Srinagar, Indian Administered Kashmir – The regional administration of Indian-administered Kashmir sealed the office of a major English newspaper, whose editor said the move was “payback for speaking out.”
The local administration’s estate department on Monday sealed off the office of the Kashmir Times, one of the region’s oldest newspapers, located in the Press Enclave in the main city of the disputed Srinagar region.
Anuradha Bhasin, owner and executive editor of the Kashmir Times, told Al Jazeera that authorities did not follow due process to seal off her office, which according to Indian media reports was assigned to them in the early 1990s.
“We were not given any notice,” he said. “They [estates department officials] just came. Our staff was working in the office. They asked the staff to come out, saying they were closing. “
Today, the Department of the Treasury closed our office without any due process of cancellation and eviction, in the same way that I was evicted from an apartment in Jammu, where my belongings, including valuables, were turned over to a “new assignee.” Vendetta for speaking! Due process was not followed. How grumpy! pic.twitter.com/J5P0eKxvbx
– Anuradha Bhasin (@AnuradhaBhasin_) October 19, 2020
Earlier this month, Bhasin claimed that he was evicted from his official residence in the city of Jammu.
He said that sealing his office was a “vendetta policy” and an “attempt to repress [her]”By the Indian administration.
“Vendetta because last year I went to court against the blocking of communications and from that very day the government announcements in the Kashmir Times were stopped. It has been happening ever since, ”Bhasin told Al Jazeera.
On August 5, 2019, the right-wing government of India removed Kashmir’s partial autonomy and divided India’s only Muslim-majority state into two federal territories, putting the region under the direct control of New Delhi.
To avoid any protest over the measure, the Indian government imposed a crippling blackout and communications cut for months, and arrested dozens of local politicians.
Bhasin, who filed a petition in the Supreme Court of India challenging the cutting of internet and telephone lines, said that his newspaper continued to operate “despite the communication blockage and staff interrupted due to financial problems.”
“We continue to write against various government policies and actions critically,” he told Al Jazeera.
“That [sealing of her office] It’s an attempt to gag me It is an attempt to suppress me. They can put locks on our office, but they can’t put it on our voice. “
The Kashmiri media has faced the most difficult situation after August 2019 and yet some of us continue to fight it. In return, the government uses the policy of the media, jails, subpoenas, terror and intimidation cases to stop the free press. It is a daily battle to maintain freedom of the press in Kashmir.
– Fahad Shah (@pzfahad) October 19, 2020
In defense of the move, an official from the region’s property department told Al Jazeera, on condition of anonymity, that they had not closed the Kashmir Times office “as projected.”
“We have only taken possession of the building that was assigned to the late Ved Bhasin, who died a few years ago,” he said.
Ved Bhasin, Anuradha’s father and founding editor of the Kashmir Times, died in 2015.
“The building was awarded to Ved Bhasin but when the awardee has passed away, you cannot continue with the accommodation or any facility in the name of the person that no longer exists,” said the official, claiming that the newspaper’s office was being used ” for residential purposes ”.
“At the same time, they have another room in the vicinity of this one on behalf of the Kashmir Times that they use as their office,” he said.
‘Try to speed up the free press’
But journalists in the region are outraged, calling the action against the Kashmir Times another “government attempt to strangle the free press in Kashmir.”
“The measure is highly reprehensible. The government should reverse it and ensure an atmosphere conducive to the press in Jammu and Kashmir free from fear and coercion, “Ishfaq Tantry, general secretary of the Kashmir Press Club, told Al Jazeera.
The media watchdog, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), also condemned the move.
“We condemn the continued attacks and harassment by Anuradha Bhasin and the Kashmir Times. Authorities must stop trying to silence independent and critical voices and must respect freedom of the press, ”CPJ said in a statement.
On October 15, the authorities also ordered the Kashmir News Service (KNS), a local news agency, to leave its offices in Srinagar.
“I received a call from the Jammu and Kashmir real estate department for us to leave the office in an hour,” KNS editor-in-chief Mohammad Aslam told Al Jazeera.
“No eviction notice or reason was given, but they told us verbally. The officer told me that they have orders from the higher authorities ”.
This explains why some of our “esteemed” publications have decided to become government spokespersons, printing only government press brochures. The price of independent reporting is that of being evicted without due process. https://t.co/Vs7nfWWd4h
– Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) October 19, 2020
Aslam said the property was assigned to him by the government in 2004 and he was surprised they were forced to move “in such a hurry.”
“On the one hand, we are accused of being in favor of the government and, on the other, we face these types of government measures. At least the authorities should have given us adequate time even if they wanted us to vacate the property, ”he said.
Earlier this year, several prominent Kashmiri journalists were indicted by Indian police under strict laws for their “anti-national” posts on social media, a move that was criticized by the press and rights groups around the world.
The former chief ministers of the region, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, condemned the government’s action and expressed their solidarity with Bhasin.
Mufti said that Bhasin was “one of the few local newspaper editors” in Kashmir “who faced the illegal and disruptive actions of the Indian government in the state.”
“Closing its Srinagar office is directly part of BJP’s vendetta playbook to settle scores with those who dare to disagree,” he posted on Twitter, referring to India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, which has been accused of attack journalists and activists.
India was ranked 142nd on this year’s World Press Freedom Index for the communications blackout in the part of Kashmir it administers.
