Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Authored By
Noam Chomsky
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. JAMMU AND KASHMIR: A BRIEF HISTORICAL BACKGROUND……..4
1.1. History……………………………………………………………………………………………………5
3. KASHMIR PRESS………………………………………………………………………….7
3.2. Post 5TH August scenario: Draconian blackout & communication Blockade……8
8. INTERNATIONAL REACTION…………………………………………………………15
1
Census 1941 Reference: www.census.in.uk
2
Kashmiris fight for freedom by Justice Muhammad Yousuf Saraf
3
Kashmir Happy valley, valley of death by William W Baker
In 1947 the British withdrew from India leaving behind a partitioned subcontinent. Two
independent states, India and Pakistan had come into being. The state of Jammu Kashmir was at
that time one of the approximately 565 "princely" states that had existed in India under the British.
According to the partition plan the princely states had three choices; they could either accede to
India, Pakistan or they could opt to be independent units. This was on paper, in practice there
were only two choices either to accede to India or Pakistan.
What would Jammu Kashmir do?
The state was ruled by Hari Singh, a Hindu Maharaja, however, the decisive majority population
of Jammu Kashmir consisted of Muslims at the time. Being a territory with solid Muslim majority
state JK probably belonged to Pakistan.
What actually emerged was a complicated sequence of events; the despot of Jammu Kashmir,
under duress, declared allegiance to India without respecting the wishes & aspirations of the people
of Jammu & Kashmir. Indian under the pretext landed its troops in Kashmir and virtually occupied
2/3rd of the state. Falling from the frying pan into the fire, the unfinished agenda of the partition of
the subcontinent has pushed the territory to its worst.
India's Claim on Kashmir:
Indian claim on Kashmir is based on the so-called agreement of accession which, according to
Indian's was signed by then despotic Maharaja Hari Singh. And thus, terms Kashmir as its “integral
part”. The claim was neither accepted by the people of Jammu and Kashmir nor validated by the
United Nations.
UN Resolutions on Kashmir
The UN has passed over a dozen resolutions on Kashmir. These resolutions, while acknowledging
the right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people, call for holding a referendum in the state to
allow the inhabitants of the state to choose their political destiny through a free, fair and impartial
plebiscite to be held under the auspices of the United Nations4.
4
The UN resolution adopted on 5th January 1949
KASHMIR PRESS
Kashmir, in one way or the other, has always remained in the glare of media spotlight. However,
the region has been under intense media glare since the outset of the ongoing resistance movement
in late 80s. During this tumults period of time the media industry had witnessed a boom and an
unprecedented upsurge in the publication of newspapers was recorded in the state, which points to
an increasingly important role the media had assumed in a place where there were few daily
newspaper until 1989. Today, hundreds of newspapers (over 800) are published from the state and
more than a dozen English newspapers are published from Srinagar5 the capital city of the occupied
Jammu and Kashmir.
Over the years, the press in Kashmir has gone through many ups and downs. Caught in the
crosshairs of the conflict the Kashmiri journalist community and media organizations have faced
some of the most daunting existential challenges but despite that the media industry stood on its
ground and persisted in its efforts to keep world abreast of the happenings taking place in the
disputed territory.
Working under extremely unfavorable conditions, the journalist fraternity toiled hard to bring to
limelight the brutalities being inflicted on the people of Jammu and Kashmir by the Indian armed
forces. In addition to exposing the massive human rights violations taking place in the region, the
pressmen associated with local media outlets risked their lives in the process of reporting from the
ground, which belied the Indian government’s propaganda and misrepresentation of Kashmir by
both the “hyper-nationalists” and “liberal press” of India.
Journalism Under Fire
Practicing journalism in Kashmir has never been an easy job. During the years of turmoil in the
region at least 196 journalists including a senior journalist and editor of the Rising Kashmir Dr.
Shujjat Bukhari lost their lives while performing their professional duties. A number of journalists
including publishers/newspaper owners had to face detentions under black laws such as PSA and
UAPA. Asif Sultan7 is one of the journalists who was detained under the UAPA and continues to
be in jail since 2018. In another attempt to pressurize the media, on 24 June night, the Jammu
5
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321061524_Kashmir_in_Media_An_Overview/link/5a0c41d9a6fdccc6
9edd0f53/download.
