Written by MHM Admin

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says journalists in Kashmir are under increasing risk, with media freedom violations resulting in the death of one cameraman and the beating of more than 30 journalists. The media pressure group calls on the government of India to react quickly to stop the violence, lift all media censorship, and allow journalists to continue to report on the situation freely and without interference from security forces.

RSF has called on the authorities in New Delhi to investigate the death of local TV cameraman Javed Ahmed Mir, 35, who was, it says, shot while covering a demonstration near Bagh-e-Mehtab on 13 August.

The crisis in the region means that local newspapers are unable to publish normally because of the curfew, according to reports sent anonymously to this site.

Reporters Without Borders says the government in New Delhi cannot continue to ignore the fact that the press in Kashmir has been subject to conditions that violates the Indian constitution.

“We call on the government to react quickly to ensure that the violence stops, that the censorship is completely lifted and that the local media is given full guarantees.”

RSF says the inhabitants of Kashmir, especially those in the Srinagar region, have been deprived of local and national daily newspapers for a week, while local TV stations have been forbidden from reporting news.

The media freedom organisation says that some cable TV operators stopped carrying national and international news channels in protest at the censorship. Many people also complained about disruption of their mobile phone texting services.

RSF says that members of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), which is under the control of the government in New Delhi, were responsible for most of the police violence.

The organisation says it was CRPF members who beat Asif Qureshi of Star News on 25 August, and Showkat Ahmed, the Rising Kashmir daily newspaper’s system administrator, when he was on the streets with a pass on 31 August.

As this site has already reported, the daily newspaper, the Kashmir Observer , has had its website hacked during this period.