{"id":3454,"date":"2022-01-16T18:24:31","date_gmt":"2022-01-16T13:24:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/?p=3454"},"modified":"2022-01-16T18:26:24","modified_gmt":"2022-01-16T13:26:24","slug":"kashmir-pakistan-condemns-increasing-harassment-illegal-arrests-of-kashmiri-journalists-and-civil-society-activists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/asia\/kashmir-pakistan-condemns-increasing-harassment-illegal-arrests-of-kashmiri-journalists-and-civil-society-activists\/","title":{"rendered":"Kashmir: Pakistan condemns increasing harassment, illegal arrests of journalists, civil society activists"},"content":{"rendered":"

Srinagar, Jan 16 (Asia Free Press): Pakistan condemns the increasing harassment, illegal arrests, and registration of fake criminal cases against journalists and civil society activists in Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJK).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A statement released by Pakistan\u2019s MoFA condemned in highest terms the hijacking of the Kashmir Press Club, saying that, \u201cThe reported attack on Kashmir Press Club yesterday  manifestly reflects  India’s entrenched use of brute force and coercion to forcibly silence those raising  voices against its horrendous crimes and egregious human rights violations IOJK\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe increasing use of draconian and inhumane laws including Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), Public Safety Act (PSA) and Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) with impunity in IIOJK, which reflects India’s colonial mindset,\u201d added the statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On January 15, a group of disgruntled journalists barged into the Kasmir Press Club office in the Srinagar district of IOJK and forcibly took control of the club by keeping the office members hostage. A posse of armed paramilitary troops was deployed at the gates of the Press Club in Srinagar\u2019s Polo View that afternoon. At 1.45 pm, the group\u2019s head, journalist Saleem Pandit, arrived in an armoured cavalcade comprising a bulletproof Ambassador and a Scorpio, along with his security detail, reported Newslaundry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Journalists present there said it was “virtually like a coup” of an autonomous professional institution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In a joint statement, the local journalist associations, while expressing anguish over the incident, said, \u201cThis move, in which a group of journalists self-appointed itself as an \u201cinterim body,\u201d is uncivil, illegal, unconstitutional and without any precedence. It has been taken at a time when the process of registration is still pending before the authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll journalist bodies are unanimous in the view that this unfortunate move by a disgruntled lot has set a dangerous precedent by forcing their way into the club office in violation of the KPC constitution and bylaws. The Press bodies have decided to take legal recourse against the perpetrators,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The statement was jointly issued by the Journalist Federation of Kashmir (JFK), Kashmir Working Journalists Association (KWJA), Kashmir Press Photographer Association (KPPA), Kashmir Press Club (KPC), Jammu and Kashmir Journalist Association (JAKJA), Kashmir Video Journalist Association (KVJA), Kashmir Working Journalists Association, Kashmir National Television Journalist Association (KNTJA), and Kashmir Journalist Association (KJA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pakistan\u2019s MoFA statement further stated, \u201cThe increasing use of draconian and inhumane laws, including the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), Public Safety Act (PSA) and Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) with impunity in IIOJK, which reflects India’s colonial mindset.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pakistan called upon the international community, particularly the United Nations and international human rights and humanitarian bodies, to hold India accountable for its unabated harassment and illegal arrests of journalists, human rights defenders, and other civil society activists in IOJK.
<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Srinagar, Jan 16 (Asia Free Press): Pakistan condemns the increasing harassment, illegal arrests, and registration of fake criminal cases against journalists and civil society activists in Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJK). A statement released by Pakistan\u2019s MoFA condemned in highest terms the hijacking of the Kashmir Press Club, saying that, \u201cThe reported attack on Kashmir […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":3455,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,84,396,82],"tags":[64,350,63,1757,65],"class_list":["post-3454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia","category-india","category-latest","category-paksitan","tag-india","tag-indian-occupied-kashmir","tag-kashmir","tag-kashmir-press-club","tag-pakistan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3454"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3454\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}