Who is afraid of the free press in Kashmir?

Last week controversial BJP MLA Lal Singh threatened Kashmir-based journalists to “mend their ways” while referring to the assassination of the former editor of Rising Kashmir, Shujaat Bukhari.

PDP Chief and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti was quick to react. She wrote on Twitter: “After expressing concern about freedom of expression in J&K following Shujaat’s murder, their MLA, notorious and even punished for his role in the aftermath of the unfortunate Kathua case, still threatens journalists belonging to the Valley, so what are they going to do about him?”

When Times Now confronted Singh, he brazenly refused to apologise or clarify. In fact, he told J&K Bureau Chief of the TV channel, Pradeep Dutta, brazenly: “We have brotherly relationship, don’t spoil it.” On Tuesday, journalists holding placards which read: “Journalism is not a crime; We will protest Shujaat’s killing even if we are alone in this,” and “Assassins of free thinking will never succeed”, “You can’t silence us with your weapons”, gathered at Press Enclave—where Shujaat Bukhari was killed and took out a silent protest march to Lal Chowk on June 14. The protesting scribes urged Governor NN Vohra to take action against the controversial BJP legislator.

Speaking on the occasion, veteran Kashmiri journalist Mohammad Sayeed Malik said, “Such threats are not new but the backdrop against which this threat has been given, that is frightening. No one from the ruling party has expressed any concern over it. State BJP’s spokesperson, a retired Brigadier, is justifying the statement citing freedom of speech. It shows their intentions are not good. We have taken it very seriously and that is why we are here to stage our protest.”

Executive editor of Kashmir Times Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal regretted that “a complete cover of impunity has been provided to the BJP leader” for his threatening remarks which she said, have an evident criminal texture. “Shujaat Sahab’s murder and the threat of Lal Singh’s criminal threat are symptomatic of the dangerous environment which is in the making for the past few years. Shujaat was working against this kind of intimidating environment through peace efforts and journalism and he was murdered for the same reason. We’re protesting this kind of dirty and dangerous politics—which promotes violence and hatred and works against free press. And this protest must continue.” She added: “The statement of police that we can’t take legal action against him, as he is a legislator, unless Speaker of the State’s Assembly (a BJP leader) gives permission, is irresponsible. By doing so you are giving a cover of impunity to the legislators, ministers and government officials to go and murder or intimidate anyone or indulge in communal provocations. Why is the BJP not taking action against Lal Singh? It shows that he has the backing of top party leaders.”

“Whether he was simply using the murder as a ploy to intimidate journalists, particularly from the Valley, or had knowledge about it, there is a celebratory tone to the heinous killing, which itself is criminal in nature,” an editorial in Kashmir Times commented, adding, “The curbs on media are even more stringent in Kashmir, making lives of working journalists caught between the different powerful stakeholders in a militarised zone highly exposed to threats and physical intimidations from all sides.”

Another senior journalist Ahmed Ali Fayaz recently talked about his vulnerability in a Facebook post, referring to an ambiguous blog that was critical of Shujaat and some other journalists including Fayaz. “The same people who ran a sustained vilification campaign against senior Kashmiri journalist Syed Shujaat Bukhari till his assassination and are still continuing it, have now turned to another senior Kashmiri journalist Iftikhar Gilani (Strategic Affairs Editor of English daily DNA) and myself. They have posted our photographs on the same portal with a vitriolic heap of text which vilifies and denigrates us both as ‘dubious characters’, men of ‘hypocritical approach’, et al. Their content, inter alia, reads: ‘These guys claim to be the saviours of Kashmir cause by initiating the peace process but on the other hand put forward the Indian version of solution and internally represent Indian interests through their so called peace process initiatives’,” he wrote in a post titled, “The Masked Man’s Vilification Campaign.”

“From day one in this noble profession, I have performed simply as a journalist and never ever associated myself with any ‘peace process’, track-2 or any other ‘diplomacy’ or even any NGO. I have restricted myself simply to the fundamental job of a journalist - reporting developments, analysing issues and writing op-ed pieces,” he said, before asserting that “I have never ever taken upon myself the task of strengthening or weakening any narrative or ideology or attempted to impose my personal ideology on my esteemed readers who are from vast, diverse opinions and backgrounds.”