Assault on a Kashmiri journalist by Indian police denounced

Srinagar, January 06, 2013 (PPI-OT): In occupied Kashmir, the High Court Bar Association has strongly condemned the assault on a Kashmiri journalist by Indian police and demanded strict action against the involved policemen. The General Secretary of the Bar Association, Muhammad Ashraf Butt in a statement issued in Srinagar said that the bar in a meeting strongly denounced the assault on the journalist, Imran Muzaffar.

“The Bar Association has demanded registration of a case against the guilty police officials. It has also decided that full legal aid will be provided to the journalist and it was further decided that in case FIR was not lodged against the police officials, the Bar will file a complaint before the competent court in Srinagar,” Butt said.

The Chairperson of Kashmir Centre for Social and Developmental Studies (KCSDS), Professor Hameeda Nayeem in a statement strongly condemned the manhandling of Imran Muzaffar by the police and demanded severe punishment for the culprits.

“This act has once again highlighted the implicit restrictions placed on the freedom to report things as they are. No one has forgotten how media was gagged in 2010 and media persons assaulted to prevent them from reporting the ground realities in the Valley,” she added.

Hameeda Nayeem said that after Sopore and Pulwama brutal incidents, authorities had once again become nervous to hide reality from the world. It is an attack on the freedom of the media to express freely what it sees and, therefore, it is highly deplorable, she maintained.

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