The situation in the Kashmir Valley deteriorating drastically over a period of two years, till May 2009, led to the unprecedented stage of people, including women and children, being incited and organised to pelt stones at security forces for three months and major disruption of administration. It also exposed, as widely reported, chief minister Omar Abdullah’s sheer lack of governance, the most crucial aspect of which was yielding of critical space to separatists, fundamentalists and mainly Pakistani terrorist organisers, which the Army and security forces had neutralised over some years till 2008.
Instead of retrieving the situation in the Valley by concentrating on governance, the Jammu and Kashmir government began pandering to the separatists and, in trying to hide its weaknesses, it began muzzling the media.
Over 50 prominent media professionals in the capital got together in July last year to protest against the J&K government for intimidating the state’s media. In a statement, they declared their unstinted support for the struggle of their counterparts in Kashmir and expressed concern at the manner in which the administration tried to curtail press freedom by withdrawing curfew passes, beating journalists and photographers in the Valley and also lodging cases against local reporters. The statement warned the administration to desist from such attempts and asked it to ensure that no impediments were placed in the free functioning of the media in J&K. They criticised the government for lodging cases against local print and television reporters and demanded that these cases be urgently withdrawn. They also expressed their concern on alleged attempts made by different elements to divide the media in Kashmir between local and non-local professionals and reiterated that media professionals throughout the country were united and expressed complete solidarity with their counterparts in the state in their fight against attempts to curtail press freedom.
However, that did not seem to have helped as the intimidation of those who dared to publish facts began to face great harassment, humiliation and even financial hardship.
Interacting at length with this newspaper, Munish Gupta, owner and editor-in-chief, Early Times, one of the worst-hit newspapers, elaborated on all the highly suppressive and intimidating moves as well as harassment and official penalisation since last year at the hands of the J&K government.
Things started flaring up with the publication of a news item of an attack on a temple at Anantnag based on the press release of the police control room which was carried by other publications too.
The harassment campaign for Early Times began with the authorities pouncing on it and sealing both the press and the office on July 1, 2009. This was followed by a formal notice of registering a criminal case against the management under Section 505 of the Ranvir Penal Code and systematic periodic humiliation and harassment. Taking cognisance of another news item published on September 18, 2009, the police registered another case for which the editor-in-chief and managing editor had to seek bail from the court.
“Thereafter, members of the management, particularly myself, were frequently summoned to the police station and treated like criminals. The police even started surveillance of my home and used other coercive measures. The police authorities went to the extent of taking the editor’s finger prints and photographs. Last but not the least, the information department of the state stopped government advertisements worth `2 lakhs per month to the newspaper since November 26, 2009. However, the newspaper decided not to budge and kept publishing news items in a free and fair manner. Becoming more desperate at this, the government began using its official machinery to strike at the business interests of the management, owners and family members. We have ample reasons to state that in Jammu and Kashmir, if any media organisation refuses to toe the government line, it is harassed, humiliated, brutalised and threatened of dire consequences.”
The state government, through its various departments, has been orchestrating pressure tactics on all media agencies to spare no effort in prominently projecting the chief minister.
Mr Gupta further added: “Our bold and independent stance in the projection of the issues of public importance has not been palatable to the present government. As a result, we have been invariably threatened to face the consequences in case we do not toe official line. We are repeatedly told to project chief minister Omar Abdullah by giving him ample space on the front page of the newspaper. Our staffers are humiliated on routine basis on one pretext or the other. Not only is the newspaper being denied government advertisements, management are being pestered at the personal level also. My family’s business establishments including bars and shops were sealed on flimsy grounds and our real estate business has been jeopardised to pressurise us to stop writing about the wrongs being perpetrated by the ruling National Conference-led government. We are being told to stop taking up the public issues and instead, become a mouth piece of the ruling dispensation. Ours is a nine-year-old publication, which is well received by the readers, because we believe in publishing facts which affect the state and its people.”
Life was never easy for those of the media in J&K, who tried to bring out facts. During the worst period of Pakistan-supported terrorism in J&K, journos were often threatened or lethally targeted by terrorists. One of the worst and most significant attacks by terrorists was a few years ago, when they struck at the office of the defence PRO, near the gate of Badami Bagh complex, while a number of reporters were present. Major S. Purushottam, the PRO, had great presence of mind to quickly lock the reporters in the toilet and then the courage to confront the terrorists, who sprayed him and his staff members with bursts of bullets, killing all of them. While the media got saved then, now it is the state government which is breaking all democratic norms by targeting the media.
On December 13, 2009, the Jammu State Morcha (JSM) strongly criticised the recent efforts of the state government of trying to intimidate and muzzle the print and electronic media to prevent them from highlighting the misdeeds of the present government and presenting a true picture to the public. At a meeting chaired by its president Prof. Virender Gupta, and attended among others by H.B. Khajuria, Capt. Anil Gour, Chandra Uday Sharma, Virender Magotra, Surjit Singh, Vijay Sharma and Mukesh Raina, they discussed in detail the moves of the government trying to ensure that no adverse reporting by the media, specially after two members of the State Finance Commission gave dissenting notes which were widely published. The JSM members were of the opinion that “only the secular and nationalistic outlook media is being targeted and it appears that this present coalition government wants the entire media to tread the separatist line. No action is being taken against the print and electronic media that is eulogising the anti-national and separatist comments and ideas,” a JSM handout said.
The members also expressed that no government has ever been successful in muzzling the press and electronic media and nothing will stop them from reporting the events whether the ruling party likes it or not. The most glaring example they recalled was the failure of the central government to muzzle the press during the emergency and hence urged the state government to allow the media to report objectively and improve governance to deliver succour to the common man.
On December 25, 2009, Munish Gupta, his staff members and editor, The Northlines, R.S. Gill, met senior BJP leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, when she visited Jammu, to register their grievances.
“The government’s media policy is faulty and its implementation is highly discriminatory due to which several small and medium papers have closed down and many others are on the verge of closure,” Mr Gill told Ms Swaraj, who gave a patient hearing to the delegation and assured that she will raise the issue at the Centre.
A copy of the letter to her was also handed over to senior interlocutor Dilip Padgaonkar by Mr Gupta, who met him in Jammu.
It now remains to be seen if Mr Abdullah will learn from his Himalayan blunder and ensure governance to bring back the Valley to peace, packed hotels and houseboats, or make it easier for Pakistan to maraud it further and lose out on goodwill in Jammu region.
Anil Bhat, a retired Army officer, is a defence
and security analyst
based in New Delhi