ISLAMABAD: As India descends into authoritarianism, the owner of a sealed newspaper in Indian Illegally-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) has claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s restrictive media policies are ruining Kashmiri journalism, threatening media outlets into serving as government spokesmen, and creating an information void in the region of about 13 million people.
According to Kashmir Media Service, in an opinion piece published in The New York Times on Saturday, Anuradha Bhasin, executive editor of The Kashmir Times, whose offices in Srinagar were closed by the occupation authorities three years ago, wrote that Modi was making efforts that could replicate this disturbing model on a national scale.
In her piece titled “Modi’s Final Assault on India’s Press Freedom Has Begun,” she wrote that Modi’s Hindu-chauvinist movement, which has normalized intolerance and violence against Indian Muslims, has already put severe pressure on India’s once-raucous press, with journalists being monitored and jailed, and the government using strong-arm tactics against media outlets to ensure favorable coverage. However, she noted in January that draught amendments to digital media guidelines had been introduced, essentially allowing the government to block any content it does not like. In other words, the rest of India may end up looking a lot like Kashmir, according to Bhasin.
IIOJK: Modi government abruptly revoked Kashmir’s special status
According to reports, Modi’s government abruptly revoked Kashmir’s special status in 2019 without consulting the people of the territory, sent in thousands of troops, and shut down internet access. The shutdown lasted nearly six months, pushing hundreds of journalists to queue for hours to file their stories through a single designated internet-accessible site. Each had 15 minutes to complete the task. Since then, internet speeds have been excruciatingly slow.
The following year, officials were given the authority to label media content in Kashmir as “fake news, plagiarism, unethical or anti-national,” and to punish journalists and publications. “Ironically, the rules stated that the goal was to “promote the highest standard of journalism.”
She claims that journalists are routinely summoned by police, interrogated, and threatened with charges such as income tax evasion, terrorism, or separatism, and she claims that several prominent journalists have been detained or sentenced to prison terms. Between 1990 and 2018, at least 19 journalists were killed in Kashmir. She went on to say that an information vacuum hangs over Kashmir, with the public being either uninformed or misinformed about what’s going on. Important news is suppressed, minimized, or twisted to serve government purposes.
According to the article, when Syed Ali Shah Geelani, a towering Kashmiri leader, died in 2021, the news was either blacked out in Kashmir or briefly mentioned. Last month, the government began a campaign to demolish thousands of homes that authorities claimed were illegally constructed on state land. According to a leading Kashmiri news outlet, it was a bold move against unnamed “influential land-grabbers.” There was no mention of the poor Kashmiris who were suddenly evicted or residents who claimed to have valid documents proving ownership.
She wrote that Modi has systematically debased India’s democratic ideals since assuming power in 2014, bending courts and other government machinery to his will. She went on to say that the media is one of the last institutions capable of preventing India’s descent into authoritarianism. However, if Modi is successful in introducing the Kashmir model of information control to the rest of the country, not only press freedom but also Indian democracy will be jeopardized. — APP
