The oral summonses issued to at least five national media journalists in Kashmir, following their reporting on the profiling of mosques, mark the latest episode of what many describe as systematic surveillance of the valley’s press.

On Wednesday, The Indian Express detailed the harassment faced by the paper’s Srinagar bureau journalist and assistant editor Bashaarat Masood. It reported that Masood was called to the city’s cyber police station for four days and asked to sign a bond. “Masood, who has been reporting for The Indian Express from Srinagar for 20 years, did not sign the bond,” the newspaper said in its front-page report. 

An officer, who did not wish to be named, told The Indian Express that the police had sought to take preventive action under Section 126 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, claiming it had information he would commit a “breach of peace” or disturb “public tranquillity”. This section states that if the magistrate is of the opinion that there is sufficient ground for proceeding, he may require such person to show cause why he should not be ordered to execute a bond or bail bond for keeping the peace.

While The Indian Express report said the police did not specify to Masood the reason for calling him to the station, it quoted another officer who said the police had called him following his news report.

Hindustan Times’ reporter Ashiq Hussain also received an oral summons, but the newspaper “sought a written summons, with reason, so that it can respond,” according to a report published on Wednesday. 

Apart from these five journalists from the national media, there was a sixth journalist from the local press who was summoned too. 

The Kashmir Press Club linked the summons to reportage on the police exercise seeking to profile mosques in the valley. In a statement on Tuesday, it flagged what it described as the “intimidation” of journalists from national media organisations, saying its members were “summoned or advised by the J&K Police to stop covering stories related to the profiling of specific religious institutions in the region”. The club said journalists were told this direction had come from higher authorities. 

Part of a pattern

But this is merely part of a troubling pattern: around 25 Kashmiri journalists have been reportedly intimidated in a similar way over the past year, according to journalists operating in the region.

“For the last one year, almost 25 Kashmiri journalists, especially freelancers, have been intimidated, harassed and silenced,” a journalist told Newslaundry, requesting anonymity due to fear of reprisal. 

The journalist said he found it astonishing that the issue was grabbing eyeballs only now. “Yes, this time the issue got highlighted; some noise was made because some of the valley’s top journalists were summoned. The fate of freelancers is sealed. They are at God’s........

© newslaundry