6
https://thewire.in/media/kashmir-journalists-safety-numbers
7
https://www.livemint.com/mint-lounge/features/why-cpj-is-demanding-the-release-of-kashmiri-journalist-asif-
sultan-11598552201519.html
Kashmir police raided the residence of a senior Urdu Daily editor Ghulam Jeelani Qadri in Srinagar
and arrested him in a case registered against him in 19928. India’s National Investigation Agency
(NIA) raided the office of Greater Kashmir newspaper and the residence of AFP news agency’s
journalist, Parvaiz Bukhari on October 28 2020. This followed a week after the office of the oldest
English Daily of the region, Kashmir Times, was sealed. Anuradha Bhasin, the Executive Editor
of Kashmir Times, while talking to Aljazeera said, “This was simply done to punish us for speaking
the truth”9.
The arrest of senior journalists and raids on the newspaper offices speaks volumes about how the
authorities in J&K enjoyed a free hand in intimidating and coercing the press to toe a particular
line. But despite witnessing all this the media until August 2019 ‘to a certain extent’ was allowed
to operate/function but within a given set of limitations.
Post 5TH August scenario: Draconian blackout & communication Blockade
Along with a crackdown on pro-freedom leaders and activists, media-gag was perhaps the only
thing visible on the ground in Kashmir before 5th August 2019. No one had even an inkling of the
dreadful events that unfolded soon after the Indian government stripped the region of its autonomy
by revoking the article 370 of the Indian constitution. What the BJP government did so brazenly
on the day finds no precedent in Kashmir’s 70-year history.
Media was yet again at the hit-list of New Delhi’s constitutional warfare against Kashmiris. Before
embarking on its ambitious mission of nullifying the semi-autonomous status of the disputed
region, the BJP government, in a bid to arm-twist the local press, had stopped advertisements to
leading valley-based newspapers (Greater Kashmir and Kashmir Reader)10 forcing them
(publishers) to gag their leading opinion writers, political analysts and columnists and journalists
in particular the ones who have been critical to India’s policy on Kashmir. The move was widely
seen as yet another attempt by the Indian government to coerce the already strained media into
submission11.
However, India’s post 5th August 2019 draconian blackout and communication blockade had
rendered local media in Kashmir totally dysfunctional as the news gathering became a major
casualty in the communication blockade. Unprecedented restrictions were imposed and the entire
8
https://kashmirlife.net/senior-kashmiri-journalist-detained-during-midnight-raid-in-srinagar-213283/
9
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/12/29/india-govt-crackdown-forces-kashmir-media-to-self-censor
10
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-kashmir-media-idUSKCN1RL0JO
11
https://thewire.in/media/Kashmir-media-ad-ban-blank-front-pages
territory of the Jammu & Kashmir was turned into an information black-whole for the rest of the
world. The communication blockade, affecting mobile telephony, internet and telephone landlines,
overwhelmingly disabled media-men associated with local and international media outlets from
reporting the ground situation and filling news stories.
A report “News Behind the Barbed Wire” on Kashmir information blockade released by the
Network of Women in Media, India and the Free Speech Collective, while highlighting the
troubles faced by the media in Kashmir said, “Journalists continue to face severe restrictions in all
the processes of news-gathering, verification and dissemination, the free flow of information has
been blocked, leaving in its wake a troubled silence that bodes ill for freedom of expression and
media freedom12”.
12
https://cjp.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/00News-behind-the-Barbed-Wire-NWMI-FSC-report.pdf
13
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/12/29/india-govt-crackdown-forces-kashmir-media-to-self-censor
14
https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/how-india-silenced-kashmir-s-leading-newspaper-columnists-32765
Rather than debating the most pressing issues major newspapers were deprived of the editorial
voice, forcing them to write on soft subjects such as ‘benefits of vitamin C’, a passage from
Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis, etc. Prominent writers and regular columnists who have written
consistently on the Kashmir issue were completely silenced15.
Reporters’ movements were curtailed—and their abilities to take photos and videos—was
restricted. Photojournalists were thrashed by police officers while taking a picture of a barricade;
Photographers/journalists’ ID cards and license plates, cameras and phones were confiscated.
