‘This is not attack on any individual but an assault on journalism’
SRINAGAR: The Kashmiri journalists booked by the police said that the cases against them have been filed to muzzle the voices of journalists in the Valley, saying that they will fight against it and won’t succumb to the pressure.
The trio journalists including a female photo-journalist Masrat Zahra have been booked by the police for ‘objectionable posts’ on social media and ‘fake news’. The other two journalists include renowned journalist and author Gowhar Geelani and a senior journalist Peerzada Ashiq, who works with a national daily.
Talking to news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), author of Kashmir: Rage and Reason, Gowhar Geelani said that the charges framed are concocted and baseless. “This is not an attack on me or Peerzada Ashiq or Masrat Zahra, but it is an attack on journalism. They want to silence journalists who report ground reality in Kashmir and the aim is to stifle free speech,” Geelani said.
He also said that they will fight the case legally as “we have not done anything wrong that would be termed as anti-national.” “Anybody can allege you. But it has be proven in the court of law,” he said.
Masrat Zahra told—KNO that she has not done anything wrong but has shared her professional work on social media and “I stand by my work. I will not disown my work. They want to investigate, I am ready to cooperate.”
Talking about the charges against her, Zahra said “the unfortunate part is they don’t consider me as a journalist. They have mentioned me as a Facebook user in their press release. They were just hiding my identity.”
She further stated that she will continue to fight against it and will always stand by her work. “The way cases are being registered against journalists, seems that they want to muzzle the voice of journalists in Kashmir. Filing such horrible charges against a journalist is shocking.”