‘Kashmir Times’ office sealed: Another blatant step to muzzle media from reporting ground reality

Though nothing really shocks one in the fascist times we are destined to be living in, but news of the sealing of the Kashmir Times office in Srinagar did shock. Yes, it came as a jolt. After all, it was a vibrant newspaper office trying to hold out, trying to battle against all possible odds, to bring out news and reports of the ground realities, to you and me. But then, perhaps, the government of the day does not want the readers to get to read what’s going on in that conflict zone.

It is more than writ large that the establishment has been targeting the executive editor of the Kashmir Times, Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal, and her publisher husband, Prabodh Jamwal, because they have been strong and courageous and have not yielded to the governmental dictates and pressures. They are amongst the handful who have tried to keep afloat against the turbulent tide. Mind you, in today’s set up, this is a rare feat. Because the aftermath is not just very severe but absolutely hitting. Advertisements are withdrawn from the targeted publications, newspaper offices and government allotted homes of journalists sealed and locked, cases slapped on journalists! Not to overlook the fact that journalists reporting from the Kashmir region have been often ruthlessly assaulted and even booked by the establishment.

It has not just become tough but also risky to report from the Valley and I salute all those trying to bring news reports from there to us. In fact, the Kashmir Times is one of those publications which has been constantly focusing on the ground realities and human rights violations taking place in the Kashmir region. In fact, Anuradha’s father , the latte Ved Bhasin sahib who’d established the Kashmir Times, had told me very categorically that he wanted his newspaper to focus on the people living in the Kashmir region and what they are going through.

I had met Ved Bhasin sahib at least three times in the Kashmir Times office in Srinagar and each time he’d sounded very concerned about the Kashmir region and the epople living there. And I also heard his lectures at seminars held in New Delhi.

In the book based on his life and times - Vedji &His Times –Kashmir: The Way Forward. Selected Works of Ved Bhasin - there’s an entire chapter titled Jammu and Kashmir: Road Map for Dialogue, where this veteran journalist had listed several CBMs (Confidence Building Measures) which could prepare a ground for dialoguing to take off . However, there’s also a note of caution. To quote from the book, “ It needs to be emphasized that there can be no ‘peaceful negotiated Settlement’ of Kashmir without the full and active participation of all sections of the people of Jammu and Kashmir living on both sides of the divided line. No solution should be imposed on the people of J&K and it should emerge through a process of multilevel dialogue.”

The fact is that journalists and photo-journalists in the Valley have always faced severe hurdles. In 2018, I heard the head of the journalism department of the Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST, situated on the outskirts of Srinagar, in Awantipora), Dr Ruheela Hassan, speak at a seminar held at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (Centre for Media Studies), focusing on the difficulties faced by the journalists in the Valley. She had explained very clearly how media in Jammu and Kashmir always faced hurdles.

Dr Ruheela Hassan had also detailed, “A survey has revealed that 77% of the valley journalists said that they have faced restrictions of one form or the other while performing their professional duties:

21 % of the Valley journalists have been booked or summoned by the state or national authorities (mostly booked under draconian laws like OSA, PSA, security of the state)

• 20 journalists killed.
• Several kidnapped and illegally detained.
• More than 25 injured.
• 80% of valley journalists believe that no freedom of expression is enjoyed by them as guaranteed.”

Today, of course, the challenges stand compounded. With journalists, their homes and newspaper offices and news agencies getting so very blatantly targeted, it’s time to wake up. Yes, it’s about time to cry halt to these fascist moves. Otherwise, we shall sit deprived of our daily news!

Leaving you with this verse from writer – journalist- commentator Nilofar Suhrawardy’s latest book ‘This is Love! : Poems on Love, Anguish & More’:

“Life is … I have heard
Hanging from a thin thread,
A moving pendulum
Which is so weighed down
by tensions,
that it is just
blowing winds
of time
that vibrate it
slightly to and fro
And …
Life is for me
An emptiness
I can’t combat,
An awareness of
an hollowness
everywhere
in everyone
all around me.
I detest it.

But something tells me,
Eventually that hollowness
will eat into me
gnaw away the very roots
of my existence,
my values,
whether I fight it
or not.

I know
the hollowness
will seep the life out
of me.

And it eventually maybe
my death too…”