‘The Kashmir Walla’ web site blocked by govt, elevating issues of press freedom
4 min readBy Online Desk
On August 19, 2023, the journalists at impartial information outlet ‘The Kashmir Walla’ woke as much as discover their web site and its social media accounts blocked and unreachable.
A number of frantic phonecalls later, the journalists realized that their impartial information web site was blocked in India by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology below the IT Act, 2000.
“We discovered that our Facebook page, with nearly half a million followers, had been removed. As had our Twitter account, ‘in response to a legal demand, ” an announcement issued by The Kashmir Walla mentioned.
Statement: When we contacted The Kashmir Walla’s server supplier to ask why https://t.co/zniqt5p3zU was inaccessible, they knowledgeable us that our web site has been blocked in India by the MEITY below the IT Act, 2000. pic.twitter.com/3FOwFEJwVU
— yashraj sharma (@yashjournals) August 20, 2023
The web site isn’t any stranger to run-ins with the regulation.
Editor Fahad Shah was arrested in February final 12 months below numerous fees, akin to “glorifying terrorism” and for “sharing fake news” on social media.
Despite securing bail twice, he was rearrested by the J&Ok police and finally booked below the Public Safety Act, which permits imprisonment and not using a trial for as much as a 12 months. Shah was then arrested 5 instances in 4 months in what the publication described as “a saga of revolving door arrests”.
In January 2022, a trainee reporter with the web site, Sajad Gul, was arrested and charged with ‘legal conspiracy’. The assertion mentioned Gul stays in jail in Uttar Pradesh below the Public Safety Act.
“This opaque censorship is gut-wrenching. There isn’t a lot left for us to say anymore,” the assertion mentioned.
“Since 2011, The Kashmir Walla has strived to remain an independent, credible, and courageous voice of the region in the face of unimaginable pressure from the authorities while we watched our being ripped apart, bit by bit. The Kashmir Walla’s story is the tale of the rise and fall of press freedom in the region.”
The Kashmir Walla additional mentioned that they weren’t conscious of the specifics of why the web site has been blocked in India; why its Facebook web page has been eliminated; and why its Twitter account has been withheld.
“We have not been served any notice nor is there any official order regarding these actions that is in the public domain so far,” learn the assertion.
This just isn’t the primary time {that a} media outlet within the valley has felt the heavy arm of the federal government. On October 19, 2020, one of many places of work of ‘The Kashmir Times’ — workplace positioned amongst a number of different newspaper places of work in Srinagar’s Press Enclave — was sealed by the union territory’s estates division.
On August 19, 2023, the journalists at impartial information outlet ‘The Kashmir Walla’ woke as much as discover their web site and its social media accounts blocked and unreachable.
A number of frantic phonecalls later, the journalists realized that their impartial information web site was blocked in India by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology below the IT Act, 2000.
“We discovered that our Facebook page, with nearly half a million followers, had been removed. As had our Twitter account, ‘in response to a legal demand, ” an announcement issued by The Kashmir Walla mentioned.googletag.cmd.push(operate() googletag.show(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); );
Statement: When we contacted The Kashmir Walla’s server supplier to ask why https://t.co/zniqt5p3zU was inaccessible, they knowledgeable us that our web site has been blocked in India by the MEITY below the IT Act, 2000. pic.twitter.com/3FOwFEJwVU
— yashraj sharma (@yashjournals) August 20, 2023
The web site isn’t any stranger to run-ins with the regulation.
Editor Fahad Shah was arrested in February final 12 months below numerous fees, akin to “glorifying terrorism” and for “sharing fake news” on social media.
Despite securing bail twice, he was rearrested by the J&Ok police and finally booked below the Public Safety Act, which permits imprisonment and not using a trial for as much as a 12 months. Shah was then arrested 5 instances in 4 months in what the publication described as “a saga of revolving door arrests”.
In January 2022, a trainee reporter with the web site, Sajad Gul, was arrested and charged with ‘legal conspiracy’. The assertion mentioned Gul stays in jail in Uttar Pradesh below the Public Safety Act.
“This opaque censorship is gut-wrenching. There isn’t a lot left for us to say anymore,” the assertion mentioned.
“Since 2011, The Kashmir Walla has strived to remain an independent, credible, and courageous voice of the region in the face of unimaginable pressure from the authorities while we watched our being ripped apart, bit by bit. The Kashmir Walla’s story is the tale of the rise and fall of press freedom in the region.”
The Kashmir Walla additional mentioned that they weren’t conscious of the specifics of why the web site has been blocked in India; why its Facebook web page has been eliminated; and why its Twitter account has been withheld.
“We have not been served any notice nor is there any official order regarding these actions that is in the public domain so far,” learn the assertion.
This just isn’t the primary time {that a} media outlet within the valley has felt the heavy arm of the federal government. On October 19, 2020, one of many places of work of ‘The Kashmir Times’ — workplace positioned amongst a number of different newspaper places of work in Srinagar’s Press Enclave — was sealed by the union territory’s estates division.
