Jammu & Kashmir
Pulwama Military Op: Journalists accuse armed forces personnel of physical assault
Pulwama: Journalists on Friday accused armed forces personnel of physically assaulting them when they were covering a military operation against militants in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
FPK Photo/ Qayoom Khan
Qaisar Mir, a multimedia journalist told Free Press Kashmir that he along with other journalists who had come from different places to cover the operation were allowed by the police to perform their duties peacefully; however, in the end, he was physically assaulted.
The incident occurred when clashes erupted between protestors and armed forces near the operation site. Mir said, he along with other journalists were first chased away from the spot and suddenly one of the forces personnel kicked him and asked him to leave the spot.
“When we were about to leave, one of the armed forces personnel began chasing us and kicked me from the front,” said Mir, who was one among the dozens of journalists covering the operation.
FPK Photo/ Qayoom Khan
However, the assault has triggered outrage among the journalistic fraternity in Kashmir valley, calling it an ‘everyday story of a journalist in Kashmir’.
One pointed a pellet gun and another kicked a local photographer @QisarMir
after chasing us away while covering clashes near the gunfight site in Pulwama today. Everyday story of a journalist in #Kashmir.@CPJAsia @RSF_inter
#JournalismIsNotACrimeVideo:Syed shahriyar pic.twitter.com/nt1w84GuZX
— Syed Shahriyar (@shahriyarsyed1) April 2, 2021
Another Journalist said that the ‘furious armed forces personnel’ after kicking Mir, verbally abused him and others and asked them to leave the spot.
On Friday, three militants were killed in Kakapora area of Pulwama district and eleven civilians including a young woman sustained injuries during the clashes near the operation site.
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