Kashmiri journalist Raihana Maqbool on reporting on COVID-19 amid ongoing restrictions
Journalists in Jammu and Kashmir have spent the past eight months navigating an intense crackdown by Indian authorities in the region, including unprecedented restrictions on communications and the longest internet shutdown in a democracy. Now, they have the added challenge on trying to report on the COVID-19 pandemic. India has instituted a strict 21-day national…
Kashmiri journalists, news outlets still offline after India partially restores internet
New York, January 28, 2020—Internet access was partially restored in most of Jammu and Kashmir on January 25, but service remained slow and social media platforms and many local news websites remain blocked, The New York Times and other outlets reported. In a statement circulated to CPJ and news outlets, the Kashmir Press Club said…
Lawyer Mishi Choudhury on what India shutdowns ruling means for journalists
On January 14, the Jammu and Kashmir administration partially restored mobile internet in a handful of districts, according to news reports. The administration, which is directly controlled by the Indian government, had imposed a complete communication ban in the restive region after withdrawing its special status under the Indian constitution in August 2019, as CPJ…
India should restore internet in Kashmir as court orders shutdown review
New York, January 10, 2020–The Indian Supreme Court ordered a review of the legal process used to implement the ongoing shutdown in Indian-controlled Kashmir today. The ruling affirmed that freedom of speech “using the medium of internet is constitutionally protected.”
India uses opaque legal process to suppress Kashmiri journalism, commentary on Twitter
On August 10, 2018, the Indian government informed Twitter that an account belonging to Kashmir Narrator, a magazine based in Jammu and Kashmir, was breaking Indian law. The magazine had recently published a cover story on a Kashmiri militant who fought against Indian rule. By the end of the month, Indian police had arrested the…
Kashmir’s news media faces existential crisis amid restrictions, arrests
On August 5, the government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi imposed a strict communication blackout in Jammu and Kashmir after stripping the state of its limited autonomous status under the Indian constitution. A month later as the restrictions continued, CPJ India Correspondent Kunal Majumder traveled to Srinagar, Kashmir’s largest city, to speak to local…
At least 2 journalists detained amid tensions in Jammu and Kashmir
New Delhi, August 16, 2019—The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on the Indian government to immediately stop its harassment of journalists in Jammu and Kashmir and to allow them to work freely. Authorities have detained at least two journalists in the past week amid tensions and the communications blackout in the region.
India bars journalists in Jammu and Kashmir from covering Republic Day event
New Delhi, India, January 29, 2019 — The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on authorities in the Indian-controlled state of Jammu and Kashmir to stop restricting press coverage of events in the restive state, after 10 photo and video journalists from local, national, and international media organizations were barred from covering a government function…