WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY: A COMMEMORATION TO ADDRESS MEDIA CRCAKDOWN IN KASHMIR

The entire world tends to celebrate May 3 as a hallmark to ‘freedom of expression’ and ‘freedom of information’, the very prelude of “democracy and justice” as in words of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

This year marks the 30^th anniversary of World Press Freedom Day that was proclaimed by United Nations General Assembly in December 1993, on recommendations made in 1991 during 26^th session of United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) General Conference. Following the event, Reporters Without Borders (RSF)-an internationally revered non-profit/non-governmental organization-released 21^st edition of its World Press Freedom Index whereby India slipped 11 ranks to stand as 19^th worst performer (161 among 180 states ranked), and in this way, among the 31 countries where RSF calls the situation for journalists is “very serious”.

In its opening remarks about why India has been classified this way, RSF states, “The violence against journalists, the politically partisan media and the concentration of media ownership all demonstrate that press freedom is in crisis in “the world’s largest democracy”, ruled since 2014 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the embodiment of the Hindu nationalist right.”

Even in terms of safety of journalists, India is performing poorly RSF notes: “With an average of three or four journalists killed in connection with their work every year, India is one of the world’s most dangerous countries for the media.” The report specifically talks about the targeted harassment of women journalists online and the ongoing police interference in how the press is treated in Kashmir. One instance of which is the fact that out of the 84 total reported internet crackdowns in India in 2022, more than half were witnessed in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) to silence the voice of dissent and in order to build upon its own façade of falsified state rhetoric and terrorism discourse when it comes to minorities of India or that of Kashmir, in particular. In words of the report of Surfshark published in January 2023, more than a fifth of all web blackouts in the world took place in Kashmir.

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International Federation of Journalists’, endorsed, in this regard that journalists covering IIOJK have ‘walked razor’s edge’, working under threats and intimidation from various actors in the conflict. The situation has become even more grim following abrogation of Articles 370 and 35-A in the region. August 2019 was followed by more than six months of a communication blackout during which Kashmir had no internet success, hampering journalistic work as well as education and businesses.

Moreover, the right to access information also continues to deteriorate in IIOJK as part of the ongoing so-called counter-insurgency measures by the Hindutva government. “Indian law is protective in theory but charges of defamation, sedition, contempt of court and endangering national security are increasingly used against journalists critical of the government, who are branded as “anti-national”,” RSF report notes. In this regard, India issued a new media policy as an another attempt to further control the flow of information from the valley. Called ‘New Media Policy’, it allows government to control and censor all journalistic content deemed to constitute ‘fake news’, without providing any definition of what that means.

In response to an alarming surge in violence and judicial proceedings against journalists in IIOJK, RSF joined 57 other human rights organizations and media outlets in addressing an open letter to IIOJK’S Governor, Manoj Sinha-illegal governor of the occupied region-calling for an end to the policy of systematic censorship of press implemented there. The immediate release of Fahad Shah, the editor of Kashmir Walla, who was arrested on February 4 2022 was also sought, who got arrested for sharing so-called ‘anti-national contact’ on social media.

Taking the eve of May 3, the world, specifically rights-based civil liberties shall impose-upon India its rights and obligations under Universal Declaration of Human Rights and United Nations charter and pressurize the state to release all prisoners of conscience, who fell prey to the Hindutva regime on the pretext of expressing their right to information or expression merely. Kashmiri journalists Sajad Gul, Asif Sultan, and Manan Gulzar Dar-all of whom are jailed under anti-terror or preventive detention laws, in apparent retaliation for their work-are no exception.