With less than two months go for the first an­niver­sary of the full lock­down and takeover of Jammu and Kash­mir by In­dia af­ter an­nulling its spe­cial sta­tus, the Union Ter­ri­tory ma­chin­ery is work­ing over­time to crush voices of dis­sent af­ter hav­ing re­cently given a chance for on­line and print me­dia to re­sume pub­li­ca­tion. The New Me­dia Pol­icy 2020 is a cen­sor­ship doc­u­ment. Jour­nal­ists have been hauled un­der UAPA and more such vi­o­la­tions will oc­cur. World Sikh News seeks im­me­di­ate with­drawal of the gag on jour­nal­ism in Kash­mir.

EVERY­THING THAT THE GOV­ERN­MENT OF JAMMU AND KASH­MIR has been do­ing on the ad­min­is­tra­tive and le­gal side since the ab­ro­ga­tion of Ar­ti­cle 370 on 5 Au­gust 2019 is di­rected to sup­press the as­pi­ra­tions of the Kash­miri peo­ple. The gov­ern­ment has no qualms in hid­ing its in­ten­tions. Os­ten­si­bly, the new ed­u­ca­tion pol­icy is to thwart mis­in­for­ma­tion, fake news and to raise alarm against any at­tempt to use the me­dia to vi­ti­ate pub­lic peace, sov­er­eignty and in­tegrity of the coun­try.

Who will de­fine mis­in­for­ma­tion and fake news? Will the J & K or­der not go against the spirit of the Supreme Court of In­dia or­der which al­lows speak­ing and writ­ing about sov­er­eignty and in­tegrity of the coun­try?

Since 5 Au­gust 2019, jour­nal­ists have been booked and ha­rassed un­der UAPA and the Kash­mir me­dia is trau­ma­tised to toe the gov­ern­ment line.

Terming it an Or­wellian me­dia pol­icy, Re­porters Sans Fron­tiers has “called for the im­me­di­ate with­drawal of the ‘New Me­dia Pol­icy 2020’ un­der which the gov­ern­ment as­sumes the right to ha­rass jour­nal­ists and me­dia ju­di­cially and eco­nom­i­cally if they pub­lish con­tent it does­n’t like. It amounts to prior cen­sor­ship.” The Press Coun­cil of In­dia has also sought a re­ply from the Union Ter­ri­tory say­ing that it will scut­tle free speech.  Op­po­si­tion po­lit­i­cal par­ties and lead­ers have con­demned the gag pol­icy.

This is the ‘mind-army’ of In­dia which wants to con­trol what you read, say and think. This ubiq­ui­tous army, ear­lier covert, now overt, wants to change the nar­ra­tive that Kash­mir is a law and or­der prob­lem and not one of con­flict res­o­lu­tion.

The seize of Kash­mir is hap­pen­ing by the hour. The first step was an­nulling Ar­ti­cle 370. This was fol­lowed with ar­rests of all shades of po­lit­i­cal lead­ers and ac­tivists. Hun­dreds of thou­sands of ac­tivists are in prison in Jammu and Kash­mir and var­i­ous parts of In­dia. In­dian army and para­mil­i­tary troops are sta­tioned all across the val­ley. Ed­u­ca­tion is on a stand­still. Tele­phone and in­ter­net are min­i­mal. With to­tal lock­down, since months, young peo­ple feel that they are liv­ing in a con­cen­tra­tion camp.

This is the ‘mind-army’ of In­dia which wants to con­trol what you read, say and think. This ubiq­ui­tous army, ear­lier covert, now overt, wants to change the nar­ra­tive that Kash­mir is a law and or­der prob­lem and not one of con­flict res­o­lu­tion.

Me­dia houses in In­dia must raise their voice against this Emer­gency-style doc­u­ment and ex­press sol­i­dar­ity with the jour­nal­ists re­port­ing from the con­flict zone of Kash­mir.

Will re­port­ing about DSP Devin­der Singh get­ting bail as the Jammu and Kash­mir Po­lice failed to file charges within the manda­tory 90 days pe­riod and link­ing that with the com­plic­ity of the po­lice-ad­min­is­tra­tion-ex­ec­u­tive nexus, con­sti­tute a vi­o­la­tion of the 53-page cen­sor­ship doc­u­ment?

Ti­tle Im­age Cour­tesy: TheKash­mir­walla.com