[Reader-list] CPJ condemns media restrictions in Kashmir

[Shivam Vij शिवम् विज्]

CPJ condemns media restrictions in Kashmir

30 August, 2008 05:19:00
http://etalaat.com/english/News/front-page/2565.html

Srinagar, August 29:The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on
Indian authorities to protect journalists and  lift restrictions on
media workers in the curfew-bound northern Indian state of Jammu and
Kashmir, after a cameraman was reportedly killed and a near-total news
blackout hit the main city of Srinagar. The report has been published
by CPJ on its official website.

The report says that Srinagar newspapers did not reach the stands
today for the fifth consecutive day and cable operators shut down
international news broadcasts on Thursday because of an almost
uninterrupted government-imposed curfew, according to local news
reports that are still being published sporadically online. Local
television news broadcasts were ordered off the air on Sunday.
Officials have been holding talks with cable operators and newspaper
editors but no resolution has yet been reached.

A BBC report said security forces shot and killed cameraman Javed
Ahmed Mir on August 13 while he was waiting for an equipment van to
arrive from a local news channel he worked for part-time."The
situation for the news media in Kashmir is dire", said CPJ Executive
Director Joel Simon. "We call on the Indian authorities to immediately
allow broadcasters to return to air and to ensure that journalists can
move about freely. It is vital that news gets out during such a
chaotic time in the region".Srinagar-based newspapers last went to
print on Sunday, but distribution was curtailed by a 24-hour curfew
imposed in the early hours that morning to thwart anti-government
protests.

Monday's issues went unpublished, according to local journalists.
Officials reassured editors this week that steps would be taken to
protect journalists after several complained of violence when
government-issued curfew passes were ignored by police, local
reporters told CPJ by telephone. But editors said they will be unable
to print until all media staff are free to come to work, including
hawkers, who are central to the local distribution system and are on
the streets from 4 a.m., a local journalist told CPJ.

Officials banned local news and current affairs programming in a
letter sent to cable operators on Sunday. News reports published
online from the Kashmir Valley said that some cable operators withdrew
all remaining Indian and international news broadcasts on Thursday in
protest against the continuing government ban.The government has
denied banning international news, after programs went off the air on
Thursday. But a report on Pakistani news Web site The News says
authorities in Srinagar had already banned several Pakistani
television stations, including news and entertainment programs, in a
letter to cable operators on Wednesday. Irfan Ahmed, vice president of
the Take 1 television group, told CPJ that his company, which
distributes cable television throughout the valley, was in talks with
local officials but that recent gaps in their programming were the
result of technical difficulties, not protests. Journalists were
hopeful that the restricted newspapers could begin printing again from
Monday.

"The situation is limping back to normal",  Ahmed Ali Fayyaz, the
Daily Excelsior's  Srinagar bureau chief told CPJ today. One
journalist said that some newspapers had been published in the other
major city of Jammu, but that they were not widely available due to
the stymied distribution system elsewhere in the state. Jammu
officials also withdrew the television news ban after six hours,
according to a report published on the news Web site Greater Kashmir.
An unidentified group protesting inadequate coverage of the
independence burned stacks of the Jammu-based Daily Excelsior on
August 23, according to news reports.The predominantly Muslim state
has seen escalating turmoil since the local government promised a
disputed tract of land to a Hindu shrine in June. Separatist groups in
the Indian-governed portion of Kashmir seek independence or union with
Pakistan.

CPJ is a New York based, independent, nonprofit organization that
works to safeguard press freedom worldwide. For more information,
visit www.cpj.org.