The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Monday said that press freedom in Kashmir remains under attack while India holds a G20 summit in Srinagar.
“CPJ calls on the Indian government to end its brutal crackdown on the media and immediately release the four arbitrarily detained Kashmiri journalists'” the statement said.
It said, “CPJ has also documented foreign travel bans on Kashmiri journalists, indicating efforts by the Indian government to chill reporting on rights abuses and repression in the region.”
“Government raids on news outlets and journalists’ homes are also commonplace in Kashmir. In November 2022, police raided the homes of at least seven Kashmiri journalists, one of whom told CPJ he believed he was targeted for his critical reporting,” the statement added.
Pertinently, four journalists from Kashmir Fahad Shah, Asif Sultan, Sajad Gul and Irfan Mehraj are currently facing detention under various sections of the law.