Skip to main content

'Ridiculous': Delhi police cancels media event on Kashmir, sites anonymous organisers

Counterview Desk 
The civil rights network Campaign Against State Repression (CASR)* has said that the Delhi police decision to cancel the "Media Blackout and State Repression in Kashmir” event, which was scheduled for 15th March 2023 to address the question of continuing harassment and incarceration of journalists is an "undemocratic action" under the "frivolous pretext of law and order situation”.
In a statment, it said, as part of repression by the state, the attack on democratic/human rights activists and journalists like Khurram Parvez, Asif Sultan and Fahad Shah has been "ever intensifying, and many such people have been jailed for months and years, despite the international call for their release."

Text:

Campaign Against State Repression strongly condemns Delhi Police’s action of pressurizing the management of Gandhi Peace Foundation in form of notice by IP Estate Police Station and cancelling the event titled “Media Blackout and State Repression in Kashmir” scheduled for 15th March 2023. The program was to address the question of continuing harassment and incarceration of journalists in order to suppress the grim realities of state repression in Kashmir. This undemocratic action of cancelling the event on the frivolous pretext of “law and order situation” is also part of the same attempt at creating information blackout and narrative building. The reason cited for cancelling the event was that the intelligence input suggested that the program was being organized by the “anonymous groups” and that the information of the participants and organizers couldn’t be ascertained by the police. It is ridiculous to even claim that the Delhi Police and its so called intelligence unit couldn’t ascertain the identity of our panelists consisting of renowned Documentary Film Maker, Retired High Court Judge, Journalists, Academicians and Civil Rights Activists. Similarly, the organisers, a joint front of more than 30 progressive democratic organizations, who have organized dozens of programs against State Repression, have been conveniently labelled as “anonymous groups” by the state. Less than a week ago, a similar notice was sent to the management of HKS Surjeet Bhavan by the same police station to cancel the “Bharat Bachao: National Convention”, by giving the same argument down to the last word, except the name of the event and venue. The organizers of Bharat Bachao approached the High Court and got permission for the event. Interestingly, this time the police sent the notice to the management and the organisers only on the day of the event, just a few hours before it was to start, thereby denying any alternate remedies to the organisers. In reality, this has nothing to do with anonymity of the organisers and participants but everything to do with covering up the repression unleashed by the state on the people, democratic/political organisations, media and human right defenders.
A few days ago, the Army Court Martialed and awarded life sentence to an Army Captain for staging a fake encounter of 3 young Kashmiri boys in Amshipora in 2020, and later claiming them to be militants and which was subsequently hailed by the state/corporate media and the government. Such encounters and disappearances have been normalised for Kashmir to suppress their democratic assertion. A few months ago, a Kashmiri Youth named Rashid Ahmad Dar, who was picked up by the 41 Rashtriya Rifles and later claimed to have escaped their custody during a combing operation, was found dead and decomposed few days back. Rashid Ahmad Dar belonged to the Kunan Village of Kupwara district, which still longs for justice to the survivors of Kunan Poshpora Mass rape of at least 21 including girls as young as 8 year old, reportedly by the soldiers of Indian Army on 23 Feb, 1991. In 2014, the Division Bench of J&K High Court Chief Justice MM Kumar and Justice Hasnain Masoodi, one of the today’s speaker, accepted the State Human Rights Commission’s Report and directed the state to pay compensation to the victims.
Similar attacks on journalists are being unleashed in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and North-Eastern States
These multifold repressive tools unleashed on the people of Kashmir has been the order of decades in the government's repression of the democratic assertion of the Kashmiri people. As part of this repression by the state, the attack on democratic/human rights activists and journalists like Khurram Parvez, Asif Sultan and Fahad Shah has been ever intensifying and many such people have been jailed for months and years, despite the international call for their release. Similar attacks on journalists are being unleashed in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and North-Eastern States to suppress the grim realities of state repression in these regions. The arrest and continued detention of Jharkhand journalist Rupesh Kumar Singh is a mirror image of the modus operandi of the State in Kashmir, and vice-versa. We believe that this undemocratic action of cancelling the event is an attack on the democratic and civil liberties of the people of Delhi and elsewhere, but most importantly it is an attack on the solidarity between the Indian People and the Kashmiri People. Furthermore, it is also an attack on the people’s right to information and access to truth. We, once again, strongly condemn this undemocratic act of the Brahmanical Hindutva Fascist State Machinery and call upon all democratic progressive people everywhere, be it India or abroad to stand with the people of Kashmir and for press freedom everywhere, be it Kashmir, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh or North Eastern States.
---
*AIRSO,AISA, AISF, APCR,BASF, BCM, Bhim Army, Bigul Mazdoor Dasta, BSCEM, CEM, CRPP, CTF, Disha, DISSC, DSU, DTF, Fraternity ,IAPL, Karnataka Janashakti, LAA,Mazdoor Adhikar Sangathan, Mazdoor Patrika, Mehnatkash Mahila Sangathan, Morcha Patrika, NAPM, NBS, Nowruz, NTUI, People’s Watch, Rihai Manch, Samajwadi Janparishad, Smajwadi lok manch, Satyashodak Sangh, SFI, United Against Hate, WSS,Y4S

