administration “can’t define journalism and journalists through the security prism.”
You can’t define journalism and journalists through the security prism. And stop people on the basis of adverse reports. Whatever falls in the ambit of civil as in civilian— is and has to be accepted. Civilian space is a sacred territory in Kashmir. Please don’t constrict it.
— Sajad Lone (@sajadlone) January 26, 2019
