New Delhi, Nov 18: The Editors Guild of India (EGI) Friday said that it was deeply concerned about the recent threats issued to journalists working in Kashmir, by alleged terror organisations, and the subsequent resignations of five journalists from their respective media outlets.
A statement of EGI issued here said, “The journalists in Kashmir now find themselves in the firing line from both the State authorities as well as terrorists, in what is a throwback to the years of heightened violence in the 1990s. Once again media houses have been named by terror groups warning that those associated with well-known regional papers including Rising Kashmir and Greater Kashmir will be declared ‘traitors’ and that ‘their timeline is sealed.’”
The EGI statement said, “Space for media freedom and active civil society has been steadily eroding in the region. It must be recalled that the editor of Rising Kashmir Shujaat Bukhari was assassinated in June 2018. The Kashmir Press Club, which had become an important institution for fighting for the protection and rights of journalists, was shut down by the State administration earlier in the year, weakening the layer of peer-driven protection for the journalists.”
The EGI statement said: “These pronouncements by terror organisations have further worsened the sense of fear and insecurity, which makes it impossible for the journalists to work freely. The EGI strongly condemns such threats and calls upon the J&K government to create an atmosphere of security and trust, wherein the media is not compelled to take sides, and is able to work in a free environment with full security.”
