Kashmir, only place where foreign media is barred from reporting: Hurriyat (M)

Srinagar, Aug 01: Hurriyat Conference (M) on Wednesday castigated New Delhi for imposing arbitrary censorship and disallowing foreign journalists from visiting Jammu and Kashmir.

In a press release issued here, the Hurriyat Spokesperson said the move reflects Delhi’s desperation to keep away foreign media from reporting the truth about the ground realities of Kashmir, especially the worst state repression being unleashed on people of Kashmir.
The press release read that the move to stop foreign media from visiting and reporting Kashmir amounts to direct assault on the freedom of press and that the international media should take note of it and protest this undemocratic gesture.
The Hurriyat said that Kashmir is the only place where foreign media is prevented from reporting the events at a time when human rights violations are at an all-time high.
“But in today’s age of technology and mass media people across the globe are well aware of the day to day happenings in Kashmir,” the Hurriyat (M) spokesman said.
Hurriyat also expressed strong concern and the resentment over the amendment to the draconian Public Safety Act through an ordinance by the Governor led State Administrative Council (SAC) to ensure Kashmiri political prisoners slapped with PSA are shifted to prisons outside the state.

Hurriyat Conference (M) termed the move as anti-human and against the basic principles of humanity, adding, it reflects the revenge mentality against these political prisoners.
The spokesperson said that scores of Kashmiri political prisoners have already been shifted to jails outside the State and the new law is aimed to shift the remaining prisoners which is against the Indian Supreme Court ruling that says prisoners facing trial be lodged in jails closer to their homes.
Hurriyat said dozens of prisoners lodged in outside prisons including notorious Tihar in New Delhi are deprived of basic medical facilities and are lodged with criminals which pose a big threat to their lives.
Hurriyat (M) said amendment to draconian PSA is aimed at further instilling fear among people among the families of prisoners and to build pressure on people of Kashmir to force them into submission.
Hurriyat said people of Kashmir are already suffering on every front due to the unbridled powers given to lakhs of forces to unleash terror on common masses and now amendment to PSA seems another move to strengthen that repress.