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