Journalists were denied access to the news wires or social media. They could not fact check
anything online or make phone calls. Indian officials have consistently denied reporters to report
unrest in Kashmir. Newspapers were forced to publish reduced pages due to inaccessibility of the
internet and journalists on the other hand were forced to rely on only state issued press briefs once
or twice in a week without means to verify stories.
Journalists Who Faced Reprisals on Filing Stories
While the media was gasping for breath the occupation authorities in J&K had sealed the offices
of two media outlets including Kashmir Times, Kashmir’s oldest English newspaper soon after the
abrogation of Article 370, whereas, 18 journalists were summoned or questioned by the J&K
Police16. Besides physical assaults, journalists in 2019 faced reprisals for filling stories on state
sponsored violence, human rights violations, mass arrests of Kashmiri youth, political and human
rights activists.
On 11 April, Haziq Qadri, a journalist working with digital video publisher Brut India, was
detained for nine hours at Safa Kadal Police station and his phone was confiscated for recording
videos of the lockdown17.
On 14 August, police detained Irfan Malik, a journalist working with English Newspaper Greater
Kashmir in Tral. He was released after spending one night in detention. The government did not
disclose the charges against him.
During the night between 31 August and 1 September, Kashmiri journalist and author Gowhar
Geelani was stopped by Immigration officials at New Delhi International Airport and did not allow
15
https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/how-india-silenced-kashmir-s-leading-newspaper-columnists-32765
16
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-54655948
17
https://cpj.org/2019/08/two-journalists-detained-jammu-kashmir-india/
10
him to travel to Germany to attend an editors’ conference of the Deutsche Welle 18. Similarly,
another journalist Bilal Bashir Bhat was also prevented from travelling.
Local journalist Peerzada Ashiq working with Indian Newspaper ‘The Hindu’ was summoned by
police and asked to reveal his source regarding his news story he had filed on the number of arrests
recorded in Kashmir valley post 5th August19.
On December 19, two local journalists Azaan Javed of the Print, and Anees Zargar of News Click
were thrashed by police personnel in Srinagar while they were recording the police’s action against
passers-by20.
Journalist Qazi Shibli, editor of Kashmiriyat, was detained by the police in Srinagar under the 107
of the CRPC and moved to Srinagar Central Jail. Shibli had been released from UP’s Bareilly jail
after he was detained in July 2019 under the Public Safety Act21.
In April, journalists Masrat Zahra and Gowhar Geelani were booked under the Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Act for posts on their social media pages.
An FIR was filed by the Jammu and Kashmir police against The Hindu’s Peerzada Ashiq for the
news story ‘Kin allowed to exhume bodies of militants in Baramulla’, published in April.
18
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/stopped-from-flying-to-germany-says-kashmir-journalist-author-
gowhar-geelani-5954852/
19
https://theprint.in/india/the-hindu-journalist-questioned-by-jk-police-in-2nd-fir-against-media-personnel-in-
kashmir/406015/
20
https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/india-news-two-kashmiri-journalists-abused-thrashed-by-police-
while-covering-protests-in-srinagar/344308
21
https://cpj.org/2020/08/jammu-and-kashmir-authorities-detain-journalist-and-editor-qazi-shibli/
22
https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/kashmir_india_blackout_journalism.php
11
12
The promulgation of the media policy 2020 was yet another attempt by the government of Indian
to bring down free media and undermine its freedom26. This institutional censorship in the form
of the Media Policy has overwhelmingly incapacitated the media from giving objective coverage
to Kashmir issue. Under the pretext of this policy the leading and widely circulated newspapers
were prevented from publishing opinion pieces and op-editorials on the simmering situation in the
region. The ban on discussing the most pressing issues of the day has led to a sharp decline in the
ratio of the news highlighting the abysmal HR situation in the region in the past two years.
23
https://thewire.in/media/kashmir-new-media-policy-press-freedom
24
https://www.theleaflet.in/media-policy-2020-mocking-freedom-of-speech-and-expression-in-jammu-and-
kashmir/#:~:text=On%20June%202%2C%20the%20Jammu,strengthen%20the%20relationship%20with%20key
25
https://theprint.in/india/kashmir-times-is-latest-media-in-jk-has-been-gasping-for-breath-since-article-370-
move/527616/
26
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/undermine-media-freedom-put-unreasonable-restrictions-editors-guild-
expresses-concern-over-centres-new-technology-rules-7216996/
13
Practically, in today’s press in Kashmir, there is no space for the Hurriyat and other like-minded
groups that represent the political aspirations of a vast majority of Kashmiri population.
