Kashmir Editors Guild aghast at efforts of NIA to define working of a journalist

KEG reiterated that Kamran Yousuf “has been a news photographer who was freelancing with various media outlets”. The editors sought his early release and have continuously insisted that Yousuf requires a fair trial.

Kashmir Editors Guild (KEG), an organisation of the editors of the newspapers published in Kashmir on Tuesday strongly reacted to the ‘new definition’ of a journalist by National Investigation Agency (NIA) detailed in the chargesheet of incarcerated Kashmir photo-journalist Kamran Yousuf.
“If the cops are supposed to define the roles and responsibilities of the journalists, which manage the fourth pillar of democracy, the universities that train thousands of journalists in a year across India must be locked,” the statement said. “Re-defining journalism is usually been seen as an effort by totalitarian and dictatorial regimes and not democracies.”
Not covering ‘developmental activity of any government department’ or ‘inauguration of a hospital or a school’ or ‘statement of any political party in power’ are some of the reasons the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has listed as evidence that Kamran Yusuf was not a ‘real journalist’.
The observations by the NIA are part of the chargesheet into the terror funding and stone pelting in the Valley filed on January 18 against 12 people including Yusuf, a free-lance photojournalist arrested on September 5 for his alleged involvement in ‘stone-pelting incidents’.
KEG reiterated that Kamran Yousuf “has been a news photographer who was freelancing with various media outlets.” The editors sought his early release and have continuously insisted that Yousuf requires a fair trial. “It has been a long time since Yousuf’s arrest that the investigators have probed almost all angles of his supposed involvement. So far, nothing has been proved as the charge sheet suggests,” the statement said.
“It is high time that Yousuf is permitted to move out of jail and resume his routine and help his mother, the only relation he has, in surviving honourably,” the editors said. “His release will contribute to the strengthening of democracy and right to free speech.”
Similarly, the Kashmir Working Journalists Association (KWJA) also condemned ‘the continuous incarceration of photojournalist Kamran Yousuf’, alleging that “he (Kamran Yousuf) is being victimised only for carrying out his professional duties that somehow embarrassed the government.” The photojournalist has been in detention for the past 169 days. A statement released by KWJA said, “Kamran’s arrest and framing is aimed only to muzzle the press in Kashmir, and that all charges against him are baseless and motivated.”
The statement added, “KWJA is also aghast at the efforts of National Investigation Agency (NIA) to define the working of a journalist. The pathetic standards of journalism that NIA aims to thrust are not just childishly naive but also reflect a dangerous conspiracy to dis-empower the fourth estate.”
“We strongly contest NIA’s definition of journalism and affirm that it is not the job of a journalist to cover bridge inaugurations or birthday parties of government and political functionaries, and if NIA does not understand the basics that separate PR from journalism, it puts its own investigating capabilities into question,” the statement said. The KWJA, in it’s statement said, “We also take this moment to reflect on the larger tragedy of journalism in Kashmir exposed by the arrest of Kamran Yousuf”.
“More than the government or investigation agencies Kamran, a young journalist, has been failed by the fraternity, all of us together,” the statement said. “Let us admit that the journalistic fraternity in Kashmir, including us, has failed to stand up for Kamran Yousuf since his arrest on September 5 last year, leave alone strive for his release.”
RSF demands immediate release of the detained photojournalist
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has called for the immediate release of Kamran Yousuf, a Kashmiri photojournalist who has been held for the past six months and is due to appear before a New Delhi court on Tuesday for a decision on his bail application. “Arrested on 5 September for allegedly participating in a demonstration in Kashmir,23-year-old, Kamran Yousuf is facing a possible death sentence on spurious charges for trying to cover one of the world’s most secret conflicts,” the statement said.
A charge sheet produced last week by the National Investigation Agency, India’s counter-terrorism agency, claims that Yousuf is not a ‘real journalist/stringer by profession’ because he only covered ‘anti-national’ activities and never performed his ‘moral duty’ as a journalist to cover ‘developmental activity’ or the ‘inauguration of [a] hospital or school building’.
“It is not up to the Indian interior ministry to decide what a journalist is supposed to cover,” RSF statement said. “The contradictory nature of the charges clearly shows that Kamran Yousuf is being used as a scapegoat in order to intimidate journalists who try to document the situation in Kashmir,” the statement said.
It added, “The authorities must free him at once and, above all, they need to understand that it is not the job of journalists to relay their propaganda. As a result of the constraints on press freedom, the state of Jammu and Kashmir is in the process of becoming a new Tibet, a black hole for news and information.”
The Paris based RSF statement further said, “A quick look at Yousuf’s Instagram page suffices to show that this photojournalist has covered all sorts of news in a region that, without independent press photographers, would be completely cut off from the world.”
Stringing for such media as the Greater Kashmir newspaper and the Gulistan News TV channel from his base in Pulwama, a town 40 km south of Srinagar, the statement added, “he has covered both police activities and attacks by rebel groups.” Recognized by his colleagues for his professionalism, the statement said, “he was listed among Kashmir’s nine most promising photographerstwo week before his arrest.”
Arrested by the state police on the pretext that he participated in a protest in which stones were thrown at the security forces, he was formally charged on 18 January with ‘sedition, criminal conspiracy and attempting to wage war against India’. “The last of these charges carries a possible death sentence,” the statement added.
The statement also said, “Partly as a result of the repeated violations of the freedom to inform in the Kashmir Valley, India is ranked no higher than 136th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2017 World Press Freedom Index.”