Is journalism a crime in Kashmir?

Simply, journalism means production and distribution of reports on current or past events, based on facts. The word ‘Journalism’ then applies to citizens as well. Even in some countries, journalists enjoy some privileges like holding public gatherings, reach out to public events, crime scenes and having full access to all facilities like a civilian.

Even if they get captured while covering conflict or war between nations, they are treated as civilians and released to their national governments. When journalism means all this, why does it differ here in my Vale? Why are journalists beaten with lathis and booked under Unlawful Activities Act? Is it a crime here?

If I talk about 2019, several journalists got booked. Among them Qazi Shubli and Kamran Yousuf were the household names. What was their crime? They were only capturing conflict.

This has now become a trend here as last month, three journalists were beaten to pulp by Police in Pulwama while they were performing their professional duties in Marval Kakapora in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.

It’s an admitted fact that smartphone and mobile Internet has brought a revolution in journalism, and therefore it can’t thrive in corrosiveness. Being called the fourth eye, journalists deserve a better treatment in Kashmir. When democracy ensures smooth thriving of everything, why not in our Vale?

Yes, journalism is very hard here but the journalists have been doing an amazing job and got appreciated at the international level too, given the Associated Press photographers Dar Yasin, Mukhtar Khan and Channi Anand were honored with the Pulitzer Prize 2020 in feature photography. And, this clearly indicates that journalism can thrive here too.

Within the ethics, the journalist fraternity works in every country. But alas! Here they get beaten, even their equipments are damaged.

As a child, I was much fascinated by Camera and desired to hold it but the treatment meted out to the journalist community here has disappointed me and put me in lurch. I wonder when will journalism be set truly free in my Vale?

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