Kashmir’s most experienced local journalists face intimidation and are consistently denied access whereas journalists ‘parachuted’ into Kashmir enjoy far more freedoms
Journalists based in Kashmir these days call the Kashmir Valley an information black hole. Journalists say lack of access to officials, a widespread communication blockade and intimidation by security forces makes their job tougher than it's ever been before.– one of the largest English dailies in India – was in Kashmir the day the Indian government stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its special status and bifurcated it into two centrally-administered territories.
Indian paramilitary soldiers stand guard near a temporary checkpoint on a road leading to India's Independence Day parade venue in Srinagar, India-administered Kashmir, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2019. For example, Sanna Irshad Mattoo, a freelance photojournalist based in Kashmir, says that since the beginning of the lockdown, there have been several occasions when security forces stopped her from doing her job. Worse, she was forced to delete photographs and videos she had shot.
But two days later, he says, he was stopped by security personnel and not allowed to pass a checkpoint and then, “A CRPF personnel tore that ‘pass’ apart." He says that journalists who managed to travel outside Srinagar had to be very careful not to reveal their identity. At many checkpoints, Jaleel says, he concealed his profession and told security forces that he was going to meet some relatives, so that he could pass a barricade.Journalists say reports emerging from the foreign press in the Kashmir Valley are markedly different than those appearing in Indian media.
He says sometimes it appears there are two completely different sets of principles applicable for the foreign and local press. Almost a week after the lockdown began, the Jammu and Kashmir administration set up a media facilitation centre where journalists could use the internet and make phone calls. Sometimes even if you do manage to access the internet at the media centre, it doesn't get you very far.
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