SRINAGAR: Former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister and PDP chief Mehboboa Mufti on Monday wrote to the Press Council of India and Editors Guild of India on the "intimidation, snooping and harassment" of journalists in the Union Territory and urged the two bodies to send a fact-finding team to the region.
"I am sure you are aware that raids were conducted by police at homes of several journalists in Kashmir earlier this month. Electronic gadgets were illegally seized along with ATM cards and passports of their spouses. This comes on the heels of the harrowing experiences that the journalist community in J&K has been subjected to after the abrogation of Article 370," Mehbooba wrote in a letter to the Press Council of India (PCI) and Editors Guild of India.
She informed the PCI that unwarranted harassment of journalists has now become a norm. "Twenty-three journalists have reportedly been put on Exit Control List. Besides, sizeable journalists are either threatened or charged with UAPA or sedition law, simply because their reportage on J&K does not cater to the PR stunts of ruling dispensation. Reporting truth to power is being criminalised with each passing day," she said.