Earlier, the local media would hardly miss any stories, which would give perspective to people as
well as journalists in national and international publications. But now this kind of inclusive
reporting of the events/incidents is no longer seen in the local press, says Shafat Farooq who works
with the BBC in J&K27.
For instance, dozens of mourners were injured by pellet guns in Bemina areas of Srinagar where
police showered pellets of the participants of Muharram procession on 29 August 202028. The local
media blacked out the incident completely even though Indian and international media covered it.
“I have been reporting in Kashmir since 2002 and we have done some bold stories that were
critical of authorities. Obviously, harassment of journalists has always been there, but what we are
facing since 5 August last year is unprecedented,” says senior journalist Ishfaq Tantray who is also
the general secretary of the Kashmir Press Club (KPC)29.
Naseer Ganai, who works for Outlook magazine, was questioned by the Indian authorities for
writing a story about a call for strike given by the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF).
Similarly, the media-persons from various newspapers and television channels besides the
photographers, were barred from attending a press conference of senior Hurriyat leader Syed Ali
Geelani at his residence in Hyderpora area of Srinagar on 18 September 201930.
On November 29, The Kashmir Walla website carried a story on mass-beatings of civilians by the
Indian army in a suburb of Srinagar following an armed attack. The editor of the weekly magazine,
Fahad Shah, said that he was under pressure to take down the story.31
In April this year (2021) a media advisory issued by the Kashmir police has barred the journalists
from reporting any content which according to the police was likely to incite violence or contained
anything against maintenance of “law and order” or which promotes “anti-national” sentiment.
But the order has been criticized as part of the official policy to coerce journalists from reporting
facts on the ground32.
27 https://theprint.in/india/kashmir-times-is-latest-media-in-jk-has-been-gasping-for-breath-since-article-370-move/527616/
28 https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/8/29/police-fire-pellet-guns-on-kashmir-muharram-procession-witnesses
29 https://theprint.in/india/kashmir-times-is-latest-media-in-jk-has-been-gasping-for-breath-since-article-370-move/527616/
30
[https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/archive/j-k/cops-stop-geelani-from-holding-scheduled-press-conference-834570
31 https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/12/29/india-govt-crackdown-forces-kashmir-media-to-self-censor
32https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/8/concerns-as-kashmir-police-ban-live-media-coverage-of-gunbattles
14
INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
The communication blockade and restrictions of social and mainstream media in Kashmir by the
Indian government have drawn severe criticism from the international community. Besides the
influential world governments, the eminent rights activists from across the globe criticized India's
digital authoritarianism to suppress the media and voices of dissent in the restive region. The UN
Commissioner for Human Rights Ms Michael Bachelet, US lawmakers and several other countries
including Pakistan, China, Turkey, Malaysia called for an end to the communications blockade.
Amnesty International – The NGO for human rights started an online petition titled Let Kashmir
Speak34, which demanded a lifting of "the blackout of communications in Jammu and Kashmir"
while "letting the voices of the people of Kashmir be heard" and allowing "unconditional and
unconstrained access to news and information from the valley". The United Nations' special
33 A report released by the Association of Parents of Disappeared Parents and Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society
34
https://www.amnesty.org/en/get-involved/take-action/let-kashmir-speak/
15
rapporteur on freedom of expression, David Kaye, said in a statement that "there's something about
this shutdown that is draconian in a way other shutdown usually are not"35.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres raised concern over the new limitations placed on Kashmir,
adding that the latest events "could exacerbate the human rights situation in the region36.
Nine UN Special Rapporteur in various communications to the government of India expressed
concerns regarding the internet shutdowns, restriction against 4G access and restrictions on the
right to freedom of assembly and the right to freedom of expression, as well as the reported pattern
of detentions and harassment of journalists and human rights defenders37.
35
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/08/kashmir-communications-blackout-is-draconian-says-un-
envoy
36
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%932021_Jammu_and_Kashmir_lockdown
37
https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=25807
16
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