After Peerzada Ashiq, journalist Gowhar Geelani booked; Editors’ Guild ‘shocked’

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Srinagar:

The Editors Guild of India on Tuesday expressed “shock and concern” over the actions of law enforcement agencies in Jammu and Kashmir in dealing with two Srinagar-based journalists – freelance photographer Masrat Zahra and The Hindu reporter Peerzada Ashiq. The guild demanded that the police cease harassing the journalists any further.

The Guild statement came barely moments before another senior journalist Gowhar Geelani was booked by J&K Police for “unlawful social media activities”.

Geelani is a journalist of repute who has been contributing to the BBC, The Federal, Scroll.in, DailyO, and other publications. Peerzada Ashiq, a senior journalist, has been reporting for and managing The Hindu’s Srinagar bureau for several years now.

A police official said that “a case FIR No. 11/2020 under the relevant sections of law has been registered at Cyber Police Station Kashmir and investigation initiated.”

Police said that they had been ‘compiling information’ about Geelani’s social media activity for some time now.

On April 18, Masrat Zahra, a freelance photojournalist was booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act for uploading posts that glorified “anti-national activities on social media platforms.”

Meanwhile Editors’ Guild of India said “Any recourse to such laws for merely publishing something in the mainstream or social media is a gross misuse of power. Its only purpose can be to strike terror into journalists.”

“While only an FIR [first information report] has been filed in connection with a report filed by Peerzada Ashiq, the authorities in the union territory have used the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act against Masrat Zahra,” the guild said.  

The Editors Guild accused the police of using the toughest laws meant for hardened terrorists against journalists making “mere social media posts of factual pictures”. They said that the correct approach in dealing with Ashiq’s story in The Hindu would have been to contact the newspaper editor.

“The Guild demands that the Union Territory administration of Jammu & Kashmir withdraw the charges forthwith,” the statement concluded.

According to the amended UAPA, the government can probe people whom it deems as a threat to national security and empowers officers of the National Investigation Agency to look into the cases. A person charged under the act can be jailed up to seven years.

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