Jammu & Kashmir

‘Vilification Campaign’: Journalist bodies condemn op-ed in local daily targeting Kashmiri reporters

Kashmir Press Club [FPK Photo/Zainab]

New Delhi: Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Friday said that it stands in solidarity with the 11 Kashmiri journalists who were described as “supporters of militancy” in an op-ed published on Thursday.

The article titled ‘Vultures of Single Narrative Feasting on Misery’ was published in a Srinagar-based English daily Rising Kashmir with the author’s name Majeed Ahmad.

“Such accusations put the journalists at further risk of violence in an already hostile environment for the press,” CPJ said.

“CPJ stands in solidarity with the 11 Kashmiri journalists who were described as supporters of terrorism in an op-ed published on Thursday. Such accusations put the journalists at further risk of violence in an already hostile environment for the press,” CPJ tweeted.

Meanwhile, DIGIPUB, a platform of digital news media organisations, has also come out sharply against the newspaper for publishing the article.

In a statement released on Thursday, the platform articulated its concern for the “safety of several independent journalists in Jammu and Kashmir” who were described in the article as “militant sympathisers.”

The journalist mentioned in the article include Sanna Irshad Mattoo, Uzma Falak, Nusrat Sidiq, Jahangir Ali, Haziq Qadri, Bilal Kuchay, Mohd Raafi, Quratulain Rehbar, Kamran Yousuf, Kaisar Andrabi, Aakash Hassan

“By vilifying Mattoo and others, the writer and the newspaper which gave the article space have placed these journalists-already intimidated in many ways, including through criminal cases, threats, arbitrary detention, police visits to families- in greater danger than ever, in the latest instance, they have also been called pro-Pakistan ‘vulture’ who ‘preach hatred’ and “encourage targeted readers to carry out pre-determined action’,” the statement noted.

“Quite apart from the fact that these are defamatory accusations, they essentially paint targets on the backs of these journalists, a dangerous new front in the ceaseless war against what is left of the free press in Kashmir,” it added.

DIGIPUB has demanded that these “local media organizations pause and take a critical look at what they have done,” adding that “We also demand that the State cease the illegal intimidation of independent journalists and ensure their safety and the protection of their constitutional rights.”

Network of Women in Media, India (NWMI), said that without the slightest substantiation or evidence, the article insinuates that the journalists are similar to militants.

“This adversely impacts and threatens their professional work. It also seeks to create an atmosphere of fear and intimidation and warn them and others of the perils of stepping out of line,” NWMI said.

“We state that this article is slanderous and puts the lives of all journalists in danger. It is an attempt to create a false narrative against journalists who have always worked hard to report from the ground. It paints a picture bereft of any facts and is full of biases and wild insinuations and has the potential to cause immense physical and mental harm to those attacked in this fashion as well as to their families and near ones,” the Network of Women in Media, India said.

 

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