Srinagar, Oct 3: Journalists in Kashmir Thursday staged a sit in protest here against the ongoing communication blockade which has completed two months in the valley now.
The journalists demanded free access to internet and communication.
A statement issued by the scribes read that all the media associations representing journalists, photojournalists, video-journalists, editors of local newspapers and members of the Kashmir Press Club, participated in the peaceful protest inside the Kashmir Press Club premises to highlight the problems faced by the journalists due to the communication blockade that was imposed by the government during the night on August 4, 2019.
“The protesting journalists described the communication blockade, including the snapping of internet services across all the platforms as an attempt to muzzle the press in valley,” the statement read.
“While limiting the access of media to a hall hired at a private hotel designated as Media Facilitation Centre– where the government has set-up nine computers and a cell phone connection for over 400 journalists – the government has attempted to prevent the information out of the valley,” the protesting journalists, as per the statement, said.
They added that the communication blackout, especially the snapping of internet and mobile services, was seriously hampering the professional work of journalists operating in the valley.
“How long can the journalists of Valley rely solely on official releases and occasional press briefings that have always been a one-way communication?” they asked.
“By holding the joint sit-in protest today the journalistic fraternity of Kashmir wants to convey in unambiguous terms that they had enough of it – sixty days of restrictions on media, sixty days without any communication and sixty days of an information blackout from the government,” the statement added.
While highlighting the problems faced by the media fraternity in Kashmir, the protesting journalists said that they are unable to cover their assignments due to the prevailing communication gag imposed by the government.
“In absence of the internet and broadband services, the local newspapers published from Srinagar have not been able to upload their internet editions or update the news on the web-portals,” they said.
“There have been no clear answers from the government that why it has barricaded the Kashmir journalist fraternity under a communication blockade,” the protesting journalists said.
“The government must come up with an answer on how long the crackdown on news would continue? By limiting the access and continuing with communications gag, the government aims to reduce the journalists as its mouthpieces,” read the statement.
“As such all the associations including Kashmir Working Journalists Association (KWJA), Kashmir Journalists Association (KJA), Kashmir Press Photographers Association (KPPA), Kashmir Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) Kashmir News Television Journalist Association (KNTJA),Kashmir Editors Guild (KEG), JK Editors Forum (JKEF), Video Journalists Association and Journalist Federation of Kashmir (JFK) which participated in the joint protest demanded lifting of the communication gag, which includes restoring the mobile and internet facility to the newspaper offices and other media houses. Earlier in the meeting, all the associations decided to form a committee to pursue lifting of communication gag with the government authorities,” the statement added.
