Journalists Killed, Arrested, Harassed in Held-Kashmir
'Pakistan Times' Kashmir Desk

ISLAMABAD: Occupied Kashmir sees no let-up in the killings, illegal detentions and torture of Kashmiri journalists as the world observes the World Press Freedom Day, today.

According to the data several Kashmiri journalists, including a woman scribe, Asia Gilani, have been killed in the occupied territory during Kashmiris’ ongoing struggle against India since 1989.

Among others, the journalists who were killed while doing their duties include Shabbir Ahmad Dar, Mushtaq Ali, Ghulam Muhammad Lone, Ghulam Rasool Azad, Muhammad Shaban Wakeel, Pervez Muhammad Sultan and Mushtaq Ahmad.

In the mean time, among those tortured and illegally detained include Muhammad Maqbool Sahil and Rehmattullah Khan and Syed Iftikhar Gilani.

Gilani was released after several months of illegal detention during which he was subjected to severe torture. The other two journalists are still languishing in Indian jails.

In the occupied territory, almost routinely, journalists face manhandling by Indian troops, abductions, murder attempts and death threats. All of this has made their everyday work extremely difficult.
Maneuvering blasts in media organizations and banning advertisements of newspapers is also a common phenomena.

Kashmiri journalists, Muhammad Amin War, Rafique Maqbool and many other scribes were thrashed and injured by the troops when they were performing their professional duties in Rajbagh area of Srinagar in September 2004.●