Charges Against Kashmir Times “Absolutely False, Fabricated”; Modi Regime Intolerant of Criticism

Описание: Charges against Kashmir Times are "absolutely false, absolutely fabricated": Anuradha Bhasin, Executive Editor, The Kashmir Times, to Karan Thapar for The Wire.

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Defending her paper, The Kashmir Times, its Executive Editor, Anuradha Bhasin, has said that the litany of charges brought against her paper by the Special Investigation Agency of the Jammu and Kashmir police, when it raided the paper on Thursday, are “absolutely false, absolutely fabricated”. She said reports that several arms and weapons were found in the newspaper’s premises are “completely fabricated”. She suggested that this claim has been trumped up to provide an excuse for the raid.

Amongst other things the paper has been accused of disseminating terrorist and secessionist ideology; spreading inflammatory, fabricated and false narratives; disturbing peace and public order and challenging the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India. Reports also suggest that several arms and weapons were found on the paper's premises.

In an interview to The Wire, Ms. Bhasin said The Kashmir Times office has been virtually shut for the last four years. She called it “an abandoned office”. She says no one works there. It’s locked and the only key is with the cleaner who occasionally cleans the office.

Ms. Bhasin said the raid on The Kashmir Times and the charges brought against the paper, as well as the claim that arms and weapons were found on its premises, is “desperation to vilify us because we dare to speak”. She said: “It’s our duty to bring out the ugly truth” adding pointedly “this government is completely intolerant of any word of criticism”.

She said: “Ever since 2019 the suppression and intimidation of media has been exacerbated much more than it was earlier. It existed even before the BJP and Narendra Modi regime. But it has become much more. This government is completely intolerant of any word of criticism.”

In the interview, Ms. Bhasin spoke at length about what she calls “The Kashmir model of information control”. In this context, she said that journalists in Jammu and Kashmir “have lost count of the number of times they are summoned to police stations for questioning.”

As a result of the throttling of journalism in the Union Territory, the security establishment has lost contact with the people. It does not permit popular grievances to be aired and written about and, as a result, it does not know what is happening on the ground. This, she said, was one reason why Pahalgam happened. As she put it: “Pahalgam happened because you are telling lies to the people.”

There’s a lot more in this interview that will come as a rude shock to those who are not aware of the situation that journalists face in Jammu and Kashmir. It’s considerably worse than the situation that prevails in the rest of the country. This is one reason why you should see this interview. We need to know the truth, as told by Anuradha Bhasin.



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