Comments

Post a Comment

TRENDING

70,000 migrants, sold on Canadian dream, face uncertain future: Canada reinvents the xenophobic wheel

By Saurav Sarkar*  Bikram Singh is running out of time on his post-study work visa in Canada. Singh is one of about 70,000 migrants who were sold on the Canadian dream of eventually making the country their home but now face an uncertain future with their work permits set to expire by December 2024. They came from places like India, China, and the Philippines, and sold their land and belongings in their home countries, took out loans, or made other enormous commitments to get themselves to Canada.
Post a Comment
Read more

Kerala government data implicates the Covid vaccines for excess deaths

By Bhaskaran Raman*  On 03 Dec 2024, Mr Unnikrishnan of the Indian Express had written an article titled: “Kerala govt data busts vaccine death myth; no rise in mortality post-Covid”. It claims “no significant change in the death rate in the 35-44 age group between 2019 and 2023”. However, the claim is obviously wrong, even to a casual observer, as per the same data which the article presents, as explained below.
1 comment
Read more

PM-JUGA: Support to states and gram sabhas for the FRA implementation and preparation and execution of CFR management plan

By Dr. Manohar Chauhan*  (Over the period, under 275(1), Ministry of Tribal Affairs has provided fund to the states for FRA implementation. Besides, some states like Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra allocated special fund for FRA implementation. Now PM-JUDA under “Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan(DAJGUA) lunched by Prime Minister on 2nd October 2024 will not only be the major source of funding from MoTA to the States/UTs, but also will be the major support to the Gram sabha for the preparation and execution of CFR management Plan).
Post a Comment
Read more

Operation Kagar represents Indian state's intensified attempt to extinguish Maoism: Resistance continues

By Harsh Thakor Operation Kagar represents the Indian state's intensified attempt to extinguish Maoism, which claims to embody the struggles and aspirations of Adivasis. Criminalized by the state, the Maoists have been portrayed as a threat, with Operation Kagar deploying strategies that jeopardize their activities. This operation weaves together economic, cultural, and political motives, allegedly with drone attacks on Adivasi homes.
Post a Comment
Read more

How Amit Shah's statement on Ambedkar reflects frustration of those uncomfortable with Dalit assertion, empowerment

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  Dr. B.R. Ambedkar remains the liberator and emancipator of India’s oppressed communities. However, attempts to box him between two Brahmanical political parties betray a superficial and self-serving understanding of his legacy. The statement by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the Rajya Sabha was highly objectionable, reflecting the frustration of those uncomfortable with Dalit assertion and empowerment.
Post a Comment
Read more

This book delves deep into Maoism's historical, social, and political dimensions in India

By Harsh Thakor*  "Storming the Gates of Heaven" by Amit Bhattacharya is a comprehensive study of the Indian Maoist movement. Bhattacharya examines the movement's evolution, drawing from numerous sources and showcasing his unwavering support for Charu Mazumdar's path and practice. The book, published in 2016, delves deeply into the movement's historical, social, and political dimensions.
Post a Comment
Read more

Ideological assault on dargah of Sufi Saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti will disturb pluralistic legacy: Modi told

Counterview Desk Letter to the Prime Minister about "a matter of the utmost concern affecting our country's social fabric": *** We are a group of independent citizens who over the past few years have made efforts to improve the deteriorating communal relations in the country. It is abundantly clear that over the last decade relations between communities, particularly Hindus and Muslims, and to an extent Christians are extremely strained leaving these latter two communities in extreme anxiety and insecurity.
Post a Comment
Read more

Defeat of martial law: Has the decisive moment for change come in South Korea?

By Steven Lee  Late at night on December 3, soldiers stormed into South Korea’s National Assembly in armored vehicles and combat helicopters. Assembly staff desperately blocked their assault with fire extinguishers and barricades. South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol had just declared martial law to “ eliminate ‘anti-state’ forces .”
Post a Comment
Read more