The Kashmir Editors Guild Wednesday reiterated that freedom of speech cannot be suspended “even if the state Assembly is under suspended animation”.
In a marathon meeting, the KEG members discussed and deliberated upon various developments “that hugely weaken this constitutional right.”
“While the newspapers have routinely started getting ‘notices’ to explain things that have gone into print, there are very disturbing reports about reporters being asked to disclose sources, something that has not happened even during the emergency,” a KEG spokesman said in a statement.
“Recently a magazine journalist Aasif Sultan was detained. Police have registered a formal FIR after retaining him for six days. KEG believes while the police must make public the charges against him, the ‘incriminating material’, the police have stated in a routine statement, is too vague to be accepted as a reason. The law-enforcing agencies must understand the reality that every journalist’s laptop will have ‘incriminating’ material because data collection is the fundamental activity of the reporters,” the spokesman said, adding:
“In this case, KEG reiterates that a reporter cannot be forced to reveal his sources and it is considered illegal across the democracies of the world.”
The KEG said it discussed in detail the situation that has emerged because of social media. “While the social media has the power of disrupting the routine life– as happened on August 30, on the issue of Article 35(A) hearing, the emphasis of all the stakeholders must be to strengthen the formal media. It was media and not the police force that helped cool the situation by reporting the actual happening in the Supreme Court.”
The editors’ body regretted that certain law enforcing agencies “do not understand the net difference and are attempting to use the same stick for all, which can add to the crisis.”
Discussing the situation with regard to media, the KEG said that Jammu and Kashmir being a state “in a disturbing situation for a long time must encourage conversation while information routinely flows. The law enforcing agencies must keep this in mind while overreacting to the writing that comes from the other side of the political divide.”
This, the KEG members said, is “essential in reducing the pressure cooker situation that is gradually building in Kashmir at huge social, economic and human costs.”
The KEG regretted that the police have “not been able to file a chargesheet in the broad daylight murder of senior journalist Shujaat Bukhari, so far. This is despite the fact that the police claimed to have solved the case.”
“The KEG regrets that the institutions of facilitation of media are gradually limping towards becoming a centre of instability for the institution of media,” the statement read, adding: “The editors’ body set up a series of committees to take care of certain crucial issues pertaining to the working of the media and decided about the outreach outside the print space so that role of media and social media is clearly educated about. It was also decided to have a pro-active outreach plan for engaging the policymaking and the journalism aspirants for a better understanding of the media operations and the Kashmir story.”